Heaven and Earth

Nora Roberts

Ripley Todd is a sheriff on Three Sister Island, a small island community off the New England Coast. She is a strong woman. She enjoys life. She also denies one vital part of herself.

Three Sister Island has a history of wicca or witchcraft. The Todds have been on the island for 300 years. Ripley has inherited the craft and power. She turned her back on it ten years earlier and does not want it back. Yet when her brother's fiancee Nell was threatened by an abusive man, Ripley was able to join with Mia, the resident craftmaster, and Nell to create a circle of power to repel him.

Now MacAllister Booke is coming to the island. He studies supernatural powers. He wants to study Mia and her friends but will not intrude where not wanted. Ripley had broken with Mia and her craft 10 years earlier. She does not need Mac around bringing it back into the open. She wants to ignore what happened when she, Nell, and Mia worked together against Nell's ex-husband.

She also wants to ignore MacAllister Booke but that's not easy. She hates his studies, but is attracted to the man. He is attractive. The only thing he seems to want from her is to study her power. She will not allow that. Nor will she admit she has any.

This is book number 2 in the Three Sisters Island trilogy. The continuing plot (not the romance between Ripley and Mac) relies heavily on book 1 and refers to happenings that will occur in book 3. The story is continuing; the romance is satisfying. Ripley is a well drawn character. Even as she yields to Mac she does not give up her sense of self. I liked this one as a follow up to Dance Upon the Air. The sequel is Face the Fire.

Notice: Explicit sexual content

Key of Knowledge by Nora Roberts