Review: In the Air Tonight by Lori Handeland (ARC) @SMPRomance

Title: In the Air Tonight (Sisters of the Craft #1)
Author: Lori Handeland
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (Macmillan)
Release Date: June 2, 2015
Acquired Via: NetGalley
Four centuries ago, in a small Scottish village, three baby girls escaped the wrath of a witch hunter. Today, one young woman will learn about her secret history, her heart's destiny, and the sisters she never knew she had...

With her blue-black hair and dark eyes, Raye Larsen has never fit in with the Scandinavian community of New Bergin, Wisconsin. Being adopted is part of the reason she feels like an outsider, but what really sets Raye apart is her ability to see dead people. Everywhere.

She’s learned to keep her visions to herself . . . until she stumbles onto the ghost of a murder victim who needs Raye’s help. Enter Bobby Doucet, a distractingly handsome homicide detective who has been tracking a killer all the way from New Orleans. Could this be the break in his case he’s been looking for all along?

Meanwhile, the deeper Raye gets involved with the case—and with Bobby—the closer she comes to unlocking the mystery of her own origins. What she discovers about herself could destroy everything she knows . . . and everyone she loves. Is finding the truth worth the risk?

My Review

It should come as no surprise that I immediately wanted to read In the Air Tonight, as it involves three sister witches. As it has more than a few commonalities with my guilty pleasure Charmed, In the Air Tonight was a quick and entertaining read for me.

At first I was a little worried, because some of the phrasing is a little awkward so it would jerk me out of the story when I would have to reread a sentence two or more times to figure out what was going on. After enough times, I guess my brain finally caught on that the sentences weren't necessarily fragments, but just referencing the sentence or two before. In the Air Tonight is also told in alternating points of view, with Raye's parts in first person and everyone else's in third. It was an odd mix that also took some adjustment time. So, the beginning was a little rough for me, but it smoothed out and the story flowed nicely except for a few small parts. There was an unequal distribution of information given to the reader, but the scenes of info-dumping actually made sense to the story, so it wasn't that bad.

I really liked the mystery aspect of hunting down the serial killer and trying to figure out his motivation. I had a ton of possible scenarios, but didn't actually guess what was going on with the actual murderer. Also, it was obvious that the history in In the Air Tonight was very well-researched. Handeland skillfully mixed the facts and fiction to create a mostly believable paranormal tale of witches, witch hunters, ghosts and secret societies.

My one big issue is a lack of believability about some parts. Bobby just didn't act like a cop to me, and being from Louisiana, I can't see a NOLA detective getting over a week to cover some halfway flimsy lead on a case that no one believed in. There's also some insta-love between Bobby and Raye. With their story wrapping up in one book, I guess it was kind of necessary, but I think that having their relationship progress over several novels would have been more natural.

I enjoyed In the Air Tonight, even though it had a few flaws, and immediately requested the next two novels in the trilogy. If you're like me and love witchy stories, especially the paranormal romance version, you should definitely pick up In the Air Tonight.

- 3.5/5 Stars -

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To satisfy FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that I each received a copy of the novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.