Jove (Paperback), ISBN 0-515-12886-4
I admire a person who takes on the challenge of confronting stereotypes and turning them on their heads -- certainly not an easy task. Donna Fletcher builds a modern world of magic and witchcraft that completely dispels the images of evil hags and human sacrifices that plague our cultural history.

Magical Memories introduces us to The Ancient One, a witch older than history and more powerful than any of her ilk. She personifies peace, love and good will. But The Ancient One would come off a lot more realistic if she and all the other witches in the book didn't preach so dang much. Fletcher makes sure we know that witches stand for GOOD. They respect and bond with NATURE. They NEVER harm anyone. Unfortunately, she tells us this over and over and over again.

The Ancient One, a.k.a. Tempest, decides to drive home from her sister's wedding. Her driving experience spans all of two days and to make matters worse, a snow storm envelopes her car. Not too far from home, she runs down a pedestrian. The man she runs into, Michael, holds within him the soul of her former lover, Marcus, a warlock. The term "warlock," as Fletcher tells us almost as many times as she tells us witches stand for good, refers to any magic user who espouses the dark side of power -- the opposite of love.

The rest of the book chronicles Michael's burgeoning awareness of Marcus and how he deals with his darker side. Tempest repeatedly worries about what choices Michael will make. Will he fall victim to Marcus' dark power or will he embrace the magic of love? But like most guys, Michael focuses more on getting lucky with Tempest than worrying about his inner warlock.

When I first started reading Magical Memories it enchanted me -- a nice story, fun characters, interesting plot. Then the lectures about The Craft and about Goodness and about Love came and wouldn't leave. Finally, they just wore me out. While the story charms and entertains, it could lose about 200 pages of proselytizing.

Heather Firth

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