I didn't immediately rush off and grab the next book in the series. Because although I did like this book, it didn't enthral me. And I was excited! Everyone was saying what a great series this was, so admittedly I went in with very high expectations. However, as part of my effort to clean up my bookcase of all the books I have lingering around, but have never read I chose Witch Fire as my October Clearing-my-Case read. This book has been on my bookshelf for a long time and it's one of those that I keep meaning to pick up, but never get around to it. For me, since I prefer a subtler brew, two and a half. I will say that unlike some authors who write heavy sex, I can actually see why others would find her sex scenes sexy-so if they do sound like your cup of tea, three stars for you. Had there been a bit more plot setup at the beginning and some time taken to let the reader better get to know our heroine before smacking her upside the head with Le Sexx0rs, and more plot in general to balance out all the hormones flying around, I think I would have liked it better. Her prose is readable, and once we finally got some action scenes and plot developments, my interest did pick up a bit. She's also got some promising politics set up between her good witches (the Coven) and her bad witches (the Duskoff), which I expect will provide the fuel for the series in general, unless she's planning on introducing other supernaturals into the mix. That said, I do actually like that schtick, and I wish that Bast would have spent more time describing how magic works in her world and less on how Jack and Mira wanted each other's pants off, because she does seem to have an interesting take on magic. You can't swing a stick in the fantasy genre without hitting a series about elemental-based magic-and certainly it's hard to top the fun that Rachel Caine is having with that exact schtick over in the Weather Warden novels. Here's the part I did like: the setup isn't anything terribly new or different. This continues through much of the book, with our heroine in "zomg he kidnapped me and yet I find him strangely sexy" mode a lot, and some mild bondage play as well.
Especially #3, because the vast majority of the first sixty or seventy pages are devoted to telling the reader in very blunt and straightforward language about the effects Jack and Mira have on one another's libidos. I knew Bast had lost me when I'd gotten sixty or seventy pages into the book and knew little more besides that 1) our heroine Mira was an air witch, 2) our hero Jack was a fire witch who had been surreptitiously keeping watch on her because bad guys were out to get her, and 3) they were hot for each other. Here's the Not My Cup of Tea part: this is one of those paranormal romances that's very heavy on the sex and fairly light on the plot, and for that matter, fairly light on the romance. There is an audience for Anya Bast's Witch Fire, but unfortunately I am not it.
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