This is the follow up to 'Blood Heritage'. Unfortunately, for me it didn't come up to the same standard. I had a few issues with the first book but in this they were compounded. The female lead from book 1, Mahlia, returns and now she is married to Badger and they have a child Elaine as well as the five year old son from Badger's first marriage, Robby. Badger is not in this story very much, apart from a few cameos where he makes one flying visit and makes a few phone calls from where he is working abroad, and that is just as well. He was rather annoying in book 1 and is beyond annoying in this sequel as he has made Mahlia promise to put aside her psychic abilities - as if that would be possible - and to cut off all contact with the three witches, led by Molly, who previously saved the lives of himself, Mahlia, Robby and their book 1 helper, the Professor.

Not only that, but despite Mahila working on a doctorate, he insists that she moves to the wilds of New England, find a suitable house and have it done up ready for his return! In another more realistic story, the resulting chaos, building site mess and general stress would take up most of the book, but here is skated over as Mahlia finds a really nice realtor (estate agent in UK parlance) who happens to be connected via marriage to various craftsmen who are all really helpful and can turn up at a moment's notice to do any work, plus get it done in no time flat. Also superhelpful is the spry old lady and her children/grandchildren who can come by to do any cleaning or garden work that Mahlia needs done. Just as well, considering her childcare duties.

Mahlia suffers from headaches caused by bottling up her psychic abilities - though I don't really see how she could - and worries that Badger will blame her for Robby's increasing absorption in a couple of "imaginary friends", a little girl called Cynthia and a sea captain called Captain Bone, both of whom seem to have told Robby quite a bit about the disturbing history of the area in which they live.

The book has a very longwinded build-up and consists for about two thirds of people having conversations. Eventually a couple of really nasty scenes appear: unlike book 1, where I had been sure that the Professor was 'for the chop', in this book being a nice person is no guarantee that you won't come to a nasty end. Book 1 had reserved that fate for various villains alone. Then after Mahlia finally admits that Badger's insistence on putting the supernatural at bay is endangering herself and her family, and gets back in contact with her witch friends, they decide that Mahlia has to go to Haiti and get advice from a priestess called Mambo Livone. At that point, things start to motor and the book's pace and involvement picks up. But that is really late in the story.

I liked the sequence in Haiti and the character of Mambo Livone. However, unlike book 1, the characters of the witches, Molly in particular, didn't come over as well as before. Perhaps there were just too many characters in this story, with umpteen different ones in the community into which Mahlia had moved. And if a lot of development is spent on one in particular who is then killed off, that does tend to leave a hole in things as far less time was spent developing others, who remained ciphers.

The story is more grisly than book 1 and has a real trigger warning, stronger than the first book's, in the scene in Haiti set in a graveyard. I had a continuing problem with Mahlia also; if anything, she comes across as more of a wimp than in book 1. So I'm afraid this could only reach a 2 star "OK" rating as far as I'm concerned. ( )

We get Mahlia w/0 Badger excerpt as an unfortunate influence as she works to set up a house hold with an infant and small child in tow. Bad things have happened to children in that neck of the NY woods. ( )