Book Review of Anne Rice's The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches)

Anne Rice is one of those authors who every avid reader knows; even readers who don't enjoy paranormal novels know the name Anne Rice. She is most famous for her Vampire Chronicles series in which Interview With the Vampire and Queen of the Damned have taken precedence over the others and made their debut on the big screen in the 90's. In my opinion, Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles really kicked off the vampire obsession that is so widespread today with the likes of the Twilight series and Sookie Stackhouse series.

But did Anne Rice write any other intriguing and captivating novels besides her Vampire Chronicles? She did. The Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy is another series written by Anne Rice and the first book of the series is titled The Witching Hour. This book is not only intriguing, it is grossly beautiful. Anne Rice has a way of really sucking in her readers, pulling them right into the story as if they are standing among the romantic characters. The Witching Hour is by far a superior read to many of the other paranormal fiction series and books that I've read throughout the years.

Anne Rice paints a picture of a lineage of witches dating back to the 1600's known as the Mayfairs. Each generation boasts a Mayfair witch, and each witch is just as interesting and delicious as the last. But the Mayfair witches have an even darker secret despite being "witches"...they are served and connected to a ghostly being that people refer to as "the man". He is a spirit of sorts, but never quite defined in The Witching Hour. He seeks to serve the Mayfair witches, but turns out in the end to be not as he seems. The main character's name in The Witching Hour is Rowan Mayfair, and she is the newest generation Mayfair witch...and the most powerful of all the thirteen witches. "The man" is something that Rowan knows exists but tries her damndest to fight him off, but you'll have to read it for yourself to determine if she wins or not.

The Witching Hour is a novel by Anne Rice that I highly recommend to paranormal and romantic readers of all kinds. Just be warned - Anne Rice doesn't hold anything back in order to create a truly engrossing story. There are scenes and parts of The Witching Hour that can be a little disturbing to some (many sexual scenes and the like), but if you want to be surprised and engaged, pick up a copy of The Witching Hour and start reading it today.