Legacy of the Witch (the Portal #0.5) by Maggie Shayne

As a child, Amarrah loved her grandmother’s stories of three witches who were members of the king’s harem—but they were more than just stories. Amarrah knew she had been there with them…and now their legacy, along with an ancient box that once belonged to them, lies in her hands.

Charged with keeping the box safe, Amarrah is heartbroken when it is stolen from her while she moves to America. Years later, she is shocked to see it on TV and is determined to get it back. Tracking the artifact leads her to Sergeant Harrison Brockson, a handsome soldier who stirs memories of a man she knew centuries ago in ancient Babylon. Is Harrison the key to finding the box—or could he be her destiny?

Type: Paranormal Romance, Witches, novella
Heat: 1 out of 5
Rating: 4 out of 5

As soon as I spotted Legacy of the Witch, I had to grab it up and you know, it was a great little novella. It really does a fantastic job of setting up the world of the Portal series (which is awesome) and easing you into a storyline that can be a little complicated at times since it deals with past lives and the reincarnation of a group of sister witches.


I really liked both Amarrah, a witch searching for a scared box and Harrison, a war hero that somehow wound up with the box while serving overseas. There's a pretty instantaneous and familiar connection between them which becomes clear during flashbacks to her life in Babylon with the sister witches the series revolves around. It was really interesting to see how everything and everyone connected in both the past and the present.

The novella's pretty exciting. There's danger and mystery along the way as they hunt down the box and sort out everything that's happening around them. I'm a total greedy girl though and would have loved a little more on both her past life in Babylon and the romance in the present but really it was a great taste of the series and a fun read. If you're thinking about picking up the series I'd definitely recommend grabbing a copy of Legacy of the Witch first :)

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Maggie Shayne is best known as the New York Times bestselling author of more than 50 novels, nearly 30 novellas, a former soap writer, (The Guiding Light, As the World Turns,) a former advice columnist (Shayne on You,) and RITA Award winner. But what’s less known about her is that she’s been a practicing Witch for almost as long as she’s been a published author.

Known within the Craft of the Wise as LadyHawk the Mythmaker, Maggie studied in the Black Forest Circle Seminary for three years, earning her 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree elevations there. A licensed minister of Wicca, Maggie was later made a Craft Elder, and co-founded a new Wiccan tradition called RavenMyst Circle. Her coven, The Coven of the Redtail Hawk, turned out five new high priestesses, several of whom went on to form covens of their own, and making Maggie, according to the Old Ways, A Witch Queen.

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What do you think of introduction novellas? Do you like that little taste of the series before starting or do you like to jump right on in to the series?

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