REVIEW: The Lighthouse Keeper by Liv Rancourt
Twenty years ago, a thief stole the Ferox Cor, and now he’s dead.
Vincent Fairchild, a witch with little power beyond his charm, is tasked with finding that dangerous magical object. He’s already been pruned from his (mundane) family tree because “nice” people don’t possess even the lowest of magic. If he fails to return with the Ferox Cor, he’ll lose his place with the Witches’ Council.
Determined not to be cast aside again, Vincent travels to the West Point lighthouse, where he learns that the Witches’ Council was mistaken. Martin Gallagher, the thief, didn’t use the Ferox Cor to enrich himself, and his son is not a child. In fact, Rafe Gallagher might be the most powerful witch Vincent has ever met. Powerful, adult, and incredibly handsome.
Martin will return on Samhain when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest. He’s promised to reclaim the Ferox Cor, but doing so risks unleashing a great evil on the world. Rafe has sworn to destroy that powerful object, but if he succeeds, Vincent’s future is at risk. There’s a way forward, but to find it, Vincent must look to his heart.
Dear Ms. Rancourt,
Years ago I read and enjoyed some of your other books so that, plus a gorgeous cover and an interesting sounding blurb, made me request this book. At first, I was enjoying myself and the story fairly flew along. Then … well, I’ll get to that.
Vincent Fairchild is a handsome witch who wakes up in a dingy room with little memory of what happened the night before. Apparently he tied one on – or at least that’s what he assumes when he feels that his wrists are chafed from having been bound and there’s a silk necktie nearby. Creeping home, he finds a message directing him to attend to the powerful leader of the witches council. Uh-oh. Soon he and a weatherwitch are on their way to a remote lighthouse off the coast of Seattle to help find an amulet that controls all kinds of power.
Arriving there, they meet the family of the (presumed to be dead) man who stole the amulet twenty years ago. Rude Rafe and his mother Della have all kinds of secrets that they steadfastly refuse to divulge not matter how often Vincent asks – or doesn’t ask as he lets days go by as he blunders around trying to find the amulet and deals with an annoying local jumped-up weatherwitch with aspirations to power. Meanwhile, Vincent is intrigued by Rude Rafe whose witchly power dwarfs any Vincent has ever known. Vincent spends way too much time imagining Rude Rafe’s hands on him and wondering if Rude Rafe has ever kissed anyone. What’s going on here, where’s the amulet, and can Vincent introduce Rude Rafe to the pleasures of the flesh before time runs out? Because yes, time is running out on something.
As I said, this started off well. Told in first person by Vincent, the reader has just as much information as he does. One thing I never figured out was why the witches council waited twenty years to go after this amulet. It was so powerful. In the wrong hands it could do so much harm. So, sure, let’s wait twenty years to go get it. Vincent is a witch with a few parlor tricks he can do and a lot of money paid to him by his wealthy mundane family who cut him off as soon as his powers emerged. He enjoys men and is soon sizing up Rafe who remains rude almost to the end of the book. Vincent settles into a good working relationship with his weatherwitch companion Margaret who treats Vincent like a little brother. I enjoyed the two of them together.
The story began bogging down soon after Vincent and Margaret arrived at the lighthouse. It was obvious that Rafe and his mother Della had secrets but they wouldn’t reveal anything thus prolonging the book as frustrated Vincent and Margaret attempted to find the amulet and deal with the weather. This dragged on w-a-y t-o-o l-o-n-g. As much as Vincent wanted to find the amulet, he also got caught up mentally lusting after Rafe. Also for far too long. There’s prolonging things to build tension and there’s prolonging things far past annoyance and making me not care anymore.
Then a truly scary occurrence took place. Points for this. Once Rafe finally spilled what he was afraid was going to happen and when, the clock was ticking. Yet in so many scenes, the characters would make some decision or need to make some decision only to agree to wait until the next morning to do anything. I was mentally snapping my fingers and then verbally snapping at the characters as I read. “Get a move on!” There was also a whole long bit set in Seattle that just wandered around.
The final section of the story suddenly kicked into gear and began racing by. I immediately realized things about one character, watched “all hell break loose,” and then got tripped up by some information from out of the blue. Parts of the book did work for me but Vincent’s charm didn’t balance out Rafe’s gothic gloomy grouchiness. Sorry but no matter how many times Vincent rhapsodized about Rafe’s inner softness, for the most part, Rafe was just rude. I also didn’t believe that their relationship had progressed beyond instalust for Vincent and first relationship possessive new feelings for Rafe. The main elements of the plot were tied up somewhat but the ending was more LFN (lustful for now) with some clear indications that a sequel is planned. But honestly, I doubt I will be interested in reading it. C-
~Jayne
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