Darkangel (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill #1)

I was definitely dissappointed in this book. The book is about a girl finding her soulmate but in order to do that she has to kiss him to know for sure. The majority of the book was spent on her kissing other guys when her soulmate finally appeared it was 7 chapters in for like 2 seconds and then two more times for another 2 seconds later on. When she finally realized he was her soulmate (at the very end) he turned out to be the brother of the guy who kidnapped her and was pretty much keeping her prisoner. He also didnt seem very sympathetic and loving considering they are supposed to be soulmates. I just didnt feel the love or anything between them. This story had a lot of potential but it dragged on too much about insignificant things and didnt focus on the soulmates themselves.

Darkangel is the first book in the trilogy that begins the Witches of Cleopatra Hill series. It focuses on Angela McAllister, prima-in-waiting of the McAllister witch clan in Jerome, Arizona. The prima is the leader of the clan, and Angela is awaiting meeting her consort, a fated match that will strengthen her powers, as long as it happens before her quickly approaching 22nd birthday. In addition to the stress of trying to meet the man of her dreams, there is the danger of a nefarious neighboring witch clan, the Wilcoxes, who have been known to dabble in dark magic and once sought to kidnap the McAllister prima.

Angela is a strong female main character, without being hard. She has the normal insecurities one would expect of a young woman coming into adulthood, especially one with the pressures and expectations that she has grown up with. Raised by her aunt after her runaway mother (at the time the prima-in-waiting herself) returns home with a newborn Angela and then dies shortly thereafter, Angela has been sheltered and a lot of information kept from her. You would think that the clan would have wanted to arm their future leader with more preparation than just awaiting the arrival of her consort so that their bond would develop her powers.

The places in Jerome are described so well that this small town is nearly a character itself in the story. The McAllister witches are an interesting group, and it is fun to learn about this world of witches who live alongside civilians (non-witches). Although the series is listed as paranormal romance, there is little romance in this book, since Angela is waiting to meet that soulmate thats supposed to be out there for her. My one complaint is that the book ended with a bit of a cliffhanger, and Angelas problems were not resolved. In order to get the full enjoyment of Angelas story, you really need to read the entire trilogy. The full story of the trilogy is a good one though, and sets up the entire Witches of Cleopatra series, so I definitely recommend this book.

This book had a lot of good elements, but it was interminably slow and took forever to get moving. Things picked up by about 75-80% (and I can’t believe I made it that far). I did almost put it down and DNF it several times, but I wanted to be sure my suspicions were correct…and they were. The author spends a lot of time describing very mundane actions — most of the book is like this. A couple of intriguing events are peppered throughout, but really, this could have been much, much shorter and not lost anything. I’m almost tempted to get the sequel because of the cliffhanger ending here, but I can’t imagine slogging through more boringness, and the reviews for book 2 indicate that it’s more of the same.

Angela McAllister is soon to be the Prima of the McAllister clan of witches. She is expected to bond with her mate in her 21st year, so is having a series of dates. She has been having dreams of her mate, but so far has not met him. She has agreed to marry her friend Alex if she hasn’t met her mate by her 21st birthday.

Characterization and plotting are fair, but this book ends as a cliffhanger, so is a bit dissapointing.

I have read the series up until the latest book (I think it was #9) where I just had to stop. The books are interesting enough for the first couple books. But as you go book to book you will find them getting fairly repetitive in descriptions of things like cloths, houses, the people, and even their actions themselves. After about 3 books even though the main characters and story line change you will find the rest to be almost like reading the same book over again.
I was hoping for more of a book like Alexie Aaron’s Haunted series, SM Reine’s series, or or similar. But those will hold your interest more book to book.

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