Review: Mystery and Romance with a Bang
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 23, 2014
REVIEW:After finishing the first in the Paranormal Personnel sage, I was dying to know the fate of Julie and Nathaniel’s relationship. The sequel digs deep into their relationship, challenging Nathaniel and having Julie question if an Elf can really be with a vampire.Past the Witching Hour follows Julie a half elf and half human who is trying to move forward after her break up with Nathaniel La Caz, a vampire and Owner of La Caz Corporation. But after a terrible death at a company-networking event Nathaniel sneaks his way back into her life. But a relationship between a vampire and Elf is not heard of and they must face some pretty big challenges and dangers if they want to be together. Especially when Nathaniel’s enemy is waiting for the right moment and Julia’s best friend is having a break down, the duo can’t seem to catch a break.Julia is a tough cookie who seems to just be in a rut of bad luck. After her boss Rufus goes missing Julia feels that she has to step in, her gilt about her relationship possibly causing his disappearance hit her hard. But that’s not her only problem, when her best friend Ella sees a crime of paranormal and she remembers everything. The strongest part of the story for me was the focus on Ella’s and Juila’s friendship, seeing if they could survive the truth and lies that Julia has had since they were young. I enjoyed seeing the human and paranormal interaction, I’m curious as to how Ella will move forward. .Julia’s character has grown so much since the first book as well, learning from mistake and doing her best to help people she cares the most for.Nathaniel wasn’t my favorite this time around, I felt Julia was at her best when she was away from him. Even her grandmother realizes the dangers and sacrifices that Julia would have to make by being with him. But he doesn’t see what his heart is trying to tell him and that his mistake may lose him Julia forever. What I did love about him is we get more insight into his family, meeting his sister and his father pops in as well.Overall, I enjoyed the mystery and friendship that was focused on in this book. There were some twist that had me guessing and I just hope that Julia can get through the next challenge that’s thrown at her. The only flaw I noted in this one compared to the first was more grammatical errors and the romance was not what I was hoping for. As I mentioned before the high points were Julia solving the big mystery, dealing with Ella and having to meet with her ex that just won’t go away. The ending was actually a plus for me as I feel that it was for the best, Mazurkiewicz really knows how to end her books with a tense and surprising tone.RECOMMENDATION:This is an adult novel with lots of sexual and adult content that is for mature readers 18+. Fans of Hannah Jayne’s Supernatural Detective Agency series and Phillipa Bornikova’s Linnet Ellery series will love Past Witching Hour by Joanna Mazurkiewicz.