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Book Review-Bewitching by Jill Barnett

by | Oct 30, 2021 | Book Reviews | 6 comments

Book Review-Bewitching by Jill Barnett

Book Review-Bewitching by Jill BarnettBewitching by Jill Barnett
Series: Regency Magic #1
Published by Pocket Books on October 1, 1993
Genres: Historical Romance, Paranormal Romance
Pages: 452
Format: eBook
Source: Self Purchased
ISBN: 0671778633
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four-stars

THE BEST MAGIC OF ALL IS THE KIND THAT MAKES LOVE COMES TRUE ...
Alec, Duke of Belmore, did as he pleased --- and he wanted to marry the beautiful, bubbly girl who had positively bewitched him: Joyous MacQuarrie, who had appeared from nowhere and turned stately Belmore Park upside down with merriment and mischief. It hardly mattered that her Scottish bloodline was shrouded in mystery. But Alec's heated desire turned ice-cold when he discovered that this winsome lady was, in fact, a witch --- whose powers of white magic were not always perfectly under control ...
Too late, Joy knew she was desperately in love and that nothing could stop the course of their destiny --- the scandal threatening to destroy her and the passion that held them both spellbound in a forbidden, irresistible match.

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Bewitching is the first book in the “Regency Magic” duo series from Jill Barnett. This is a book that I have had on my TBR for the longest time, I know its been on my GR wishlist for over a decade and I have had this ebook on my kindle for I don’t know how long haha So I was happy that I was finally able to read this. Now this was part of a group read with the “Thoughts on Historicals” group, and we had such a blast. Here is the LINK, if you would like to watch it!! I personally didn’t know what to expect from this book, but, I had so much fun with this one. It really surprised me because it is rare for a 90’s published romance to have me having so much fun, but Bewitching seemed just perfect for the season and everything involved.

Bewitching is a magical, angst filled, romance that features:

  • Alec, Duke of Belmore-Duke, Aristocrat, Stoic, Head packed with responsibility
  • Joyous MacQuarrie-Clumsy witch, makes mistakes, sees the joy and sparkle in life and sees the good in others

This kiss had power, it was the kiss of a duke—a duke who needed to prove something. And he did. He proved that he could make Joyous Fiona MacQuarrie forget how to say no.

Bewitching is a magical story that starts off with our hero, Alec who is the Duke of Belmore. It has been drilled into him that love is forbidden, that his life must be all about duty and obligation. When he is ready to have an heir and knows he needs to get married, he thought he found a suitable woman that he enjoyed the company of but when she jilts him the day before he is upset to say the least. And when he meets a peddling woman who tells him the next woman he meets will be the woman he will marry and will bring some unexpected happenings into his life. But he never expected the next woman would be this beautiful Scot who would turn out to be a magical witch and turn his life upside down in ways he never expected.

She could feel the physical pull of this man as if an iron chain bound their hearts together. So powerful it was that she wondered for a brief instant if she had started something that even the strongest witchcraft couldn’t handle.

Bewitching is a story I honestly wasn’t sure how I could write a review for because I have some mixed feelings about this one but overall I truly liked this one, it was so different and unexpected. So many have raved about this one over the years and I have become so curious about this and see what all the excitement was about. Now I think if I had read this one years ago, I probably would have enjoyed this much more. Now first off this book was published back in the ’90s, so I had no clue what to really expect. You never know when you read historical’s being published this far back. But honestly, I had no real major issues with this story here. Now there were a couple of elements that kept this from being a five-star read for me. The first is the pacing of the story. The pacing went in and out in the first half of the story, I wasn’t fully engaged in the pacing of this book so that is one factor. The other factor is the type of angst delivered in this one. There is a certain style of angst that is common in older historicals and this one definitely had that type of angst. If these two aspects had been done a bit better, it would have been an easy five-star read.

“Alec?” She touched his arm. “How will you ever have any memories if you don’t create them?”

The romance that we see between these two was a story that I honestly had a blast with. I really enjoy seeing such opposite personalities enter into a marriage like this. When these two meet they are complete strangers and they don’t know how to handle each other in many ways. Our hero is very stoic and almost cold in that he was never allowed to feel emotion or have fun with life. And our heroine was raised completely differently. She sees the magic in life, she sees the light and beauty in nature and their life outlooks are very different. They definitely are the epitome of the “Grump Sunshine” trope so if that is your cup of tea, you definitely need to grab this one up, because Jill Barnett handles this so well. The major aspect of their romance is seeing these two strangers LEARN each other, and it takes time, learning to compromise and work together and it won’t be an easy road for either of them emotionally. They definitely have some hurdles to cross, but seeing our hero and heroine learn the other, and adapt to the change and see and learn to accept each other for who they are is simply a beautiful process. I did find that the later half of the story to be rock solid for me, it was worth the struggle I had at times in the first half. This story will definitely have its deep emotional moments that will tear you in two, but have no fear there is a definite HEA and the epilogue in this book was PERFECTION!!!

“My Alec,” she whispered, then their mouths touched and he knew this was real, for he tasted all he loved, his world, his life, his wife. Eternity.

Overall I found this one to be a delectable read that fed my old school historical soul, it feels as warm and cozy as a hot blanket on a cold winter’s night, it delivers with all the magical fun of “Bednobs and Broomsticks”, and will give you all the swoony moments to satisfy any romance heart!

About Jill Barnett

New York Times Bestselling Author Jill Barnett is master storyteller known for her beautifully-written love stories rich with humor, emotion, and poignancy. She is the winner of Lifetime Achievement Awards for Love and Laughter and Historical Romance and is a six-time Romance Writers of America RITA nominee and winner of both a Persie Award for Literature and a Waldenbooks Award. Her books have been named Best of the Year by Dallas Morning News, Detroit Free Press, and Kirkus Review and she was the first historical romance author to ever receive a starred review from Publishers Weekly. She stands alongside Judith McNaught as one of only two authors to ever receive a six-star review from Affaire de Coeur Magazine and her work has been published in 23 languages and appeared on numerous bestseller lists. She lives in the PNW with her family.

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6 Comments

  1. Rachel

    Glad to hear you enjoyed the story with some minor quibbles. You never know with older books.

    Reply
  2. Nadene

    It sounds delightful, despite the issues you encountered.

    Reply
  3. Nadene

    It sounds delightful, despite the issues you encountered

    Reply
  4. Natalie

    You just might convince me to give historicals another chance 🙂 ?

    Reply
  5. Jill Barnett

    Well, this was a lovely surprise. Thank you for your kind words. Yes, this book is an oldie, written in 1991 and published by Pocket Books, Simon and Schuster, my publisher for 22 years, in 1993. I’m so glad you feel it holds up in 2021. I understand the more longer, dense style of 30 years ago might not work as well with the shorter, breezy romance styles we see today. But I feel it is important to not rewrite my backlist books for a new market. Instead to keep them as they were first envisioned. I’ll willingly take a hit from modern readers for that choice. I understand. I was reader long before I was a writer. The book has had many covers over the years when it was reprinted in new editions by Pocket Books and a couple of later publishers. It actually isn’t self published, but currently published by OHB, a smaller indie publisher. It also has a lovely cover nowadays. Again, my thanks for the lovely review.

    Reply

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