Blog Tour ‘Dark Witch’ by Nora Roberts

Iona Sheehan has always felt a powerful connection to
Ireland. So when her beloved grandmother confesses an extraordinary family
secret, she can’t resist visiting County Mayo to discover the truth for
herself. Arriving at the atmospheric Castle Ashford, Iona is excited to meet
her enigmatic cousins, Connor and Branna O’Dwyer. And when she lands a job at
the local riding school she is soon drawn to its owner – the charismatic,
fiercely independent Boyle McGrath. Perhaps she has found her true home at
last…

But Iona’s arrival is no accident. The three cousins have
each inherited a dangerous gift from an ancestor known as the Dark Witch. And
they are about to discover that some old legends can return to haunt the
present.

The first in a magical new trilogy, Dark Witch is a
captivating story of love, family and destiny.

The
Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy is a new fantasy romance series by Nora Roberts. Book
one ‘Dark Witch’ was first published in October 2013, book two ‘Shadow Spell’
was published in March 2014 and book Three ‘Blood Magick’ is getting published
in October 2014. 

A view
weeks ago I received ‘Dark Witch’ by Nora Roberts, through the Little Brown
Book Group in exchange for my honest review. Off course I’ve heard about the
author Nora Roberts many times before. When I heard about ‘The Cousins O’Dwyer’
trilogy I was immediately super excited to start reading ‘Dark Witch’. A story
about magic, witches and romance, for me there’s nothing better to read. So my
expectations where really high about this one.

In ‘Dark
Witch’ we meet Iona Sheehan. Iona just moved to Ireland, the land where her
ancestors were from. Ever since Iona was a little girl she felt like she didn’t
belong in the US. When she learned about her family secret and about being
related to the Dark Witch. Iona decided to start new in Ireland. When Iona
arrives at her new home she soon meets her cousins Connor and Branna, who
welcome her with open arms. Soon Iona finds a job at the local riding school
where Boyle McGrath is the owner. Boyle is handsome and charismatic and really
all Iona would want in a men. In a short time Iona is totally happy with her
new life and her new family and friends. But there is danger lurking around the
corner and soon Iona and her cousins need to use her new gift to save her and
her friends. 

From the
moment I started reading ‘Dark Witch’ I loved the story. I loved how Nora
Roberts wrote this story and the way the past and the present became one. But
most of all I loved reading about Ireland, the horses, the nature and the
witches and magic. This story pulled me in and I just didn’t want to stop
reading. Even though this book is for a big part about Iona learning her
‘gift’, it was also about friendship and love. I really enjoyed reading about
the friendship between the four witches and their two ‘human’ friends. And I
just loved reading about Iona and Boyle. They were just so different and you
could really feel the chemistry between them.

The
character I really loved was Iona. Iona talks a lot when she is nervous and
those parts where really funny. I could definitely relate to her. Nora Roberts
that an amazing job in writing about Iona’s rambling. Those parts really made
me laugh. What I also loved was to read about the horses. I love horses and
reading about them through Nora’s eyes made me really want to start horseback
riding again.

Nora Roberts was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, the
youngest of five children. After a school career that included some time in
Catholic school and the discipline of nuns, she married young and settled in
Keedysville, Maryland.

She worked briefly as a legal secretary. “I could
type fast but couldn’t spell, I was the worst legal secretary ever,” she
says now. After her sons were born she stayed home and tried every craft that
came along. A blizzard in February 1979 forced her hand to try another creative
outlet. She was snowed in with a three and six year old with no kindergarten
respite in sight and a dwindling supply of chocolate.

Born into a family of readers, Nora had never known a
time that she wasn’t reading or making up stories. During the now-famous
blizzard, she pulled out a pencil and notebook and began to write down one of
those stories. It was there that a career was born. Several manuscripts and rejections later, her
first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981.

Nora met her second husband, Bruce Wilder, when she hired
him to build bookshelves. They were married in July 1985. Since that time,
they’ve expanded their home, traveled the world and opened a bookstore
together.

Through the years, Nora has always been surrounded by
men. Not only was she the youngest in her family, but she was also the only
girl. She has raised two sons. Having spent her life surrounded by men, Ms.
Roberts has a fairly good view of the workings of the male mind, which is a
constant delight to her readers. It was, she’s been quoted as saying, a choice
between figuring men out or running away screaming.

Nora is a member of several writers groups and has won
countless awards from her colleagues and the publishing industry. Recently The
New Yorker called her “America’s favorite novelist.”

For more information about Nora Roberts and ‘Dark Witch’
please visit her website, Goodreads and Amazon. Or visit Nora’s Facebook page. 

 

Many thanks to Clara Diaz and Little, Brown Book Group for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing book.