[Book Review] Heat Of The Moment By Lori Handeland & Boca Java Maple Bacon Morning Coffee

Title: Heat Of The Moment
Series/Universe: Sisters Of The Craft, Vol 2
Author: Lori Handeland
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: June 30th 2015
Page Count: 368 pages
Age Rating: Adult (language, violence, and semi-to-explicit sexual scenes)
How I got my hot little hands on it: Received an ARC to review
Publisher’s page: Heat Of The Moment

A spell that tore three sisters apart is broken four hundred years later, when the magic in their blood reunites them. Now, one of them will discover her gift–and reignite a love long thought lost…

Flame-haired Becca Carstairs was born to be a veterinarian. Since childhood, her affinity for animals has been special, and her healing touch nothing short of magic. But only Becca knows the truth–that she alone can hear the creatures’ voices. She’s always trusted her sixth sense…until a string of missing pets, an attempted murder, and a face from her past converge into one explosive mystery, with her at its center. Is haunted Owen McAllister, the boy who broke her heart ten years ago, related to the sinister crimes that have peaceful Three Harbors, Wisconsin, on its guard? Or is his reappearance part of the answer to questions that have troubled her all her life? As Becca delves into her strange heritage, she’ll have to fight for her life…and the man she will always love.

In the second book of this spellbinding new series, New York Times bestselling author Lori Handeland delivers breath-taking danger, desire, and the dark heart of magic.

My Review

The Sisters of the Craft trilogy follows three gifted sister witches as they learn the secret of their origins, the truth of the powers they inherited from their parents, and the evil that stalks them in their current time. I’ve previously described the first book of the series, In The Air Tonight, as Charmed meets Ghost Whisperer, the second book in the series is more like Charmed meets Dr. Dolittle – in a good way, I promise.

Becca is a small tourist town veterinarian with the ability to communicate with animals; Heat Of The Moment is her story. Becca Carstairs grew up as the oldest of four siblings in one of the oldest families in Three Harbors, Wisconsin, eventually becoming the town’s beloved veterinarian. Although she’s had an affinity for animals since a young age, she has no idea that she’s all that different from those around her. When animals go missing from town, Becca tries to do her part to find out what happened. Her attempted investigation leads her right to the door of Owen McAllister, Becca’s childhood sweetheart who only recently returned to town.

Owen McAllister enlisted right after graduation and never looked back. He’s back in Three Harbors to take care of some business; he never expected to come home to a mess of animal mutilations in his living room. He just wants to get it cleaned up and take care of what he came home to take care of, but then someone attacks Becca – there’s no way Owen can turn his back on the attempted murder of the women he’s always loved. While trying to figure out who’s behind the attack, help comes from unexpected places: a wolf with human eyes and a sister Becca never knew about. With their help Becca learns the truth about her birth and the magic that runs through her blood – and about the group of evil witch hunters out to kill her for both.

The book alternates from the first person perspective of Becca and the third person perspective of Owen. The romance between the injured vet and animal vet (I just realized they’re both technically vets – I like that, that’s cute) with a healing touch was heated from the beginning, first with the heat of old wounds from their breakup and later with the burn of passion as they can’t keep their hands off each other. The bond between Reggie, the military working dog Owen brings home with him, and Becca was cute as well – especially since for most of the book Becca doesn’t really think she can communicate with animals, she thinks she has an active imagination that makes up the voices in her head and she’s really just talking to herself.

I couldn’t put this book down, it just hooked me right in from the beginning. Great characters, magic, mystery, and romance – it’s got a bit of everything. I really love this series, I’m super excited to jump into the next book in the series and meet the next, and last, sister. I can’t wait to see the dynamic between the three once they’re all reunited.

Early in Heat Of The Moment, while having breakfast at her family’s farm house, Becca ruminates on how everything is better with bacon – I agree, so I’m recommending Boca Java Maple Bacon Morning Coffee – a  light roast coffee that taste like breakfast in a cup with hints of smoky bacon and maple syrup pancakes.