Going Under by Lauren Dane (Bound by Magick #3)
February 5, 2013
Paranormal Romance
Berkley

Reviewed by Mandi

I recently discovered this series and read the first two books and really enjoyed them. Lauren Dane has created a really nice paranormal world mostly filled with witches, but other supernaturals as well. While each book features a new hero and heroine, the world has been building up the past two books. This book really dives into what would happen if witches were suddenly outed to the public.

Shifters and other creatures have already came out of hiding, but witches had been living in secret but now no more. And things are dire. Witch hunts are in full force. The author holds nothing back as serious violence erupts and many, many innocents are killed. I really appreciated the fact that the author sets such a realistic (or at least what I would picture) scene if this were to happen. Not only are the witches dealing with immanent danger from pro-human groups, but in the last book we saw the Magister come through (a very evil force) and wipe out many people. They are bruised, battered and very scared. And this is where our hero and heroine come into play.

Gage is part of the Hunter team (security team) for Clan Owen, the biggest witch clan in the Seattle area. He is obviously stretched thin trying to keep those close to him safe. As the head witch tries to go on television and create good publicity, it’s hard to get her message across. Molly Ryan is a recently outed witch who just lost her job from a company she created because she is a witch. Extremely angered, she decides to take her PR skills to Clan Owen and become their new spokesperson, which is desperately needed. Gage sets her up with security detail, but as the situation becomes even more violent and death threats are tossed at Molly, he takes her security very personally (and steals her heart! awww!)

While I still greatly enjoy the world building in this series, I have to say I didn’t like this book as much as the first two – more specifically I didn’t like the romance as much. In previous books Gage is very…outgoing and flirty in a sense. His character in this book fell a little flat for me. I wanted him to have a bit more swagger or charm around him. He is a really good guy, and has his sexy moments, but I wasn’t totally satisfied. However, most of my frustration came from Molly. I noticed this in the first two books but in this book it really was prevalent. And the “it” I’m talking about is how know it all the heroine is. She is pretty perfect. Everyone adores her. She schools people on what’s what. She lectures them. People tell her how amazing and wonderful she is the entire book. It got so old. I’m all for female power, but this was too over the top. We get that she is smart and does her job well. I didn’t need to be reminded of this every chapter.

Because of all of that I just felt their romance fall a little flat for me. But I love the direction the world is going and I look forward to book four for sure.

Rating: C+

Recent Reviews:
Love to Read For Fun – B
My Keeper Shelf – 5/5
Under the Covers – 4/5
Fiction Vixen – B+
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