Darker Paths: A Paranormal Witch Romance (Enemies to Lovers Southwest Supernatural Love Story)

This is the second in her Witches of Canyon Road series, the first of which is Hidden Gifts. As established in the first book, the female lead, Miranda, has been sent to the Castillo clan to marry Rafe Castillo. This was an agreement made by her parents with the Prima (or head of a clan) of the Castillos since before Miranda was born. That book dwells on the development of a growing attraction between the two. Unfortunately, a dark warlock, Simon, who is obsessed by Miranda, manages to wreck their wedding by casting a spell on Rafe to make him reject Miranda at the altar. Miranda, who’s’ developing witch powers she’s never had in her life, teleports away from the wedding. She ends up at Simon’s apartment where he tells her that he’s a warlock (which he’s managed to hide from everyone) and that he wants to help Miranda and to further develop her powers. Darker Paths starts out where Hidden Gifts left off. Still in Simon’s apartment, Miranda is starting to question her decision to go off with Simon to learn to further develop her powers. Still hurting from Rafe’s humiliating, public rejection of her, she throws caution to the winds and decides to go. Simon takes her to a town near Santa Fe and to a luxurious mansion, where he helps her learn to both control her powers and to learn new ones. Little does she know, Simon has his own agenda in wanting to “help” her. Meanwhile, Rafe and his sister, Cat, are furiously searching for Miranda but with little idea of where to start. At this point Rafe has no memory of the spell that Simon cast on him nor can he remember anything about Simon. Rafe and Cat try everything, including talking to some of Santa Fe’s ghosts. Slowly a picture starts to form of what happened to Rafe and what could possibly be happening to Miranda. As Rafe continues his search, Simon soon takes drastic, even fatal, actions to make sure he and Miranda remain hidden. The question remains, however, if and when will Miranda figure out Simon’s true nature and, more importantly, what will she do about it when she finds out. There are truly hair-raising moments in this book near the end. I had no idea certain things were coming and was both horrified and impressed has events enfolded themselves. This is a great read and I can’t wait for the next one!

Darker Paths picks up almost immediately where Hidden Gifts ended. Miranda is in Simon’s apartment after being rejected at the alter by Rafe. Together they leave Santa Fe and head to a new place to hide out, so Simon can help Miranda with her abilities. As the days pass and Simon tutors Miranda in her new found magical abilities the Castillo Clan are frantically searching for Miranda. Meanwhile, Miranda begins to feel that something isn’t right. Follow the continued adventure of Miranda, Simon, and Rafe. Miranda and Rafe go through their own journeys to set things right and find each other once again. I was sent an ARC copy of this book but it no way affects my opinions on the book. This was a great read, one that kept my on the edge of my seat with each chapter. The relationships between the characters was a great read. In this story there is a lot of growth to be seen in Miranda, not just magical wise but as a person. She becomes more confident and defiant but there’s still a softness to her. She’s a character that I easily connected to in some aspects of her life. I highly recommend this book, anything by Christine Pope is always wonderful to read. There were a few unexpected twists and turns that have left me in anticipation for the next book!

Ugh another cliffhanger!! I was disappointed that the first book in the series had a cliffhanger ending and even more so with Darker Paths. I had a difficult time connecting with Miranda in this book…she seemed just kind of clueless and wishy washy about dealing with the fallout from her non wedding to Rafe and then learning about using her gifts from Simon. Rafe and Miranda both show some growth as the book progresses. Pope writes a very evil character in Simon and while the reader can see it coming it is still a little startling when his true colors are shown. I wanted both the younger Castillo siblings to grow a pair and knock the Prima, Genoveva, down a peg or two. But then the cliffhanger ending….I will confess to intensely disliking cliffhangers but I will continue to read the series because I am now invested in it.