Review: The Dark Witch by Nora Roberts

Author: Nora Roberts
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Date of publication October 2013
Audiobook by Brilliance Audio

With indifferent parents, Iona Sheehan grew up craving devotion and acceptance. From her maternal grandmother, she learned where to find both: a land of lush forests, dazzling lakes, and centuries-old legends.

Ireland.

County Mayo, to be exact. Where her ancestors’ blood and magic have flowed through generations—and where her destiny awaits.



I'm a big fan of Nora Roberts, so it pains me to say that I was a bit disappointed in this latest book.  I was really looking forward to The Dark Witch.  It's the first in a new trilogy.  I usually love her books when they have a bit of fantasy or supernatural thrown in.  While I didn't hate the book, I didn't love it either.

I loved the beginning/ prologue.  The book started out so strong with the telling of the first dark witch and her three children. I was pulled right into the story.  Then Iona showed up.  I really disliked her.  She was just too perky, too "Mary Sue Sunshine" and had absolutely no filter.  It was almost like she was a 5 year old at Disneyland for the first time.  It started to grate on my nerves after a while.  I liked the rest of the characters a lot.  Branna, Connor, Finn, Boyle and Meara seemed more normal to me. Well, as normal as a bunch of witches and their friends could ever be.

I just wasn't feeling the love or romance between Iona and Boyle. It felt just too forced.  I felt like Iona came across as a "poor me" type too often to have Boyle really fall for her. The one relationship I did like and want to read more about was the one between Finn and Branna. But, it looks like I will have to wait until book #3 for that one.  As for the bad guy, I thought he was kind of underwhelming.  He is supposed to be this charmer who seduces his prey, but I saw none of that.  Maybe he will try to seduce one of the other women?  The battle in the end was also kind of a let down.  I expected more.

I'm not sure if part of my issue was the fact that I listened to the audiobook.  I'm not sure that the narrator,  Katherine Kellgren, was the correct one for this. Her voice made the Irish characters seem a lot older than they are supposed to be.  I kept picturing plump older women in their 50s,  not 20s or 30s and her Iona voice grated on my nerves throughout the whole book.  Maybe had I read the book and put my own voices to them, I would have like it more.  I'll probably go ahead and read the next two books in the trilogy to finish it up, but I'm not holding my breath that I will like them any better.