I became a fan of Christine Feehan through her Dark series, which I love and of course brought this new book, which continued the story she started in the anthology "Lover Beware", about seven witch sisters. This story is SO different from her Carpathian series that I would classify this story as a romantic suspense - I had creepy horror music playing through my head during half of the story that gave me the chills!
Kate, the second oldest Drake sister, is a best-selling author whose gift is to weave stories. She sees herself as plain compared to her more beautiful and gifted sisters and the one man she is attracted to is way out of her league. What Kate doesn't realise is that the object of her affection, Matt, has always been attracted to her and considered her out of his league also.
On her return to Sea Haven, Kate decides to settle and buys a local property to fix up and open as a bookstore. Matt has also returned to Sea Haven and is helping with the family business. When Kate mentions her property, Matt offers to help fix it up. However, when an earthquake causes a malevolent spirit to be released from the foundations of Kate's new purchase, Kate and her sisters must use their magical abilities to stop and contain it and Matt realises that Kate is too important to him to leave unprotected...
I found this second book in the series "The Twilight Before Christmas" truly enjoyable. Both the heroine and hero were believable and fun to read about. The added backlines about the secondary characters and the rest of the Drake sisters added to the whole story.
The storyline was good; the suspense and supernatural elements were well played out to give you chills and the history of Christmas was interesting in the context of the story. Feehan does a good job in this respect, playing on themes such as redemption, love, goodwill and sacrifice. All important and appropriate themes for a Christmas story.
Books to read in order:
1. Magic in the Wind (an anthology in Lover Beware)
2. Twilight Before Christmas
3. Oceans of Fire
4. Dangerous Tides
5. Safe Harbour
6. Turbulent Sea
7. Hidden Currents