The back blurb of Seduced by Magic compares McCray’s books to Laurell K Hamilton’s, and perhaps that’s true, but one thing that completely disturbs me about this series is the skanky villain sex. Yuck and double yuck. The villains in this series are nasty and gross and I certainly don’t want to spend intimate moments with them.

A quick recap: The world is in imminent danger of falling victim to some horrid demons. Silver (the heroine of Forbidden Magic) and her sister Copper are powerful witches, and with the help of Tuatha D’Dannan warriors, hope to defeat the demon Formorii and their leader, the warlock Darkwolf.

For the past year – when all the excitement has occurred – Copper has been trapped in a magic bubble with the Fairies, Pixies, Brownies, Undines, and the Dark Elves (the Drow). Copper has tried spell after spell, but nothing has released her from her Otherworld prison. One day, she just feels that something will work. Her spell works all right, it brings the D’Dannan warrior Tiernan into her prison with her. Tiernan has been working with Silver and her mate Hawk (another D’Dannan warrior) to beat back the Formorii. In order to save her friends, Silver was forced to use gray rather than white magic, which has not only made her vulnerable to Darkwolf, it resulted in banishment from her coven.

Tiernan literally falls onto Copper, whom he recognizes from pictures in Silver’s home. He has secretly lusted after her picture, but must marry a nice Fae girl for the honor of his family. Being trapped with Copper is a distraction he can’t afford, and while they are trapped, the battle continues outside. Tiernan must deliver all the current news to Copper, and some of it devastates her.

Ultimately Copper frees them through sex magic as neither can keep their hands off the other. Tiernan is a practical guy, however, and believes that he must still marry his Fae bride, even when it’s abundantly clear they are not suited for each other.

McCray is one of those authors who got her start writing Romantica, so much of the book is filled with scorching sex scenes – villains and all. Still, Copper and Tiernan must eventually fight the bad guys and after some near misses, manage to come out on top.

Neither of these characters captured my interest. Copper has a sarcastic sense of humor and basically does whatever she wants, when she wants. She makes some incredibly stupid decisions in dealing with Darkwolf and the Formorii. At least Tiernan was finally able to realize his errors regarding his fiancé, thankfully. But his thickheadedness didn’t win him any points, either.

My basic problem with this book is that sex doesn’t equal emotional connection for me. I never felt connected to these characters, nor did I believe the characters were truly connected to each other. I had the same problem with the previous book. Fans of this author will no doubt enjoy this book far more than I did, which is great. As for me, this author’s style obviously doesn’t work for me, so I will happily move on to something else.