By Maggie Shayne
Harlequin, $7.99, 394 pages
Young Indira, or Indy, leads a normal life— going to work, going home. While her life previously held much more as a magic practitioner, Indy set aside this part of her life after it is proven time and time again that there is no magic. Indy buries the feelings of loss and loneliness under her every day. However, she keeps having the same unnerving recurring dream— standing on a cliff with her dark hair whipping around her face, familiar hands on her back as she and her sisters are thrown from a cliff in sacrifice— all in ancient Babylonia. In her dream Indy struggles against the ropes binding her wrists only to find them to be cracked and bleeding when she wakes up.
Knowing that this dream is beyond her power, Indy rejoins her wiccan sisters as a foretold destiny unfolds around her. At the same time, young Father Tomas, the priest assistant to Father Dom, finds himself swept in to a mysterious destiny just as he decides to leave the priesthood. Father Dom is bent on destroying the prophesied demon that Indy is destined to save. Father Tomas stands in the middle with his High Priestess sister, forced to choose between friend and love, or destiny. Indy and Tomas must rediscover who they really are and choose who to save, and who to sacrifice.
In the first book of the series Maggie Shayne brings a new twist on the supernatural in Mark of the Witch. While at times the story feels slightly predictable, the plot twists and turns in directions that are completely unexpected. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I finished the book and I look forward to reading more.
Reviewed by Rachel J. Richards
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