Hello, and welcome back! While it's not quite as warm here as it was the last few days, the sun is shining today, and the breeze is still rather spring-like. My bulbs are sending up shoots in the front flowerbeds, making me want to brave the mud to clear away the debris from last summer's perennials, but it's a little early yet. In a few weeks, perhaps.

This time out, I have Blood Magic (Ballantine) by Jennifer Lyon, aka Apodaca. I admit I looked at this one when it came in at work and put it back on the shelf based on my read of the back cover blurb. I'm glad it came to me as a review book and I gave it a second chance. Darcy MacAlister has just had to bury her mother, and a stranger at the cemetary gave her quite a fright. Now, big, strange men have come to attack her, and she doesn't know what's going on. Axel Locke arrives in the nick of time to dispatch the pair of villains, and drives off with Darcy. Axel happens to be a Wing Slayer Hunter, sworn to protect earth witches, and he just happens to have need of an earth witch to save his young sister's life. He also just happens to know Darcy is such a witch. It would be more helpful to him, however, if Darcy also knew that, because he only has a limited amount of time to save his sister's life before either her death, or his change to a soulless rogue hunter when he's forced to kill the demon witch who cursed his sister. Darcy always knew she was adopted, but she had no idea her birth mother was a witch, thus never realized she held this power inside her, and now she doesn't know how to use it, let alone how to harness the spells she'll need to save a little girl's life. While Axel has kept himself from the temptation of a witch's blood for a long time, he can't stop the need to be near Darcy, to help her quickly master the things she's going to need to know and do. And, if he's honest, he needs her for more than saving his sister. Darcy, on the other hand, takes to magic pretty quickly, even without proper training, though the thing she most needs to know she doesn't learn until it's nearly too late. Unlike some other popular paranormal series that are out these days, this one is not all dark and gloomy. Yes, there's tremendous tension in the fast pacing of the story, but there are lighter moments along the way. This is a great kickoff for this new series, and I'm very much looking forward to the next story. I'm borrowing four of Cupid's five arrows for this one.

Until next time, happy reading!