Hawthorne Witches | Romantic Reads and Such

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Book Review, Hawthorne Witches, Paramour for the Devil, Savannah Hill

Today’s book review will delight those who like a little darkness to their hero 🙂

*****

Paramour for the Devil

Hawthorne Witches

by Savannah Hill

Blurb:

Darkly erotic. Supremely powerful.Haley Hawthorne is a witch. She shuns her paranormal gifts, instead escaping into a mundane, reclusive life as an accountant for her Uncle Eli’s firm. Five years earlier, Haley was kidnapped by Raden, brother of Lucifer, and held captive as his personal sex slave. She escaped but still bears the scars, both physical and emotional. Now she’s turned away from both magic and sex, and she’s certain nothing will ever bring those lost things back into her life…

Damian, son to Lucifer, has renounced his right to the throne of Hell and has become a soldier for Adversus, hunting evil supernatural creatures on Earth. Unfortunately, he’s powerless to witches, and this witch can read his mind. He can’t decide what is more dangerous—the irresistible attraction he feels for her, or the intoxicating peace she gives him. One thing is certain, they both share a tortured past.

After Damian rescues her from an attack by monstrous djinn, Haley discovers the dangerously seductive soldier has secrets of his own. One of them is the collection of whips, ropes, handcuffs, and a leather riding crops he keeps locked away, though he refuses to show her his “Master” side. But when her trust in him grows, she finds herself increasingly intrigued by all the kinky things he’s hiding. But Damian has been given a new mission to kill a monster. A monster that turns out to be her uncle…

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*****

Excerpt:

Her fingers moved automatically, stumbling only slightly over the same heavy melodies she’d once played obsessively for hours. The bedroom door opened, and Damian walked into the room, breaking her reverie.

“Oh, hi.” He stared at her in surprise, holding a towel low around his waist, and Haley caught herself gaping at the defined muscles of his upper body, adorned with scars. “I didn’t know you were in here, I’m just gonna grab some clothes.”

His half naked body had her heart beating erratically in her chest, and Haley tried not to look at him as he pulled open a dresser drawer. She suddenly realized he was reaching for his own clothes. “Is…is this your room?”

“Yeah.” He retrieved a stack of folded clothes from the drawer. “You can stay in here though, I’ll sleep somewhere else.”

“I’m so sor—” Haley abruptly stopped speaking as he casually took off the towel, and she let out a barely audible gasp. Turning away from him, she brought her hand to cover her eyes. “I’m…I can go…”

Her pulse raced at the sound of rustling cotton as he dressed a few feet away from her.

“You play guitar?”

“Uh…no, not really… I mean… I don’t play well.” She kept her eyes hidden from him with one hand while she loosely held the neck of the guitar with the other, aware that her dress had hiked up around her hips in her cross-legged position.

“You can look now.”

She opened her eyes as he sat next to her, wearing a white T-shirt over gray sweatpants. “I thought it sounded really good.”

Looking down at the beautiful instrument in her lap, recognition sparked. “Is this yours?”

With a nod, he got up to pull her red guitar from the wall. “When did you learn how to play?”

“When I was younger,” she nervously held his shiny blue Les Paul, unsure where to put her hands, “but I got a little obsessed with it when I stayed in here for a few months.”

Damian sat down with hers and started tuning it. “So this is your room…” He concentrated on the strings in his hand. “And this is your guitar?” “Red Velvet.” She nodded, trying to keep her breathing even.

“You named your guitar?” He smiled at her. Haley relaxed a little as he tuned the strings. “I was very close with it for a while.” She took a steadying breath. “It kind of felt like therapy.”

“That was after you escaped?”

“Yes.” She lowered her gaze.

“I actually took this room because it had an amp in it.” Damian mindlessly played a slow melody on her guitar.

“When did you start playing?” The sound sent a tingling warmth through her, and she found herself staring at his fingers as they expertly moved along the strings.

“When I was a kid. It came naturally to me.”

Her focus dimmed at the powerful chords. “So…you were a kid…at one time…”

He nodded. “I’ve aged normally so far, like a human, but eventually I’ll stop aging.”

“How old are you?”

“Thirty-two.” He cast his gaze downward. Haley looked thoughtfully at the bedspread, listening to the haunting music. “I’m twenty-seven.”

She volunteered the information. “I feel like I’m eighty, I never go out anywhere.” Her gaze flickered to him. “Are you really only thirty-two?”

He seemed surprised by her remark and looked back down to the strings. “It’s a lot older than you.”

“You’re immortal.” She gave him a half-smile. “You could be thousands of years old.”

*****

Review:

I still read the occasional paranormal romance but it’s definitely not my main genre right now so I’m not sure what all is out there. Which means I’m not the best to say how original this world is :), but I think that Hill does a great job of creating one that is interesting. It’s got just the right touch of real world to make you think that it could be happening around you but yet be full of witches, demons, monsters and supernatural soldiers.

Haley went through something horrible and I’m impressed by how well she’s recovered. She’s still not completely healed and hesitates to get intimate with any man, especially the nephew of the man who held her captive (and someone who saw her in that situation). But being able to see into Damian’s mind helps I think. She starts to understand him a little better and see past who he used to be.

Damian may be the son of Satan but he is now working for the other side, fighting demons and monsters. Working with her brothers introduces him to Haley and spending time with the sexy witch draws him in. But can he breach the walls that her time in Hell built … and what happens when he’s ordered to kill her uncle?

I love the relationship and trust that builds between these two. They each have reasons to be wary of the other but time (and the glimpses they get of each other’s thoughts) start to forge something sweet. Damian is amazingly patient and understanding of all of Haley’s hangups. And she’s definitely strong, she just has to remember that. There’s danger mixed in with the love story, as expected with most paranormal romances, and it adds that extra oomph to the book.

Because it is the first in the series, there is a lot of extra explanation that has to happen, but I don’t feel like it bogged things down. I do, though, think there were times where it might have been missing some of the history related to this story. I’m not sure if that was intentional or not, because they weren’t big things but just enough that I wanted a little more info. I’m curious to see where Hill goes from here and whether we get some of those answers when the rest of the Hawthornes gets their stories.

*****

Author Info:

Savannah Hill is an erotic romance novelist diligently working to create a world that readers can truly experience and enjoy along with her. Captivated by romance at a very young age, she began writing love stories in grade school, always imagining new scenarios and characters. Addicted to her passion, her first novel, Paramour for the Devil, is the story that invaded her dreams until the final chapter was written. She is currently writing the sequel to Paramour, Seducing the Devil.

She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her man, the love of her life, and spends her days chasing their toddler boy who loves to giggle.

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*****

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