Review: A Bewitching Bride by E. Thornton

Title: A Bewitching Bride
Author: Elizabeth Thornton
Publish Date: Nov 2, 2010 by Berkley
Pages: 320, paperback
Reviewed by: ISALYS
Reason for reading: Reviewed for The Season for Romance

Gavin Hepburn is a seer who acquired his gift from his grandmother. While on her deathbed, she shared with him a prophecy and foretold that he would be responsible for saving the life of a young woman. While attending a wedding reception, he locks eyes with Kate Cameron and felt an electric buzz pass through him. Was Kate the one he was destined to save?

For all her life, Kate had battled demons and secrets. She trusted only one man, a dear friend, with those secrets. When her friend suddenly turns up dead, she realizes that she’s no longer safe from her old terrors. She also learns that she is the intended target of a serial killer. By accident, or so she thinks, she ends up turning to Gavin for help; the one man that she knows she can trust with her life.  Suddenly, what was supposed to be a joyful weekend celebration has turned into a frightful series of mind games with a mysterious murderer.

This book had all the makings of a great story: well-developed cast of characters, a suspenseful plot and a supernatural twist. Sadly, it fell short of being a great story for me. The hero and heroines relationship was tumultuous at best and confusing at worst. Gavin and Kate alternated between hot and cold too frequently. One instant, they’d share a moment of care and tenderness and the next, Gavin would be furious and would scold Kate as if she were an errant child. Kate was equally confusing. She easily accepted Gavin as her savior, yet refused to trust him with valuable information concerning her past.

The plot and the storyline, although intriguing, didn’t flow smoothly and made the novel seem unpolished. In fact, there were several scenes that I had to re-read to be certain that I understood correctly. The following example is their first kiss:

“Clamping his arms around her, he used his weight to flatten her against the wall. Despite her prodigious experience in ministering to the sick and drunks at the clinic, she realized that she was abysmally ignorant of male anatomy, at least when the male was aroused. His body ground into hers. His lips moved on hers in a sensual caress that betrayed a wealth of experience that she did not possess.”

Somehow this scene felt clipped and lacked any spark. Their first lovemaking scene also left much to be desired for Kate as well as the reader. The few love scenes there were could have been sweetly descriptive without necessarily being erotic. In addition, I’m still not entirely sure when Gavin and Kate fell in love amidst all the running and hiding they were doing.

Overall, I found this book to be adequate but not memorable. The pacing was satisfactory, there weren’t many dull moments aside from the intimate scenes and the finale was action packed. However, with the identity of the killer being an interesting twist, I don’t feel that it had the ‘gasp-and-awe’ affect that it could or should have had.

RATING: 3 hearts
HEAT LEVEL: 1.5 - Barely There