The Goddess of Magic (Bewitching the Beast Book 3)

No one likes to be kept in the dark, especially when the dark can be hiding terrible secrets. Holly Ellison misses her best friend, Tess Edwards. Sure, they stay in touch, but lately Tess and her family have been acting strangely around Holly and that hurts more than she would like to admit. When Tess invites Holly on a family trip to her hometown for the holidays, after an aborted kidnapping attempt on Holly, it appears to be just the perfect opportunity to reconnect. Instead, the trip to Stratford seems to amplify their distance when Tess actively tries to keep Holly from learning about the evil dragon spirit, Sabah, who has taken over the local coven. Tess assigns family friend, Peter Rennick, to be Holly’s protector while she and other witches battle Sabah. Will Holly and Peter be able to stay out of harm’s way?

Every moment is filled with anticipation as the witches battle a powerful adversary and any friendly face could be one under possession by the enemy. With the emphasis on finding a way to use magic to defeat Sabah, non-magical Holly and Peter are banished to the sidelines. The condescension of their repeated dismissals by their peers does not deter their desire to help their friends in any way that they can. Holly and Peter’s romance feels quite secondary to the suspense, a feeling that is augmented by their own ambivalence to their “temporary” attraction to one another. A last minute pivot provides an unexpectedly rapid, but decidedly happy, solution to the whole crisis. Tamara Hughes delivers a satisfying story in an intriguing world where magic can make anything happen!

Joan Lai