I liked a good deal of Lighting in Her Hands, which gives us a peek into a dysfunctional family of witches who are struggling with a broken coven. The complicated heroine, her struggles, and the worldbuilding are all great, and the angst factor is high. But the romance has spates of only being so-so, and sometimes the heavy family drama really slows its progress. While overall, it’s not my favorite among Vasquez Gilliland’s books, this one is still a decent outing.

Former fitness instructor Teal Flores’ final memory of her mother is of her leaving Teal and her siblings at a very young age to “go on a long trip.” As an adult, Teal is still grappling with the emotional difficulties this left her with, which means she’s bad at holding established relationships and thinks herself unlovable. The fact that she’s a witch with little to no control over her powers just makes things worse. The weather around her is connected to her emotions, so if she’s sad, it pours. And she can cause lightning to strike when she’s really angry.

Teal and Carter Velasquez have been best friends since they were literally in Pampers, but they’ve been estranged since the summer before, when Carter gave Teal a life-changing kiss and she panicked and jumped into a new relationship with someone else. That man, Andre, has dumped Teal and a previous boyfriend was abusive to her emotionally. She wants to convince Carter to take her to her sister Sage’s wedding to Nate (heroine and hero of the first book in the series, Witch of the Wild Things). Carter agrees – and Teal is shocked when he proposes to her on the morning of the ceremony.

It turns out Carter has an ulterior motive. His Aubuelo, Gene, has left him a chunk of money in his will, but it’s being held in the trust of his wife, Erika. Carter won’t get the cash unless he ties the knot by the age of thirty. He offers to split the money with Teal. The marriage won’t be ‘real’ of course. And it will be purely sexless.
Teal agrees to the fake relationship, to the fake cohabitation, although it’s pretty clear things will never be purely platonic between them. Soon they’re stuck trying to figure out if what they feel is real or just lust.

There’s a decent crackle of sensuality buried at the heart of Lightning In Her Hands, but the relationship is pretty weak for the most part. I could buy Teal and Carter as childhood friends and I bought their mutual lust, but the love feels as though it’s coming almost entirely from his side. The low-obstacle, low-tension situation – all of the plot conflict being driven by Teal’s total self-loathing – also makes it difficult to get to know Carter very well. He’s basically there to be sweet and love her, which is nice but not compelling.

Teal, however, is a great heroine. I found her hobby of repeatedly turning to Reddit for advice funny, her struggles and realistic reaction to her previous abuse relatable. Rebuilding Teal as a heroine when she slept with her sister’s boyfriend six months before this book begins was always going to be heavy sledding, but the author does perfectly well with her. Teal’s conflicted feelings about her grandmother and mother, her fights with her mean ex-best friend; all of this is enthralling, and I really appreciated the bipolar representation the author gives us.

Carter is a little more elusive as a character, and he isn’t well-rounded. He has a big family, he loves and is good at his job, but I didn’t get to know him as well as I knew Teal by the end of the book, which made me like him less.

Lightning in Her Hands has great worldbuilding, solid representation, and a strongly written flawed heroine – but the romance is just middling, and would have put the book in the C range had it not been for the outstanding character work and lovely story about sisterhood that reminded me of Practical Magic. Those things pull the grade up slightly and mean I can offer a qualified recommendation.