This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance






Bewitching is the first book in the "Regency Magic" duo series from Jill Barnett. This is a book that I have had on my TBR for the longest time, I know its been on my GR wishlist for over a decade and I have had this ebook on my kindle for I don't know how long haha So I was happy that I was finally able to read this. Now this was part of a group read with the "Thoughts on Historicals" group, and we had such a blast. Here is the LINK, if you would like to watch it!! I personally didn't know what to expect from this book, but, I had so much fun with this one. It really surprised me because it is rare for a 90's published romance to have me having so much fun, but Bewitching seemed just perfect for the season and everything involved.

Bewitching is a magical, angst filled, romance that features:

• Alec, Duke of Belmore-Duke, Aristocrat, Stoic, Head packed with responsibility

• Joyous MacQuarrie-Clumsy witch, makes mistakes, sees the joy and sparkle in life and sees the good in others

This kiss had power, it was the kiss of a duke—a duke who needed to prove something. And he did. He proved that he could make Joyous Fiona MacQuarrie forget how to say no.

Bewitching is a magical story that starts off with our hero, Alec who is the Duke of Belmore. It has been drilled into him that love is forbidden, that his life must be all about duty and obligation. When he is ready to have an heir and knows he needs to get married, he thought he found a suitable woman that he enjoyed the company of but when she jilts him the day before he is upset to say the least. And when he meets a peddling woman who tells him the next woman he meets will be the woman he will marry and will bring some unexpected happenings into his life. But he never expected the next woman would be this beautiful Scot who would turn out to be a magical witch and turn his life upside down in ways he never expected.

She could feel the physical pull of this man as if an iron chain bound their hearts together. So powerful it was that she wondered for a brief instant if she had started something that even the strongest witchcraft couldn’t handle.

Bewitching is a story I honestly wasn't sure how I could write a review for because I have some mixed feelings about this one but overall I truly liked this one, it was so different and unexpected. So many have raved about this one over the years and I have become so curious about this and see what all the excitement was about. Now I think if I had read this one years ago, I probably would have enjoyed this much more. Now first off this book was published back in the '90s, so I had no clue what to really expect. You never know when you read historical's being published this far back. But honestly, I had no real major issues with this story here. Now there were a couple of elements that kept this from being a five-star read for me. The first is the pacing of the story. The pacing went in and out in the first half of the story, I wasn't fully engaged in the pacing of this book so that is one factor. The other factor is the type of angst delivered in this one. There is a certain style of angst that is common in older historicals and this one definitely had that type of angst. If these two aspects had been done a bit better, it would have been an easy five-star read.

“Alec?” She touched his arm. “How will you ever have any memories if you don’t create them?”

The romance that we see between these two was a story that I honestly had a blast with. I really enjoy seeing such opposite personalities enter into a marriage like this. When these two meet they are complete strangers and they don't know how to handle each other in many ways. Our hero is very stoic and almost cold in that he was never allowed to feel emotion or have fun with life. And our heroine was raised completely differently. She sees the magic in life, she sees the light and beauty in nature and their life outlooks are very different. They definitely are the epitome of the "Grump Sunshine" trope so if that is your cup of tea, you definitely need to grab this one up, because Jill Barnett handles this so well. The major aspect of their romance is seeing these two strangers LEARN each other, and it takes time, learning to compromise and work together and it won't be an easy road for either of them emotionally. They definitely have some hurdles to cross, but seeing our hero and heroine learn the other, and adapt to the change and see and learn to accept each other for who they are is simply a beautiful process. I did find that the later half of the story to be rock solid for me, it was worth the struggle I had at times in the first half. This story will definitely have its deep emotional moments that will tear you in two, but have no fear there is a definite HEA and the epilogue in this book was PERFECTION!!!

“My Alec,” she whispered, then their mouths touched and he knew this was real, for he tasted all he loved, his world, his life, his wife. Eternity.

Overall I found this one to be a delectable read that fed my old school historical soul, it feels as warm and cozy as a hot blanket on a cold winter's night, it delivers with all the magical fun of "Bednobs and Broomsticks", and will give you all the swoony moments to satisfy any romance heart!