Gwen’s review of Persecuted (Witch Hunt Book 2) by Lisa Childs
Paranormal romance published 1 Apr 07 by Silhouette Nocturne

I know, I know.  I said I’d never read another Nocturne.  I just keep getting sucked in by the sexy covers and the compelling blurbs.  But I have good news – this one was better than most.

This is a short novel (typical Harlequin length) about a young woman, mother of a 4-year old daughter (both of whom have special abilities), and her quest to find her sisters, evade a madman, and fall in love.  All in under 300-pages, as only a real Harlequin novel can do.

Here’s the book blurb:

Magic is in her blood…

Elena Jones thinks that her dream-visions are why her life has been a living nightmare. She would do anything to stop them—anything to give her daughter a normal life. But when her dreams show her long-lost sisters in danger, Elena has the chance to transform her curse into a gift. To stop death, before it strikes.

And death is in her dreams…

Joseph Dolce is her grandmother’s right-hand man, with violence in his past and darkness in his soul. Elena dreams of him, too—sweeter dreams, but just as dangerous. Joseph doesn’t want to be her knight in shining armor. But his generous lovemaking and selflessly heroic actions cause Elena to have a change of heart. Now, instead of seeing unwanted visions, she’ll do everything in her power to make a special one come true.…

The heroine is a likable single mom living a very stressful existence.  She’s under the same roof as her hateful grandmother.  She’s trying to find her two sisters, who she has been separated from for 10+ years.  She’s recently divorced from a completely cowardly cad of a dog.  And she’s got a serious jones for a seriously hunky guy that she seriously doesn’t want to like and, adding insult to injury, who is her g’mother’s righthand man.  Oh and there’s a maniac trying to kill her and her sisters so he can absorb their powers.  The same maniac who may have killed her mom and whom she keeps dreaming is killing her, her daughter, and her love-interest.

So why not have a little night of nooky in the middle of all this chaos – all the while somebody steals her daughter right out of her bed in the middle of the night, after mom has had prescient dreams of said little munchkin being kidnapped?  Sure.  Why not.  Sex is more important than kids, isn’t it?  It was a good story all the way until we got to this point.  The author lost me here.  I felt like the sex was shoehorned into a nice romantic thriller and that it didn’t add anything to the story. 

All in all – not a bad story, but I doubt I’ll be hunting down the other two books of the series any time soon.

Grade: C-