Review: Being Familiar With a Witch

Being Familiar With a Witch
by Sapphire Phelan
Downloadable e-book
available in these formats:
HTML, PDF, Rocket/REB 1100,
Mobipocket, and Microsoft Reader
from Phaze Books

In a nutshell, if you like paranormal romance with explicit sex that's a quick read, then this book might be for you.

Our story begins as we accompany an incubus, Charun, as he haunts a woman in the throes of an erotic dream.  He is about to do what incubi do best when he is summoned to Hell by his superior, Byleth.  Charun is told he will lose incubus status and be assigned to a witch on Earth, in this case, Tina, as her familiar.  It will be up to him, on her 21st birthday to consummate their relationship to activate her latent magickal abilities.  This must occur or Armageddon will start, wiping mankind from the face of the Earth and giving sway to Lucifer and all the demons of Hell.

Charun spends the next 21 years watching Tina grow and mature, unaware of her witchcraft.  When she turns 21, Charun assumes the guise of a black cat and insinuates himself into Tina's life - finally revealing his true nature of being a demon to her.  He explains who he is and why he is there and gives her a deadline of Halloween to consummate their relationship in order for her powers to bloom.

Tina is initially skeptical, then comes to accept what she's been told, still a bit on the "oh sure" side of things.  However, she cannot deny her attraction to Charun (he takes on a hunky human look). 

The book is short, 116 pages, qualifying more as a novella than a true book.
It is chock-full of explicit language and sex scenes...and I do mean explicit.
Is this for everyone?  Possibly not, it depends on how much sex you like in your paranormal romance.
There's a smattering of magick behind the goings on in this tale, but nothing too involved.

The writing is not bad - the reading level here though is sparse (not a lot of time spent on detail)  but is heavy and detailed when the sex scenes show up.  That was a little jarring for me, as I would be reading along on what felt like a junior high school level and then wham, here was the XXX rated sex scenes.
I honestly think Sapphire Phelan can write - despite the explicit romps, I found myself drawn in to the action. 
As short as the story is, I did find the charaters of Charun and Tina engaging and well-crafted.
In fact, I wanted more detail regarding these characters.

I would like to see Ms. Phelan take on a longer and more involved work - she did pretty well within the shortness of this novella, but I believe she would shine given a longer format in which to develop her story and her characters,
Bottom line?  Watch out for Sapphire Phelan - she has the tools, and deserves a bigger canvas on which to work.


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