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Visions Of Skyfire (2011)

by Regan Hastings(Favorite Author)

3.92 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0451234979 (ISBN13: 9780451234971)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Signet Book

series

The Awakening

review 1: Teresa is a witch in a world that condemns witchcraft. She was brought up to know that one day she would have great power, but with power comes her mate Eternal, Rune. Rune and Teresa must go on a quest for an artifact to right the wrongs of the past. This is the second book in The Awakening series, but you don’t have to read the first to understand this one. The first, like the second revolves around a witch and an Eternal, but they seem to be a separate couple in each novel. I am not a huge fan so far of the Eternals. They are immortal men created to mate with a group of witches. Rune seemed too much like the Eternal in the first book, and was far too much alpha male for my taste. Granted he seems to have a good reason to be disgruntled with Teresa. Eight hundred years... more before the witches turned against their Eternals, and opened something dark and awful. The Eternals had to live through these eight hundred years watching the death and rebirth of their witches, until the awakening. My favorite thing about these books so far is the world they live in. In this modern world where witches are hunted down, we get glimpses of the president and her daughter. I am far more interested in these two characters, and what will happen to them in future books. Teresa decides she will mate with Rune, but she will not fall in love with him. Rune doesn’t mind falling in love with Teresa, but decides not to trust her. They are a couple that I didn’t fall in love with, but they do have some very frequent steamy scenes while the mating is completed. I did like them as a couple a little more than the first couple. There is a lot of telling in this book. They have a bad habit of being able to ‘sense’ things that doesn’t always feel organic to the story. This is also true to the magic. I don’t always understand the rules to the witches’ powers. There is a scene where Teresa is trying to draw up old memories, and by doing so is full of power. During this she is set on by bandits, and almost raped. What killed me about this scene is at one point she mentions the power she is full of can kill them all, but she can’t for some reason use that power. There are some things like this I didn’t fully understand, and could have been better explained. Despite the draw backs with Teresa and Rune, the world is a very interesting one, and I wonder in what direction some of the minor characters are going. At base this story is a romance, but I wasn’t always glued to the pages. It is steamy, but Rune is far to alpha for my tastes, and it is actually hard to see why Teresa doesn’t turn around and slap him occasionally. I do like the magical aspect, but wish it was more concise. -Beth (Guest Reviewer)
review 2: Rune and Teresa3.5 starsVisions of Skyfire is the second book in Regan Hastings’ The Awakening series. I did not have a chance to go back and read the first book, but because the characters are new each time I was not confused starting at book 2 of the series. Skyfire highlights another mated pair in the race to locate the missing artifact each witch had hidden so many moons ago. Each witch has a mate, her Eternal, that is set up to protect her through the centuries. The Eternals are the other half of the witch’s soul and become known to the witch once she arrives at her Awakening. With several factions of bad guys chasing each pair it is imperative they find their part of the artifact and return it to its original location before time runs out.Skyfire starts with a bang, literally. Our witch, Teresa, is aware that her Awakening is almost upon her and has gone out to the desert to work with her power. Teresa has the power to harness lightening from storms. She believes that if she works in the desert she will escape the notice of the MP (Magic Police) but they are able to find her. Rune, her Eternal, swoops in all fire and rage and rescues her from the MP. While rescuing Teresa, Rune is shot several times and injured. Eternals are immortal so being shot will not kill Run but it will hamper his ability to protect Teresa. The best way for an Eternal to regenerate their power after being injured is to have sex with their mate. So casually and matter or fact, Teresa drops her pants and Rune and Teresa get busy.Well ok then. The concept of fated mates can work well sometimes but other times the author uses it as a crutch to not develop the relationship. Rune and Teresa kind of fell in between here. There was no love at first site; in fact they both went into the relationship swearing they weren’t there to fall in love. But it was drummed into our head they had some sort of previous connection, something that drew them together and would not let them be. Teresa had been well instructed by her grandmother what was going to happen at the time of her Awakening so she knew this was coming. But still, she had no issues just hopping right on Rune and getting the deed done. It was a little abrupt and I did not feel the connection they felt. I think I needed a little more time? A little more on their backstory? I needed something that would convince me like they were convinced.What followed after that was a series of TSTL moves by Teresa almost to the point where I was ready to scream at my book. Teresa insists that she needs to go get medical help for Rune from her friend who only lives 2 blocks away. Rune thinks it is a bad idea but has no choice but to let her go. Of course while out Teresa meets up with the MP, kills a man and manages to attract attention to her friend. And then came the part that had me almost tossing the book. Teresa tells Rune he has to go to her home to rescue her bird. Her bird. She simply cannot leave without her bird. A BIRD. With all the craziness that is going on around them she wants to make sure her bird is along for the ride. The bird is not her familiar or anything like that; really it is just her pet bird. That part still flummoxes me a bit.The book calmed down after that. The focus was on Rune and Teresa completing the mating ritual and Teresa learning about her past and her current magical skills. By learning the past Teresa will be able to lead them to the location of her Artifact. These parts of the book were enlightening and entertaining. We learn a lot about the world Hastings has created and it was very intriguing.I like that there was no instant love for this pair. The 30 days they spend together is spent building a relationship. They have been together many times in the past but Teresa always betrays Rune. Rune is very distrustful of Teresa because of past betrayals. We are definitely told, over and over, that Rune doesn’t think she has changed and thinks she will fail him. I did get tired of hearing about his distrust. I got it. I got it the first 3 times he mentioned it. I felt that even though the book said they progressed, as a reader I didn’t feel they progressed. On an emotional front, that is. I would have liked to see more connection between them other than the mating sex. That was the most emphasized part.Overall, I would say this book is worth the read. The world Hastings is creating is very compelling. I would like to have some time with all of the witches and Eternals together. I am not sure that will happen simply because each pair is off completing their part of the quest. Even though she had some TSTL moments at the beginning Teresa ends up being a strong character that doesn’t disappoint. Rune is able to work through his distrust of Teresa and her past mistakes. Her final actions prove that she is a worthy mate and he is right to love her and stay with her.The setup for the next set of characters is very interesting. I look forward to picking up the next book in the series. Final grade= B-Favorite quotes:“I owe you everything.” She ran her thumb over the back of his hand. “You didn’t just give me back my aunt. You showed me who I was. Supported me. Helped me. Trained me. You’ve always been there. Always. I want you to know what that means to me.”Humbled, awed, he walked to her and carefully placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “You are the witch you were always meant to be. You are the woman who holds my heart. You are the air I breathe and the light to my darkness. You are…..everything.” less

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