Sweetwater and the Witch by Jayne Castle (Author), Barbara Rosenblat (Narrator)
A Harmony Novel, #15
Publisher: Berkley (Print), Recorded Books (Audio Publisher)
Genre: Romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by XeranthemumIf there’s something Ravenna Chastain knows, it’s when to end things. And after she almost winds up the victim of a cult that believes she’s a witch, it’s easy to walk away from her dead-end career, ready for a new start. But where to find a job that would allow her to use her very specialized skill set? The answer is clear: she becomes a matchmaker.
But even a successful matchmaker can’t find someone for everyone, and Ravenna considers Ethan Sweetwater her first professional failure. After nine failed dates, Ravenna knows it’s time to cut Ethan loose. But Ethan refuses to be fired as a client—he needs one final date to a business function. Since Ravenna needs a date herself to a family event, they agree to a deal: she will be his (business) date if he will be her (fake) date to her grandparents’ anniversary celebration.
What Ethan fails to mention is that attending the business function is a cover for some industrial espionage that he’s doing as a favor to the new Illusion Town Guild boss. Ravenna is happy to help, but their relationship gets even more complicated when things heat up—the chemistry between them is explosive, as explosive as the danger that’s stalking Ravenna. Lucky for her, Ethan isn’t just an engineer—he’s also a Sweetwater, and Sweetwaters are known for hunting down monsters…
I’ve been a fan of the Harmony series, and the Dust Bunnies, for quite some time. This latest adventure delivered what I enjoy most about Ms. Castle’s writing. There’s of course, the romance, but there is laughter, intrigue, close calls and daring escapes, mystery and murder and fascinating secondary characters. The dialogue is fast paced, witty, and always provides great forward momentum to the plot. That is all a credit to the great writing talent of Jayne Castle. What brings this story over the top beyond the author’s skills, is the talent and incredible storytelling voice of the narrator, Barbara Rosenblat. Ms. Rosenblat brings the story to life in such an effective manner that it’s a delightful pleasure to listen to the story. In fact, I listed to the audiobook twice before I sat down to write this review. I know I missed things the first time around and when the story is as good as this one, it was an easy decision to give it another go-round to catch what I might have missed the first time. It’s actually a treat when I do find some missed words or descriptions because the added details make the book come alive for me again. It was an awesome experience.
What makes me crack up is Ethen Sweetwater and his return dialogue with Ravenna when she says something that once again makes it clear that she is completely oblivious to his attentions with regards to herself. The narrator’s perfect intonation gave me the giggles – Ethan has a dry wit so that when he responds to Ravenna’s clueless response in that certain way, I felt for the guy. A reader will know long before the heroine that the hero is smitten with her, and his dry responses just slayed me.
The cutest scene has something to do with Dust Bunny theater. Harriet, the Dust Bunny, stole quite a few scenes with her chortling and waving of pens. The newspaper headline gave me the snickers as well.
There are a few red herrings in the mystery and a few surprises too which ratcheted up my enjoyment. There was mild suspense and drama sprinkled throughout the book, keeping me riveted throughout the entire story. I couldn’t believe how fast time flew. I had such an awesome time reading and experiencing Sweetwater and the Witch. I was very happy with the happy ever after too. I suspect fans are going to have So much fun reading this story just like I did. This was an excellent book and I highly recommend it.
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