Bewitching

Jill Barnett

Joyous MacQuarrie is a Scottish witch. Her magic is not real good or always well controlled. Yet she has the basic skills. She has been training with her aunt. She has to go to another relative when her aunt goes to America. Her travelling spell goes awry.

Alec Castlemaine, the Duke of Belmore, decides it is time to wed. The woman who was to be his bride changes her mind just before the wedding. This beautiful, although scattered, female appears at the inn where he was to meet his future wife. He decides she will suit him perfectly and commands her to marry him.

The Duke is very proper, very controlled. He does not laugh or smile. He sets a course for his life and follows it. He will not allow anything to change it. He does not anticipate the changes Joy will bring to his life. He does not listen to her closely until their wedding night. By the time he discovers she really is a witch, they are married. This is a fact he cannot accept. He also cannot accept a failed marriage. Joy will stay his wife. She will learn to be a Castlemaine. She must not use her witchcraft.

Bewitching is a wonderfully fun romance. Castlemaine is too rigid and stiff, rather unbelievable during the first half of the book. Joyous is a wonderful individual, very believable as a witch with only partial control. Her name fits her personality. Barnett combines these great characters into a fun novel. This is one of her earlier novels. Her male characters tend to be blind-sided by the loveable, scatterbrained female. This one is one of her best. I highly recommend it, as well as its sequel, Dreaming.

Notice: Explicit sexual content