I picked up this trilogy hoping it would fill the Nora Roberts magical ladies trilogy space in my heart. It did not. Which, really, who but Nora is Nora, so there's that. The thing about books like this is that you have to like the tropes they're filled with, and you have to expect the pattern to be followed from book to book. I do and I do. But I also expect the author to do it well. This sounds like I'm condemning the entire trilogy and I'm not, nor am I insulting [a: Lori Handeland|17060|Lori Handeland|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1436902765p2/17060.jpg], an author I've read before and enjoyed quite a bit.

The first book [b: In the Air Tonight|9577671|In the Air Tonight (Shadow Force, #3)|Stephanie Tyler|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1288223365s/9577671.jpg|14464548] is about Raye, who can see and talk to ghosts. The main plot is about witches being murdered across the country, and Raye now being specifically targeted. The romance plot is with the out of town detective who has been investigating these murders. And the entertaining subplot is about the ghosts who need to move on. Raye's father and best friend play fairly big roles, and the out of town detective has connections to some of Handeland's other characters. This felt like a big, sprawling universe. It was entertaining and fun.

The second book [b: Heat of the Moment|6612675|In the Heat of the Moment|Kim Dare|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1247485009s/6612675.jpg|6806699] (and don't think I don't love these titles) is about Becca, another small town girl, this time a veterinarian who can communicate with animals. The main plot remains that of the murdered witches. The romance plot is with her teenaged boyfriend Owen who has returned, injured, from his military job along with his MWD Reggie. (Owen left because he "wasn't good enough" for Becca and still thinks that. I eat up that sort of plot with a spoon. Loved it.) The subplot was less distinct than the first book, having more to do with the main plot as it involves Owen's mother. But there's also some darling moments with Reggie and Becca being able to understand him, which made the book fun. There were, again, plenty of secondary characters involved, some good, some bad.

The third book [b: Smoke on the Water|1915401|Smoke on the Water|Brian Daley|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1434561190s/1915401.jpg|1917429] is about the third sister, Willow. When it opens she's a patient in a mental health facility, there because she had a vision of a man killing her, branding her, then setting her body on fire (as the witch killers have been doing) and when she saw that man she killed him first. Her only friend is Mary, the mother of Owen from book 2. The first half of this book overlapped book 2 and explained a lot; I enjoyed it even if it didn't seem to move the plot forward at all. The second half had Willow meeting her sisters and almost instantly accepting everything she'd been told about witches. The romance plot was with Sebastian--her psychologist--and see below for how much I hated that. There was no subplot. There were few other characters, so it was simple to know which ones were the witch hunters.

[Note: At 25% through the book the male protagonist (the love interest)--who is a practicing psychologist and administrator of a mental health facility--has more than once referred to his patients as "cuckoo" or some variation. He also has sexual and romantic feelings that he is slowly acting upon toward the main female character who happens to be a patient in that facility and a personal patient of his. So right now all I think is that he's skeevy and ableist and I kind of hate him. Not a great way to put forward a love interest.]

The second half of this book rushed to the ending, cramming as much sex, love, and happily ever after as it could. We're talking marriages, insta-babies, and ghost-wolf love reunions. To be honest, I started wondering if this book was finished by a different author, that's how bad it was.

So while I can recommend books 1 and 2 I cannot recommend book 3 unless you are a completist and absolutely must know what happens.

[I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.] ( )

Abandoned under a bridge in a park as a baby, the heroine spent her childhood goes from foster home to foster home, always being rejected from her new family because of her strange fits when she's in the presence of water. In fact, the heroine has always had a strange complex relationship with water. On one hand, it calls to her, mesmerizes her-urging her to look into what it has to show her. But on the other hand she's always feared the visions she receives so she avoids bodies of water as much as she can. She knows she's not crazy. When she's charged with murder after killing a guy whom she saw in a vision planned to cut and burn her, she's admitted into a mental health facility for the criminal insane. There, she's content enough to spend her days away from the general public. Until the man of her visions finally comes to her. She's seen the hero many times in the past, kissed him, been intimate with him and even fell in love with him all the while never having truly met the man. Now, he's her doctor. And though she knows he's her soul mate, that he feels just as connected to her, it's forbidden for him to even consider entering into a relationship with one of his patients. The hero is new to the psychologist career and his position as head of the facility but he knows enough that he feels towards the beautiful inmate isn't right, it isn't professional. So he tries to distance himself from her as much as he can. But something always drags him back. When the heroine befriends another patient, the heroines magic starts to truly solidify and she ends up teleporting the woman of the hospital. Slowly, the heroine begins to remember things about her past and about the men who hunt her kind and have arisen and are the hunt for her. One night the heroine ends up transporting herself and the hero into the company of her long lost sisters. Though the hero is reluctant to believe all this talk of witchcraft and time travel and ghosts and mother wolfs, soon he can't deny what type of world he's stumbled into. And though he has no horse in the race against the enemy, there's no possible way he's going to let the heroine out of his sight. I liked this book, but not nearly as much as I liked the first 2 in the series. The beginning of this book was awesome. I loved the forbidden doctor patient sexual tension. I loved the hero, so big and strong yet so vulnerable with trying to find his place in the scheme of things while dealing with his powerful obsession with the girl who thinks she has visions. I began to lose interest after she's reunited with her sisters because it became a bit rushed. It was the final part of the trilogy so everything needed to be wrapped up and it became less and less about the hero and heroine's romance and more about the big final battle with the witch hunters. Because of that, I felt it was a bit of a let down considering how much I adored the first two books. Still I found this to be a great series with nice characters and deep and long lasting emotion connections between each sister and her man. ( )

*Received this book for the purpose of an honest review. Review as NOT influenced by this fact.*

*Review will be cross-posted to MyBookAddictionandmore.com.*

Fans of Lori Handeland already know that any book she writes will leave you eager for more. Smoke on the water is no different. The characters are wonderfully written and very engaging. The storyline is fast-paced, fun, at times a bit emotional or touching, and overall a fascinating read. While this is part of a trilogy to some extent you can read it as a stand alone. I must say I don't recommend it, only because the emotions will be much stronger if you read the first two stories, In the Air Tonight and Heat of the Moment. There are also some visits from characters we love from previous stories, but don't worry you won't be lost. Lori Handeland does a wonderful job of making sure new readers are able to keep up and eager to find out more about characters. SMOKE ON THE WATER is Willow Black and Sebastian Crane's story. I have to say I was eager to find out how the trilogy would end and where Willow has been all the years she was gone, SMOKE IN THE WATER answered all the questions I had, while still leaving an opening to more stories. Willow and Sebastian have a hard road to love and happiness but you know they have to get there. I loved how Ms. Handeland portrayed those who we don't understand may not be "crazy" but may have other things going on. I loved the whole premise behind this series, 3 sisters who were sent forward in time to a place where witches aren't hunted, yet evil follows them. We watch as Willow struggles to find who she truly is and what that means for her future. We watch as Sebastian has to learn to accept things he can't explain and find his way to his own future. Most importantly we watch as 3 sisters find their way to each other and a way to battle for their lives and future. I am eager to see more from all the characters found in this new series and hope that Ms. Handeland will continue to let us be a part of their lives. SMOKE IN THE WATER will pull you into a new and engaging world that you'll hate to leave. I highly recommend this book to all fans of Lori Handeland, paranormal romances, great characters, and fascinating storylines. You'll be glad you read this one!
( )

*Received this book for the purpose of an honest review. Review as NOT influenced by this fact.*

*Review will be cross-posted to MyBookAddictionandmore.com.*

Fans of Lori Handeland already know that any book she writes will leave you eager for more. Smoke on the water is no different. The characters are wonderfully written and very engaging. The storyline is fast-paced, fun, at times a bit emotional or touching, and overall a fascinating read. While this is part of a trilogy to some extent you can read it as a stand alone. I must say I don't recommend it, only because the emotions will be much stronger if you read the first two stories, In the Air Tonight and Heat of the Moment. There are also some visits from characters we love from previous stories, but don't worry you won't be lost. Lori Handeland does a wonderful job of making sure new readers are able to keep up and eager to find out more about characters. SMOKE ON THE WATER is Willow Black and Sebastian Crane's story. I have to say I was eager to find out how the trilogy would end and where Willow has been all the years she was gone, SMOKE IN THE WATER answered all the questions I had, while still leaving an opening to more stories. Willow and Sebastian have a hard road to love and happiness but you know they have to get there. I loved how Ms. Handeland portrayed those who we don't understand may not be "crazy" but may have other things going on. I loved the whole premise behind this series, 3 sisters who were sent forward in time to a place where witches aren't hunted, yet evil follows them. We watch as Willow struggles to find who she truly is and what that means for her future. We watch as Sebastian has to learn to accept things he can't explain and find his way to his own future. Most importantly we watch as 3 sisters find their way to each other and a way to battle for their lives and future. I am eager to see more from all the characters found in this new series and hope that Ms. Handeland will continue to let us be a part of their lives. SMOKE IN THE WATER will pull you into a new and engaging world that you'll hate to leave. I highly recommend this book to all fans of Lori Handeland, paranormal romances, great characters, and fascinating storylines. You'll be glad you read this one!
( )

Received via NetGalley from Smith Publicity in exchange for an honest and completely unbiased review.

Also posted on Silk & Serif

Smoke on the Water is the second installment of the Sisters of the Craft series.

After many months of build up around the Taggart sisters and the Venatores Mali we finally got to see how the entire story ends. I am actually sad to see this series end. The lack of witchery the Sisters of the Craft series centered around was a breath of fresh air.

“I feel as if I know you,” he said. “Better than I can know you. Like I’ve always known you. Like we were … destined.” “We were.” He shook his head, and my chest began to ache. He was going to deny this, deny us, and then what would I do? “This is…” His lips tightened. “I want to say insane, but it’s … not. What would be insane would be to continue to refute everything I’ve seen, all that we’ve done. All that I feel.” “I’ve been waiting for you,” I said. “I didn’t know it, but I was waiting for you too.”

As with the first novel, the second was centered around Becca who is a normal girl, in a normal town. It appears Handeland turns away from this formula with Smoke in the Water.

Willow is an orphan found beneath a Black Willow tree. She never stays long in any foster home, is branded as insane and ends up in a mental hospital. It is here she meets Mary, a woman who hears voices of a man named Roland who caused her to attempt to kill her son Owen. She also meets the man she has been seeing in her visions since a young age: the man with whom she is meant to fall in love and who will save them all. Her story leads her to meet her sisters Raye and Becca and together they must defeat Roland before he exacts his revenge on the Taggart family.

I enjoyed Owen much more in book three because he seemed much less the soldier from Afghanistan and more the protective fiance of Raye. I felt like as a character Owen was more likeable and had under gone some major character development behind the scenes. Becca is learning how her powers work and struggling to control her newest abilities (spoiler, so I won't discuss this here). I didn't feel like Becca made any major developments beyond "forgiving" her parents for saving her from a life in the system as Willow experienced.

While all the characters were more enjoyable in book three, I hated Sebastian. He was a terrible shrink and a terrible person. One of the first things he does as a Director is look at employee files and mentally start tearing down those who work for his institution. He judged his employees on their files and not on work performance which is a grave error for any new Director. The fact that he behaves inappropriately with a patient is even more disturbing. Finally, he's superficial:

"Zoe looked up from her computer, her eyes appearing goggly through thick lenses. He wondered if she’d talked to anyone about Lasik. He didn’t imagine it was easy to get dates with glasses like that. Being short and pudgy probably didn’t help either."

Seriously? Such a professional. I get the novels are trying to touch on three very different women with very distinct love interests and I think that's great. I just didn't enjoy Sebastian which is personal preference. I like nice people.

Personally, I feel like the Sisters of the Craft could have been stretched into a four book series. The moment Willow and Sebastian get together the whole plot speeds along to the conclusion. I felt like the bonding between the sisters needed more time to develop and Willow's almost pathetic need to be part of a family really clashed with her "tough" persona. I would have liked a more realistic time period for the relationships between sisters to grow as Heat of the Moment gave us. The sisters don't even meet Willow until just before they meet up with Roland! I assume this not the author's fault and only so much could be included in the novel without it being too long.

I definitely expected more Jager-Suchers action. I haven't read Handeland's other work, but I'm hoping the Jager-Suchers are a huge part of it so I can get to know the characters affiliated with that group.

.This series will appeal to those who enjoy novels involving witchcraft, magic, family discovery, romance and the paranormal. If you're looking for an easy read that pulls you in and keeps you there until the end, then The Sisters of the Craft series is for you. ( )