LOVE POTION #9
Claire Cross
Berkeley/Jove "Magical Love"
June 1999
ISBN# 0-515-12529-6
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"USA Today" rates Claire Delacroix
as one of today's best selling romance authors. And
it's no wonder she's garnered a praise
like this. Every year Claire turns out several
books, each receiving praise and approval from her fans and
colleagues. Writing as Claire Cross, her most recent offering
to us is "Love Potion #9". This story begins in Northern
Italy in 1420 where Gypsy fortune tellers and future seers struggle
for acceptance among those who would condemn them as witches.
Lilith is forced not only to watch her lover, Sebastian, be
put to death for a murder he insists he didn't commit, but also
to run for her very life as the towns people believe that she
put a curse on the condemned man causing him to commit such
a horrendous act. Sebastian vows to return to her as he stands
on the gallows and she vows to wait for him. And to do so, she
must find the secret to immortality.
It's 1999 and Lilith Romano is working as
a fortune teller in Toronto, Canada. She has the ability to
see ones true love just by looking in their eyes. Though she's
never been wrong, the only future she cannot tell is her own.
By now she has waited some 579 years for Sebastian to find
her but their paths seem never to cross. So Lilith decides
to concoct a potion that will bring him to her. Only it goes
awry and before she knows it crowds of men, even the paperboy,
are camped in her front yard. But none of them are her beloved
Sebastian. As the days go by she wonders why he's never come
to her in all these years. She was sure that he had to have
been reborn by now and trying to get to her. With these thoughts
in mind she finds herself face to face with a man fitting
Sebastian's description standing at her front door. Without
thinking she pulls him inside and has her way with him right
there on the floor. It's only when she comes to her senses
that Lilith realizes she's made a really big mistake because
this man claims to know nothing of Sebastian. But she's not
convinced that he's not Sebastian, just that he can't remember
being Sebastian. So she makes it her job to find ways to bring
his memory back. Only when the real Sebastian shows up Lilith
is not prepared when she has to make the choice between a
man who'd vowed to return to her, and the man who she's fallen
in love with.
Mitch Davison is completely confused and totally
drawn into this woman who's made love to him on the floor
of her home cum fortune tellers business. Not one greeting
had been exchanged before he found himself flat on his back
with the most beautiful dark haired woman he'd ever seen straddling
his hips, riding him for all it was worth. In the end, he
discovers that she'd made a great error in assuming he was
some man named Sebastian, who he'd never heard of before.
And when he finally leaves he feels guilty for having actually
enjoyed making love with this strange woman. It's that guilt,
and the fact that his dog is destroying everything in her
yard, that keeps him finding himself on her door step trying
to make up to her. Even though he's sure she's a nutcase,
as he believes fortune tellers to be, he can't help being
drawn to her. And when the real Sebastian shows up, Mitch
finds himself in a mystical battle with the Fates to win Lilith's
hand.
"Love Potion #9" is a fast paced book
full of real life situations that intermingle with things of
another realm. Lilith's constant potions, vexes and incantations
kept the story fun. And the underlying premise that there is
a love for everyone is touching. I enjoyed the characters Mitch's
kids. Jason is a little boy of 5 who has a natural tendency
towards bug and is always asking "why?". Jen is a
sweet little girl of 3 who still fears being alone from the
time her mother left her alone and crying the night she ran
out on the family. I also really connected with the antics of
their family dog, a 140 pound Irish Wolfhound named Cooley who
had more mischief on his mind than any child. Mitch's best friend
was the typical narcissist, when Lilith looks into his eyes
to see who his true love was she found it was himself. And Andrea,
Mitch's step-mother, is every kids dream come true. She's constantly
spoiling her grandkids and feeding them the four basic food
groups, chocolate, caffeine, sugar and fate. This book was fast
paced from beginning to end. And by the last page I couldn't
find one loose end. "Love Potion #9" is a lighthearted
love story full of mysticism, fantasy and providence. A delightful
read!
