Watchkeeper, the third book in the Phantom Lovers series, focuses on Gwendolyn Wyse, Amy’s friend from Shadowkeeper. Fighting to preserve her marriage, Gwen goes away for the weekend on a second honeymoon after casting a love spell to spice things up. She gets way more excitement than she bargained for when the spirit of a notorious 18th century pirate sails into her life, along with a mystery involving buried treasure and an unresolved grudge between long-dead pirates.

Gwen, unaware of her true beauty, strength, and power as both a woman and a witch, believes in playing it safe and not taking any chances or risks. She wants it all, especially love, but is too afraid to let go of the past and trust or have faith in anyone to experience it, including herself. Because of a traumatic and destitute childhood, nothing is more important to Gwen than having security and stability. More often than not, she ends up making poor and uninformed choices all to preserve her bubble of security and stability that does little to fulfill her or make her happy. So, she lives a half life being fearful and insecure and not really reaching out with open arms for the things she secretly yearns for and wants in life more than anything: a man who loves and desires her completely, excitement, and being a confident and powerful witch. When tragedy strikes, Gwen casts another spell that has unforeseen consequences, namely bringing the spirit of Stede Bonnet into her life.

Stede Bonnet was a man of learning, honor, and integrity, who sailed the seas as a privateer until tragedy threw his life off course. Consumed with guilt and pain, he gave himself over to a life of piracy and debauchery and turned his back on trying to live a righteous life within the bounds of society, which ended with him being publicly hanged for piracy. Lost in the present and adapting to the 21st century, Stede works with Gwen to find his buried treasure and help her save a loved one. Along the way, Stede begins to connect with the man he once was and finds himself longing to be once again. As Gwen and Stede grow closer, she draws out Stede’s honor, integrity, and gentleness, while he helps Gwen to see herself as a beautiful, caring, desirable, and powerful woman and witch.

I’m giving Watchkeeper 4.5 tombstones out of 5. As the novel progresses, Gwen emerges from a deeply rooted fear of loss, abandonment, and risk taking to become the confident and powerful woman and witch that she was born to be. What I loved most about Watchkeeper is that for the first time in the Phantom Lovers series, we get to see things from the hero’s perspective as well as the heroine’s throughout the novel, adding another layer of emotional depth and intensity to the story. The chemistry and emotional connection between Gwen and Stede is intense and burning hot with love scenes that do much to reveal Gwen’s character and to show her growth and coming into her own. Over the course of the novel, Gwen learns that having the things you want require sacrifice and that love is a risk that is well worth taking. The parts of the novel that deal with Stede’s adjustment to the difference between his time and Gwen’s time is entertaining and provide more humor in this book than in the first two. It was a nice change of pace. As with the first two books, Watchkeeper has first-rate description and suspense, as well as lovely use of language for Stede’s voice.

Book Stats:

• e-book, digital format
• Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
  
• Book Length: Novel
  
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9781419917288
  

To purchase an electronic copy of Watcheeper click here.

Books in the Phantom Lovers series in the order they should be read:
Gatekeeper
Shadowkeeper
Watchkeeper

To visit the author’s website go here.

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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