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The Water Witch (The Fairwick Trilogy book 2) by Juliet Dark (book review).

‘The Water Witch’ is book two in ‘The Fairwick Trilogy’ preceded by ‘Demon Lover’ by Juliet Dark if you’re in America or ‘Succubus’ by Carol Goodman if you’re in the UK. As a bit of heads-up Carol Goodman is known to write under three different pseudonyms being Juliet Dark, Carol Goodman and Lee Carroll. She also tends to have different titles for the same book in different countries, so do keep your wits about you when buying one of her books to ensure you don’t accidentally purchase something you’ve already read. As usual with reviews of second books, etc. from a series, this review will contain some spoilers.

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Callie McFay, the new gothic literature professor at Fairwick College, has recently banished her incubus boyfriend to the Borderlands between the human world and that of the Fae. However, he doesn’t seem to want to stay there and is intent on trying to make her love him through her dreams. In addition to her broken night’s sleep, Callie has accidentally let into our world a particularly vicious kind of water sprite. There is also trouble brewing between the members of The Grove, a group of witches of which Callie’s grandmother is a member, and The Institute For Magical Professionals over the small matter of closing the last door into Faerie. This causes all sorts of problems as everyone considers the effects this would have on the various creatures living in and around Fairwick. It looks like Callie is going to have to learn how to take control of her part-witch/ part-Fae magical abilities and fast!

For some reason, this book took a lot of getting into, more so than the first book in the series. I’m not sure if this was my usual trouble with getting bored with characters quickly and preferring all the new information usually contained in stand-alone or first books or whether this book really wasn’t quite as interesting as the previous one. Maybe it was to do with Callie, who I felt did make some really stupid decisions throughout this book, although to be fair, she often has to make them because the other characters have put her into a dangerous position for someone with little or no control over their magical powers. It could also be to do with this being the second book in a trilogy, these are notoriously bad with regards being interesting as they are mostly just a link between the first and last books.

I did enjoy meeting the new characters and the new magical creatures, along with learning more about the magical world through Callie. We’re introduced to a new potential love interest in the form of English magician Duncan Laird, who just happens to be completely gorgeous and super-smart. Along with Duncan and Liam, our succubus from book one, ‘The Demon Lover’, we also have Bill the handy man, who seems to be the silent and super-kind type compared to the highly demanding other men in Callie’s life.

One thing to note is that this book seems to be a bit more graphic with its descriptions of sex, they’re still not too detailed but worth noting that it’s not quite as tame as the previous book. There certainly felt to be a great deal more descriptions of Callie and various men/creatures getting up to all sorts in the dream world, the real world and in Faerie. To be honest, Callie seems to be pretty free and easy with the men in her life, something I wasn’t entirely comfortable with as she seemed to jump from one man to the other.

I’m hoping book three, ‘The Angel Stone’, is a little more interesting and has a stronger plot line than this book which, although I enjoyed it was a little wishy-washy at times. To be honest, the only real plot was the closing of the door to Faerie, but it seemed to get a little confused with stories about the various creatures and also Callie’s two love interests. Although the last few chapters certainly focused the story, they were fantastic and full of heart-stopping moments. A little more focus throughout, the last book would be greatly appreciated.

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Oh and I know I shouldn’t mention it but the book cover for the American version is so much prettier than the British version and would highly recommend you get that version if at all possible.

Sarah Bruch

(pub: Ballantine Books. 352 page paperback. Price: $15.00 (US), £ 9.36 (UK). ISBN: 978-034552-424-9)
Water Witch (Fairwick Chronicles 2) by Carol Goodman
(pub: Ebury Publishing/Random House. 352 page paperback. Price: £ 7.00 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-09194-020-1)

check out websites: http://www.ballantinebooks.com/ and www.eburypublishing.co.uk

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