Sweetwater & the Witch by Jayne Castle – Review & Giveaway
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Description:
If there’s something Ravenna Chastain knows, it’s when to end things. And after she almost winds up the victim of a cult that believes she’s a witch, it’s easy to walk away from her dead-end career, ready for a new start. But where to find a job that would allow her to use her very specialized skill set? The answer is clear: she becomes a matchmaker.
But even a successful matchmaker can’t find someone for everyone, and Ravenna considers Ethan Sweetwater her first professional failure. After nine failed dates, Ravenna knows it’s time to cut Ethan loose. But Ethan refuses to be fired as a client—he needs one final date to a business function. Since Ravenna needs a date herself to a family event, they agree to a deal: she will be his (business) date if he will be her (fake) date to her grandparents’ anniversary celebration.
What Ethan fails to mention is that attending the business function is a cover for some industrial espionage that he’s doing as a favor to the new Illusion Town Guild boss. Ravenna is happy to help, but their relationship gets even more complicated when things heat up—the chemistry between them is explosive, as explosive as the danger that’s stalking Ravenna. Lucky for her, Ethan isn’t just an engineer—he’s also a Sweetwater, and Sweetwaters are known for hunting down monsters…
Review:
Sweetwater & the Witch by Jayne Castle is the 15th book in her Ghost Hunters series. Having read the previous book in this series, I looked forward to reading this new book, even though I had not read the earlier books. One day, if time ever allows, I might go back to some of those books This takes place in Illusion Town within Harmony, which is a colonized alien world, and the underground maze in Illusion Town, has weird paranormal activity/hallucinations, with many people never escaping.
We meet Ravenna Chastain, our heroine, at the start, when she was captured by an evil cult, who considered her a witch; Ravenna actually was a profiler for the police. She managed to use some of her fire ability to escape, with the police finally arriving to arrest the cult members. Ravenna decided that she did not want to continue working at this dangerous job, and moved to Illusion Town and became a matchmaker.
Ravenna has a well-known client, Ethan Sweetwater, and wasn’t having any luck in finding a good match, with 9 unsuccessful tries. When she tries to offer him a refund, he turns her down, and insists she find him someone else; with one last match, Ethan convinces her to be his fake date to an event, and she can monitor what he does wrong. While waiting for Ethan to arrive for their date, a former date forces his way in and attempts to kill her, with her using her fire witch ability to stop him, and Ethan arriving in time to send the unconscious man elsewhere for the police to find him. Ethan alerts Ravenna that the Guild Boss, needs him to do some espionage, and she is thrilled to help.
Slowly, the chemistry between them escalates, even if Ravenna denies her feelings, since matchmakers are not allowed to date a client. Ethan, already knows he is falling hard for Ravenna, as she is the one for him. I absolutely loved Harriet, the dust bunny, who is always with Ravenna and Ethan; they were a wonderful threesome. ? The danger escalates for Ravenna, as well as Ethan’s attempts to stop a dangerous enemy trying to gain control; both of them recognize that they are indeed a match, with sizzling chemistry between them.
What follows is an exciting mysterious, intense and romantic story, with a fantastic couple in Ethan and Ravenna, and little Harriet. There is a lot of non-stop action, as we race to the climax, with lives on the line. To tell too much more would be spoilers, and I do not want to ruin it for you.
Sweetwater & the Witch was a very good paranormal mystery, great world-building, lots of fun, especially between Ravenna and Ethan, as well as Harriet. I really loved Ravenna and Ethan together. I enjoyed this story, which kept me glued to my kindle. Sweetwater & the Witch was very well written by Jayne Castle.
Reviewed by Barb
Copy provided by Publisher
“You can’t dump me,” Ethan Sweetwater said. “I’ve got a contract with this matchmaking agency. You owe me one more date.”
“To be clear,” Ravenna said, “I am not dumping you. I am trying to explain that I cannot help you.”
“I don’t believe it. When my nephew Jeff recommended you, he said you have the eye.”
“Your nephew met me one time, and that was several months ago, when I was doing criminal profiling, not matchmaking. This work is quite different.”
Actually, it was not all that different, she reflected. It turned out that criminal profiling had a lot in common with matchmaking. The emotional drivers were key.
“Maybe you’re not trying hard enough,” Ethan suggested. That was nothing less than an insult.
“I am a professional, Mr. Sweetwater,” She said coldly. “ I assure you I have given your case my closest attention. In fact, all four of us here at Ottoway, including Ms. Ottoway herself, have gone through the files several times trying to find good matches for you.”
She did not add that there were only two reason Ethan Sweetwater—aka the client from green hell—was still on the books. The primary one was the contract. It stipulated that he was to receive a minimum of ten matches. The second reason, of course, was that Bernice Ottoway, the proprietor of Ottoway Matchmakers, was desperate not to lose such a high-profile client. The Sweetwater name carried a lot of weight, not just in Illusion Town but throughout the four city-states. A successful match for a member of the notoriously private clan that controlled a huge chunk of the amber market would give Ottoway a major promotional hit. It also would do a lot for her career, Ravenna thought. Sadly, a successful outcome did not appear to be in the cards.
“We will be happy to refund your money and refer you to another agency,” Ravenna said. Mentally she crossed her fingers. Bernice Ottoway never returned a client’s money if she could help it, but surely she would understand that Ethan Sweetwater was a hopeless case.
“I don’t want to waste my time starting from scratch at another agency,” Ethan said. “I was assured that here at Ottoway the process would be efficient and professional.”
“It would have helped if you had been more forthcoming on the Ottoway questionnaire,” Ravenna said.
“Don’t try to blame this on me, Ms. Chastain.” I’m the client, remember? The customer is always right.”
He was standing in front of her desk. He reached down somewhat absently to scratch Harriet behind her ears. The dust bunny was in the process of rearranging the pens in the tray. She paused to chortle appreciatively. Ravenna stifled a groan. She and the entire staff at Ottoway might have a problem with Ethan, but Harriet’s relationship with him was just fine. Uncomplicated, she thought. Unlike me.
“I must tell you that, according to the after-action reports I received from the nine dates I arranged for you, your dating technique leaves something to be desired,” she said.
“There you go, blaming the client again. If I’ve got a technique problem, you should help me fix it.”
“Ethan adjusted his black-framed glasses, turned away from the desk, and crossed the office. He took a stance at the window overlooking the quiet residential street.
She liked watching him move, Ravenna thought. He reminded her of a specter-cat, all prowling grace and elegant strength. He had the eyes to match. They were a dark amber gold and infused with the cold heat of controlled power—the eyes of an apex predator. The amber stone in his gold signet ring was the same color.
Eyes like Ethan’s probably made some people nervous, she thought. Maybe that was the reason he chose to wear glasses. Or maybe he thought they went with the rest of his persona.
Excerpted from Sweetwater and the Witch by Jayne Castle Copyright © 2022 by Jayne Castle. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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