Shadow Spell

Shadow Spell is a novel by the American writer Nora Roberts, published in 2014 and one of a set of books about the same family and friends in County Mayo.

The circle in the book is made of cousins, siblings and childhood friends, several of whom work magic, and the novel is as interested in the practical life of the group as in the romance: the hawk walks, the stables, the family business and the ordinary evenings are all given proper room. What drives Connor and Meara together is also what the group is up against, since there is an enemy in the story whose history with the family goes back generations, and the coupling and the confrontation are arranged to happen at the same time. Roberts has written romances with supernatural elements for most of her career, and this series is one of the later ones; it is set in Ireland, and the county, the weather and the tourist trade are used to make the magic feel local rather than imported.