Thief of Light by Denise Rossetti

I started reading Ms Rossetti’s stories a few years ago. She builds incredible fantasy worlds that blend magic and sensuality seamlessly. Thief of Light is no exception.

The hero is an opera singer with the power to compel and control with is voice. A gift from the gods that is both blessing and curse as he can never be sure someone loves him for who he is or because he compelled them (or of course because he’s super-hot and famous).

The heroine is a single mother who’s worked her butt off to be a successful business woman running a high class brothel (I do love a brothel story—although this doesn’t focus on the intimate workings of the brothel).

As the two of them try to negotiate a relationship that goes beyond simple desire there is also a plot by someone in power to capture the air witch. There’s a necromancer, selkies, more magic than you can wave a wand at, hot sex, pseudo-science in the form of techno mages, a giant living Lilly pad city, romance, and did I mention the simmering tension between the hero and heroine?

This book is number 2 in a series, but Thief of Light worked as a stand-alone.

In the subtropical city of Caracole, Erik the Golden is widely known as irresistible—his Voice an instrument of incredible pleasure. But the Voice is a curse as much as a blessing, for once Erik used it to steal a soul, and now he must pay.

Pruella Takimori McGuire is the business manager for the beautiful courtesans of the Garden of Nocturnal Delights. She deals in numbers, not Magick, and when Erik turns his charms in her direction, she sees only vanity, not a golden gift. If Erik cannot use his power to win Prue’s heart, how can he truly possess her?

And all the while, a far darker power corrupts the foundations of Caracole—the Necromancer, who feasts on souls. When the Necromancer’s hired assassin kidnaps Prue, Erik must harness his air Magick to recover the woman he has come to love more than life itself.

Amazon : Booktopia : Book depository

This review has been written as part of WInk Girls commitment to the 2012 Australian Women Writers Challenge. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Australian-Women-Writers/176862202396763
http://www.australianwomenwriters.com/p/australian-women-writers-book-challenge_25.html