Mark of the Witch by Maggie Shayne

Synopsis from Goodreads.com
A lapsed Wiccan, Indira Simon doesn't believe in magic anymore. But when strange dreams of being sacrificed to an ancient Babylonian god have her waking up with real rope burns on her wrists, she's forced to acknowledge that she may have been too hasty in her rejection of the unknown. Then she meets mysterious and handsome Father Tomas. Emerging from the secrecy of an obscure Gnostic sect, he arrives with stories of a demon, a trio of warrior witches-and Indira's sacred calling. Yet there's something even Tomas doesn't know, an inescapable truth that will force him to choose between saving the life of the woman he's come to love-and saving the world.

My review

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to fans of witch books.

Indira is a former Wiccan witch who has lost her faith in the Craft after calling for her soul mate for 3 years and never finding him. However, she is being plagued with strange dreams in which she is a witch in ancient times and is pushed to her death of a cliff by a man she loved. Her friend, Rayne, a high Priestess, performs a protection ritual over her and suddenly Indy's powers spark up again.

She is approached by a priest, who saw a video taken of Indy using these powers without her remembering what she was doing and convinces her that he can help her stop the dreams. He turns out to be the brother of her friend Rayne and stupidly, in my opinion, agrees to travel across the country with him to find a solution.

She finds out that between Tomas, the priest and another priest Dom that she is the key to unlocking or destroying a great evil, but things never run smoothly and Indy finds out more about the dreams, what they mean and what she needs to do about them. Rayne, luckily, is on hand to help her, but things get quite scary for them all, especially for Indy in places, right up to the end.

I really enjoyed the writing style of Maggie Shayne, never having read anything by her before and felt that the plot moved at a good pace, picking up and dropping off as needed.

I loved the character of Indy. She truly didn't want to believe what was happening to her and her gut instincts were always right. Dom was what I expected from a completely insane old man who believed that he and his God would save everyone - a complete bigot if ask me, but he added the necessary evil to the story! Tomas, I just couldn't decide about. You could tell he really wanted to believe in Dom's far-fetched story at the beginning, but the more he got to know Indy and the more they found out about who she was, the less inclined he was to believe. I really was shocked by his attitude at the end where Rayne was concerned, but then all was revealed.

Looking forward to reading the next book in the series and the prequel if I can ever get a hold of it in the UK.

I would like to thank the author and publisher for sending me a review copy through NetGalley to read. This review is my honest opinion.