Just like the world she’s created with magic mortals, Susan Spencer Paul conjures up magic for her readers in the final book of her “Touch” series (TOUCH OF NIGHT and TOUCH OF DESIRE).  

In this final story the Dewin Mawr, Malachi Seymour, Earl of Graymar, has more or less resigned himself to a lonely life devoid of the love other clan members have found. His obligation to protect the magic mortals under his care reinforces his belief that he is not meant to have the love that others have found.  Readying himself for the prophesized return of the great evil cythraul, a more minimal threat to his clan is coming from the popular author, Miss Sarah Tamony who has been relentless in seeking an interview to research her latest book on the history of the Seymour family. A book Malachi is determined will never be written. 

After a series of refusals for an interview, Sarah Tamony is not about to be put off by the Earl of Graymar, and if he will not consent to an interview then she would just discover on her own what she needed.  In a brash move, Sarah sneaks onto his property of Glain Tarran to prove the existence of a ring of monolith stones similar to Stonehenge rumored to be there. Malachi is justly furious when he catches her, and although dressed as a boy the beautiful Sarah Tamony simply takes his breath away. Malachi knows she is not a magical being but senses magic around her and when the Guardians deign to involve Sarah with the clues for his expected confrontation with the evil cythraul, Malachi is more than happy to keep in close contact with the beguiling authoress – for the good of the clan!  

Oh, it is such a delight to see how the mighty have fallen, and Spencer Paul makes it ever so enchanting when it is the Great Sorcerer, Malachi Seymour, Earl of Graymar who is about to surrender to the magic of love. Spencer Paul fills this final story to the brim with sparkling dialogs between Malachi and Sarah as he pays court to her -- not with chocolates and flowers -- but with amazing magical experiences no other mortal would ever even think of, let alone participate in. One can almost imagine the sites and experiences open to Sarah by the richly detailed prose, the well-developed characters, and emotional moments. Almost as enjoyable as seeing Malachi succumb to love was the secondary romance between the darkly evil Morcar Cadmoran and Sarah’s cousin Philistia which was quite emotional in intensity. On the lighter side and definitely not to be missed were the altercations and delicious dealt insults (as well as other flying objects) the two great Sorceress’ Desdomona, and Serafina would hurl at one another whenever they met. 

All in all, this was a fabulous read with magic, intrigue, humor, emotion and passion – in short, a total entertaining package that I highly recommend.

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Posted January 2007