Review: Thalassa’s latest paranormal romance novel truly is bewitching like its namesake! 

 

“Bewitched” is told from the perspective of Selene Bowers, a witch whose dream is to be accepted into Henbane Coven. To gain admittance, she arranges to go on a quest in South America. Only, before she gets there her plane is torn from the sky by ancient magic. Sacrificing her memories to awaken her powers, Selene survives the crash and seeks out the source of the attack. In the process, she sets free Memnon the Cursed, an evil sorcerer who believes that Selene is his wife and worse, that she was the one who betrayed him. 

 

I really enjoyed reading from Selene’s point-of-view because the gaps in her memory motivate the reader to progress through the novel and speculate whether or not she is Memnon’s wife and if so, why she cursed him. Additionally, because Selene is in the dark about her own past, each new revelation she makes about herself is just as jarring for her as the reader, creating new sources of tension that propel the narrative. Still, Selene does not let her memory loss define her or get in the way of her goals, which is an aspect of her character that I admired. 

 

Like her other works, Thalassa takes her time crafting her world. “Bewitched” mainly takes place in Northern California. Though the region is populated by humans, lycanthropes, mages, and sorcerers, we specifically learn how about witches enrolled at Henbane Coven. Through Selene, Thalassa beautifully captures identifying markers to witch magic on the page by describing unique color hues. She also incorporates rhyme and a language of her own creation to demonstrate how words add to the potency of a spell. 

 

The ancient language Selene draws power from throughout the novel is Sarmatian, the language of Memnon’s people and interestingly enough, a real nomadic tribe. I appreciated how Thalassa made efforts to preserve bits of Sarmatian culture through Memnon’s character. 

 

Selene’s power being at her strongest whenever she speaks Memnon’s native tongue speaks volumes about their connection. The longer Selene spent in the Sarmatian warrior’s presence, the harder it was to resist his charm. I too was won over by his persistence until his need to settle the score put Selene’s well-being at risk at the novel’s end. I look forward to seeing how he plans to make amends in the sequel!