Of Witches and Warlocks: Blood of the White Witch - Lacey Weatherford

Of Witches and Warlocks: Blood of the White Witch is the third in the series by Lacey Weatherford and is due for release at the end of October 2010.

Plot

When love came knocking on the door of novice witch, Portia Mullins, in the form of handsome bad boy, Vance Mangum, she had no idea how quickly the attraction between them would escalate. Now she finds her relationship with Vance taken to a whole new level, in a way she had never dreamed possible at this point and time of her life. Yet even as the personal connection between them explodes, the two quickly find themselves in a world of shifting balances. While searching for Vance’s missing mother, they realize they are suddenly unsure of who to trust, learning that sometimes things are not always as they appear.

When Vance’s demon characteristics abruptly begin to resurface again without warning, the horrible truth comes out, crashing down upon them and shattering some of their most precious dreams. Once the deadly secret is uncovered, Portia and Vance find themselves hastily rushing against the hands of time in an attempt to stop an ancient ritual from being performed. But will they be successful before fate reaches out to twist them cruelly, possibly separating them and changing magic forever? Passion, loyalties, powers, and family ties, will all be tested when dangerous adventures abound in this third instalment in the Of Witches and Warlocks series, Blood of the White Witch.

What I thought
Any of my regular readers will know just how much I love Lacey Weatherford’s work and this series of books. After reading both of the first two books, The Trouble with Spells and The Demon Kiss in just one sitting, I was already desperate for this one and I hated having to wait for it. This is a series where you want to know what will happen next immediately and the suspense was awful.

I’ve said before that Portia is one of my all time favourite main female characters because of how awesome she is and she didn’t let me down this time around. What I love so much about her is that she knows what she wants and she isn’t afraid to do anything to get it. Some of the things that she has to endure in this book were far more than I think I could ever cope with so I have to applaud her for seeing things through, even when the going was really tough. Portia has an amazingly strong belief in her relationship with Vance and doesn’t believe that anything will get in the way of what they have and if something tries to tear them apart, she’s hell bent on stopping that from happening.

Vance Magnum is near enough my perfect man (Lacey, please give him tattoos!). After reading Blood of the White Witch, he seriously had me thinking about rewriting my perfect man and just naming him Vance Magnum. Forget all of the other stuff I said I wanted, Vance is who I want. Passionate, loyal, strong, independent and incredibly hot. A girl couldn’t ask for more. From the first moment he appeared in The Trouble with Spells, he had my heart melting and ever since then, he has had a firm place there and I think that is where he is going to stay for a long time. Vance is not your typical YA bad boy though. What I love most about him is the fact that he isn’t afraid to show how he feels and the passion and love that he feels for Portia is so distinct and pure that you cannot help but fall under a bit of a spell when you read about them together. Even though he has these amazing and good qualities about him, there is a lot more to him than meets the eye.

Vance still has demon tendencies due to events that happened in the previous books and this is where he really comes into his bad boy self. Every morning he wakes up with those deep red eyes that I find really sexy and he still wants blood. Vance’s demon tendencies are part of what make him as hot as he is. He has a lot of built up tension and passion towards Portia and he struggles a lot to keep those parts of him in check. There are a couple of times where he lets go a little more than maybe he should have and this is where he gets really steamy. I don’t want to post any spoilers so I’ll just say this…be prepared to fan yourself at certain scenes. Each new book by Lacey just makes me fall in love with Vance all over again and each time for new and exciting reasons.

Portia and Vance are a fantastic couple and I loved everything about them in this book. I really enjoyed being reminded of a relationship that is so strong that it is bound to survive anything, no matter what it has to go through to get there. Their love is so pure and powerful that it is simply beautiful to read about. Portia and Vance go through a lot in this book, even more than before if you could have thought that possible and their adventures have many different effects on them both as a couple and personally. Both characters have strong personalities and clear feelings of protectiveness towards the other so it was quite funny to see how far they would both go to protect the other. Not everything is doom and gloom though for this amazing couple, they do have some time being blissfully happy and in love but a book wouldn’t be much fun if things didn’t get shaken up a little bit would it?

Blood of the White Witch has a bit of a different feel to it compared to The Trouble with Spells and The Demon Kiss due to the location changes. I really enjoyed the direction in which Lacey took the story and also the fact that Portia and Vance went to Scotland, which is one of my favourite places to visit. Being in a place that they are unfamiliar with and having a lot going on must have been quite worrying for Portia and Vance because they didn’t really have anyone that they could totally rely on apart from each other for a long time. The story is well paced and interesting throughout, with twists and turns all over the place that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Lacey really knows how to add in some amazing shocks into her books and Blood of the White Witch has a couple that I couldn’t have guessed in a million years. I love that this book kept me guessing the whole way through and that I never really knew where the story was going to go. There could have been so many outcomes that as I was reading, I was thinking of a lot of different possibilities and none of them were right. The great thing about this book is that you will never guess happens at the end no matter how many ideas you come up with. Blood of the White Witch has THE best ending I have ever read, not just as part of a series, but ever.

I was so blown away by this book that after reading it, I couldn’t really do anything. I was in a bit of a state of shock and so many different things were going through my mind about what would happen next and everything that I had just read. I was totally unable to move for a good hour after reading this book and was desperate to talk to someone else who had read it (you know who you are!). Of Witches and Warlocks is a series that everyone should read and Blood of the White Witch is by far my favourite to date.