Review: Spell of Binding by Anna Abner

Title: Spell of Binding (The Dark Caster Series #2)
Author: Anna Abner
Source: Author Request
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: July 15, 2013
Reviewer: Jasmyn

Daniela Ferraro can't touch people without hurting them.  So when she wakes up in the Dark Caster's cell next to the one man guaranteed to mess with her heart, she will risk anything to escape.

David Wilkes has no idea why he's been abducted and thrown in a locked room with Dani, the woman who jilted him two years ago.  But when the Dark Caster threatens David's four year old son, David will not stop until Ryan is safe and the evil necromancers tormenting him are destroyed.

When Dani's powers are bound and her necromancer friends are out of commission, the only way to protect the people she cares about and keep the Chaos Gate firmly closed is to trust in David.

But the closer Dani gets to David the more lethal her touch becomes for the only man she's ever loved.

This can be read as a standalone, but some details will be missed.  See my review of book one HERE.

We briefly meet Dani when she helps our main characters in book one, Spell of Summoning.  A preschool teacher and powerful witch, Dani has a fear that if she physically touches someone, she may accidentally hurt them with her powers.  David on the other hand, is a perfectly normal human - with no special powers or abilities that he is aware of.  So why did these crazy people kidnap him and Dani - and why do they think he's a necromancer?

A lot of the history between Dani and David comes out in the beginning while they are locked in the basement - but the first part of the story moved a little slow for my taste.  Once they escaped from the basement things got a lot better story-wise.  David was forced to confront the fact that he may be more than he thinks he is - and he will have to deal with it and learn how to use it in order to save his son and Dani.

David was a great character.  I love when people don't blindly accept it when they discover the paranormal in books.  David fought it tooth and nail and it made it that much easier to just fall into the story.  His fear for the safely of his son drags him kicking and screaming into the paranormal world.  Dani's fear seems a bit irrational at first, and I totally related to David's feelings towards her.  As we learn more about her though, things are explained and her past has it's own share of hardships.

Dani and David try to find a way to rediscover themselves and find romance in the middle of everything.  They seem to be perfectly matched, but their pasts and their present are working both for them and against them.

Review: Spell of Summoning by Anna Abner

Title: Spell of Summoning
Series: Dark Caster #1
Author: Anna Abner
Source: Author Request
Genre: Contemporary Paranormal Romance
Length: Novel
Reviewer: Jasmyn

Holden Clark walks into Rebecca Powell's live, a tall blue-eyed stranger who stirs long forgotten desires.  But nothing, including this man, is what it seems.  A dark necromancer is targeting Becca for a full-blown demonic possessions.  She is thrust into a world she never knew existed - a world where dark casters create chaos and necromancers talk to the dead.

Holden has no faith in his power.  A necromancer, he communicates with the dead, but he has never embraced his gifts.  Now, he has no choice but to stop the dark caster attacking Rebecca, but accepting this mission means he'll be delving into dangerous magics he's never used before.

Under the protection of the damaged and mysterious Holden, Rebecca will question everything...

I loved Abner's take on necromancer's.  It was refreshing to see them portrayed as real people that have a choice to use their powers for good or evil, instead of just automatically being nasty people because of their powers.  Holden is a genuinely good guy with lots of baggage.  Baggage that he is forced to confront head on if he wants to save Becca from demonic possession.  She's got a particularly nasty demon that is being summoned to take control of her.  Becca and Holden need to find a way to stop it and kill the necromancer controlling it before it's too late.

Even though I had guessed the bad guy's identity part way through, the story was written in a way that I kept second guessing myself all along the way.  With lots of action and a deep love between our two characters, it was a fantastic story that kept me very entertained until the very end.