Some Kind of Magic

by Theresa Weir

When Claire makes a birthday wish for a little excitement, she gets more than she bargained for. Dylan, a wounded survivor from an airplane wreck, comes crashing into her life, kidnaps her, and demands to be taken to her remote Idaho cabin. Assuming Dylan is an escaped convict, Claire proceeds to handcuff him to the bed. It's a curious beginning to a beautiful romance. As Claire and Dylan express their true feelings, Dylan also reveals his real identity along with other secrets from his mysterious past...

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Theresa Weir (a.k.a. Anne Frasier) is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of novels and numerous short stories that have spanned the genres of suspense, mystery, thriller, romantic suspense, paranormal, fantasy, and memoir. During her award-winning career, she's written for Penguin Putnam, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins Publishers, Bantam Books/Random House, Silhouette Books, Grand Central Publishing/Hachette, and Amazon's Thomas & Mercer. Her titles have been printed in both hardcover and paperback and translated into twenty languages.

Her first memoir, THE ORCHARD, was a 2011 Oprah Magazine Fall Pick, Number Two on the Indie Next list, a featured B+ review in Entertainment Weekly, and a Librarians’ Best Books of 2011. Her second memoir, THE MAN WHO LEFT, was a New York Times Bestseller. Going back to 1988, Weir’s debut title was the cult phenomenon AMAZON LILY, initially published by Pocket Books and later reissued by Bantam Books. Writing as Theresa Weir, she won a RITA for romantic suspense (COOL SHADE), and a year later the Daphne du Maurier for paranormal romance (BAD KARMA). In her more recent Anne Frasier career, her thriller and suspense titles hit the USA Today list (HUSH, SLEEP TIGHT, PLAY DEAD) and were featured in Mystery Guild, Literary Guild, and Book of the Month Club. HUSH was both a RITA and Daphne du Maurier finalist.

THE ORCHARD

An Oprah Magazine Fall Pick
Featured B+ Review in Entertainment Weekly
Number Two on October Indie Next List
BJ's Book Club Spotlight
LIbrarians' Best Books of 2011
Maclean's Top Books of 2011
On Point (NPR) Best Books of 2011
Abrams Best of 2011
Publishers Lunch (Publishers Weekly) Favorite Books of 2011
Eighth Annual One Book, One Community 2012, Excelsior, Minnesota
Target Book Club Pick, September 2012

www.theresaweir.com


Title List

Writing as ANNE FRASIER
Hush, USA Today bestseller, RITA finalist, Daphne du Maurier finalist (2002)
Sleep Tight, USA Today bestseller (2003)
Play Dead, USA Today bestseller (2004)
Before I Wake (2005)
Pale Immortal (2006)
Garden of Darkness, RITA finalist (2007)
Once Upon a Crime anthology, Santa’s Little Helper (2009)
The Lineup, Poems on Crime, Home (2010)
Discount Noir anthology, Crack House (2010)
Deadly Treats Halloween anthology, editor and contributor, The Replacement (September 2011)
Once Upon a Crime anthology, Red Cadillac (April 2012)
Woman in a Black Veil (July 2012)
Dark: Volume 1 (short stories, July 2012)
Dark: Volume 2 (short stories, July 2012)
Black Tupelo (short-story collection July 2012)
Girls from the North Country (short story, August 2012)
Made of Stars (short story, August 2012)
Stars (short story collection, August 2012)
Zero Plus Seven (anthology, 2013)
Stay Dead (April 2014)

Writing as THERESA WEIR
The Forever Man (1988)
Amazon Lily, RITA finalist, Best New Adventure Writer award, Romantic Times (1988)
Loving Jenny (1989)
Pictures of Emily (1990)
Iguana Bay (1990)
Forever (1991)
Last Summer (1992)
One Fine Day (1994)
Long Night Moon, Reviewer’s Choice Award, Romantic Times (1995)
American Dreamer (1997)
Some Kind of Magic (1998)
Cool Shade RITA winner, romantic suspense (1998)
Bad Karma, Daphne du Maurier award, paranormal (1999)
Max Under the Stars, short story (2010)
The Orchard, a memoir (September 2011)
The Man Who Left , a memoir and New York Times bestseller (April 2012)
The Girl with the Cat Tattoo (June 2012)
Made of Stars (August 2012)
Come As You Are (October 2013)
The Geek with the Cat Tattoo (December 2013)

Reviews

[Lyuda · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

The magic passed me by as this turned out to be a disappointing read from the author whose stories I usually enjoy.

Reclusive artist Claire Maxfield is celebrating her 30th birthday in the middle of a long, snowbound Idaho winter. Well, celebrating may be too optimistic of a word for a woman who see herself as a living cliché.

The one about the man who went out for cigarettes and never came back. Except in her case he’d gone to an artist he’d gone to an artist retreat in California, met an independently wealthy widow, and never came home.

Claire makes a birthday wish for something exciting to happen in her life to elevate her spirit. Little did she know how fast her wish would come true and how handy her friend’s birthday gifts of a voodoo doll and a pair of S&M handcuffs would be.

On a way back, she was kidnapped by a presumed escaped convict who then holds her sort of hostage in her own home- a remote cabin with no phone service. And so we get two people being placed together in a cabin for an extended period of time, and coming to care for one another.

The dynamic of their relationship is quite interesting to observe. The table gets turn time and time again. Ms. Weir is very good in creating a multilayered quirky characters. This is especially true in case of the hero, Dylan, a mystery man, whose identity and past is slowly revealed.

So all was well and promising until the second half of the story where it went a little downhill for me. There were unexplained or poorly explained plot holes. For example, Dylan is a fugitive and has the sheriff looking for him, but later, he's able to wander around their small town (where everyone knows everybody else) making grocery runs, and is even introduced to one of Claire's friends without anyone questioning who he is. . There were others including Dylan’s past actions in protecting his identity that didn’t make sense.

And as for Claire. I enjoy seeing low self-esteem heroines growing confidence and spine. The arc of Claire’s character development followed this in the first half. I cheered for her as she was getting more self-confident, more sure of herself until I realized the main purpose of the voodoo doll plot line. It was to instill doubts in Claire’s mind that her 'awakening’ is not due to her and her alone but to some stupid magic. And here she was again sliding and doubting herself and her own power and we get more pages to read because surely Dylan wouldn’t love her or even find her attractive without the voodoo doll help. Aghh…

The romance developed slowly which I like and there were passionate and well written sex scenes which I found complementing romantic development very well with one glaring exception. The characters never ever used protection. The book is written in 1998 - way after AIDS awareness and STD knowledge, in general. Here, we have a heroine who has no issues engaging in an unprotected sex with a man she knew as a prison escapee. Aghh…

[Saly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book. There is Claire the heroine, kind of an under-achiever, her boyfriend left her for an older wealthy woman, her art doesn't seem to be going anywhere and she just turned 30, she wishes for excitement and finds herself held at gun-point with the kidnapper taking her to her house.

He tells her his name is Dylan but the news talks about some crash that had a convicted felon on it. Well there is lot of confusion, voodoo dolls and we see the man who calls himself Dylan reveal himself to the reader piece by piece from the death of his missionary parents to life on the streets to fame as a chess master and his quitting the lime-light.

The romance is pretty good as well, we see Claire becoming more confident about her art, not taking her shallow ex back. I don't know sometimes I feel the stories written by Weir have this mystical quality, some pull which makes you love the unconventional romance.

Claire doesn't find out who he is pretty late into the book, still she loves him and he adores her but fears she doesn't feel the same and it was so fun seeing her swing into the motel room with an empty gun, to stop him from going back to what she thought was crime.

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rarely do I write a review, give a book four stars but consider it a keeper (something I want to read again in the future). SOME KIND OF MAGIC is that story. The magic in this story is subliminal. Claire Maxfield is celebrating her thirtieth birthday with friends. Her life is good but she wants something more. She gets it in a big way.

Our hero, Dylan, enters Claire's life by carjacking her at gunpoint. Love at first sight is definitely not a thought between these two characters and that is what makes the story so interesting. You learn that Dylan is not a bad person; he just has some problems and has to come to terms with these issues. In the meantime Claire is forced to hide him in her cabin temporarily and the tables slowly turn. First she is the captive, physically. Then he is, emotionally.

Ms. Weir wrote Claire as a strong female character but the circumstance with the voodoo doll makes her behavior a little hard to understand. I don't have a problem with this. Claire's 'weakness' is believing in herself. She just came out of a relationship where her trust was broken. Others believe on not stepping on cracks, walking under a ladder or breaking a mirror; everyone has their own quirks.

Learning who Dylan really is, seeing how he copes with his problems and, finally, coming to terms with what is important to him makes the story interesting. I would have given the story five stars but there was a brief part that I thought Dylan could have communicated better. You'll know what part it is when you read the book. Otherwise, the story flows, the romance when it develops is sweet and the chemistry between our H/H is strong; you want good things to happen and that is what sets apart a good story from just a common one. Enjoy!

[Luli · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can find this review in English below.

Las tres últimas historias que he leído de esta autora (la maravillosa Amazon Lily y la encantadora Loving Jenny) me han dejado con la misma sensación: No tengo ni idea de cómo lo ha hecho, pero a pesar de que sus historias tienen algunos ingredientes que nunca me gustan en mis romances, con ella funcionan. Y me gustan. Y me entretienen…bien, pues voy a disfrutarlo y a dejar de darle tantas vueltas, lo llamaré encontrar la historia adecuada en el momento adecuado. ;p

Claire lleva una vida austera intentando vivir de su arte. Su vida sentimental es un caos e inexistente en la actualidad y su vida social se reduce a un par de cervezas con su poco fiable e irresponsable amiga Olivia.
El día de su cumpleaños, Claire pide un deseo: algo de aventura en su vida. A los 5 minutos es secuestrada. Un muñeco de vudú después y tras una noche de locura en una sauna con su secuestrador y una desagradable e inesperada visita de su ex y ya te puedes imaginar hasta dónde está de aventuras Claire…

Dylan es el secuestrador. El espíritu indomable. Con mas equipaje que el aeropuerto de Barajas, pero ni puede ni quiere deshacerse de Claire. Ella es la pieza que siempre ha faltado en su vida y con ella descubre otra faceta de sí mismo que desconocía.
Está claro desde el principio que estos dos están hechos el uno para el otro.

¿Una pega? Bueno, pues el suspense ha sido un poco flojillo y quedan cosas en el aire o no muy claras, pero de verdad que no afecta a la historia en lo más mínimo.

Parece todo una locura, pero funciona. Los protagonistas tienen química con mayúsculas y el drama siempre lleva un punto de humor o de locura que te impide tomar muy en serio la historia, aunque te enganche y te divierta.

En fin, un romance un poco loco, con una pizca de suspense y una química de otro mundo que entretiene y convence.

***

The last three stories I've read by this author (the wonderful Amazon Lily and the charming Loving Jenny ) have left me with the same feeling: I have no idea how she did it, but even though their stories have some ingredients that I don´t like in my romances, she makes them work. So I loved her stories, they were fun to read ... well, I'm going to enjoy them and I won´t give it a further thought, I'll call it finding the right story at the right time . ;p

Claire leads an austere life, trying to live off her art. Her love life is chaotic and nonexistent at the moment and her social life is reduced to a couple of beers with her unreliable and irresponsible friend Olivia.
On her birthday, Claire asks for a wish: some adventure in her life. 5 minutes later she is kidnapped. A voodoo doll, a crazy night in a sauna with her kidnapper and an unpleasant and unexpected visit from her ex later and you can imagine how done she is with adventures ...

Dylan is the kidnapper. The indomitable spirit. He has more baggage than Hartsfield-Jackson airport, but he neither can nor wants to get rid of Claire. She is the piece that has always been missing in his life and with her, he discovers another facet of himself that he did not know.
It is clear from the beginning that these two are made for each other.

A fault? Well, the suspense has been a bit loose and there are things which aren´t resolved or are not very clear, but it really does not affect the story in the least.

It seems crazy, but it works. The MC´s have chemistry with a capital C and the drama always carries a bit of humor or madness that prevents you from taking the story very seriously, even if it engages you and entertains you.

In short, a sweet romance, with a few drops of suspense and from another world chemistry between the MC´s that entertains and convinces.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. This book was really interesting… and really good! I wavered between 4 and 5 stars. This is the first book I’ve read by this author, but it certainly won’t be the last! The writing was intelligent and witty, and it sucked me in right from the very beginning.
It was one surprising turn after another. The hero, Dylan, has so many layers to his character, each of which gets slowly peeled away as the book goes on. And boy, what a character he is. And not at all what the reader expects when we first meet him in the very beginning.
The heroine, Claire, is cool. She’s funny without being obnoxious. Slightly self-deprecating, but not annoying. A bit of a loner, but still lonely. Nursing her wounds after having gotten dumped by a total creep. I liked her. She kind of reminds me of me, in a way.
The set-up for the story is incredibly unique… with the hero kidnapping the heroine at gunpoint. Of course, not a very hero-worthy thing to do, but don’t worry, the author makes the reader forgive him and love him.
Certainly, there were factors of this book that were slightly annoying. The sequence of events, for one, was almost too incredible to be believed, including events in the hero’s past. But – the book was good enough that I can forgive that. Then of course, there’s the whole I-can’t-respect-a-heroine-who-entertains-the-idea-of-falling-for-a-guy-who-abducted-her thing…. but it didn’t seem like such a big deal in this. Once again, I think it’s because of the many layers of Dylan that get slowly revealed throughout the course of the book, as well as the various plot twists that take the characters places the reader never expected them to go. And there are good reasons for everything that happens.
The romance was very sweet and yet still so passionate. I think one of the best things about this book was how normal the ‘falling in love’ part was, despite the incredibly unusual circumstances. Ultimately, this story represents exactly what love should be, which is two people who find that – although they can live without each other – they’re just better when they’re together. Like that song by Jack Johnson “Better When We’re Together.” Yeah… that song is perfect for these characters.
Totally a fun read. Funny, sweet, and sexy.

[Crista · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this author. She doesn't write bad books....ever! In this book, she kind of "plagiarizes" herself which usually would be problematic for me, but with writing talent like this....the more the merrier.

Some Kind Of Magic is very similar to Iguana Bay (SIM #339). Both stories feature women who are "kidnapped" by potentially dangerous "criminals". Both men are "not what they seem". Both men are named "Dylan". Both stories involve the couple being holed up together in a cabin for an extended amount of time, and coming to care for one another through that time. Both are sensual (but SKOM is more so!) Both have funny banter between hero/heroine, both involve the use of handcuffs, and I read both in one sitting.

Some Kind Of Magic was a fun read. It took place in Idaho during winter in a isolated cabin. This cabin comes equipped with an outdoor sauna, (which this couple takes to good use!) Dylan is a tortured type of hero with a painful past, and Claire is just the woman to help him heal! The plot also involves a silly voodoo doll that was given to Claire for her 30th birthday. The voodoo doll plot line was unnecessary to the story, but it also didn't take away from it either. I loved Dylan and Claire together, and loved their chemistry. They are FRIENDS first...my favorite kind of love story. Well worth the buy!

[Paula Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know how when you get the Pixel of Ink Catalogues and they have all the free Amazon books of the day and how friends recommend Amazon books and you are like OMG I Have to have that or if you see a book you really want and so you buy it on Amazon and then when you have this long list of stuff on your Amazon Kindle App and you can't remember for the life of you , why you have it or how you got it ? Well, this is what happened with this book as I have literally hundreds of kindle books on my Kindle App.
Some Kind of Magic by Theresa Weir for me was one of those books that I couldn't remember why I got it or how but as soon as I started reading it - I was glad I did as I enjoyed it. Some Kind of Magic is a romance mixed with a bit of voodoo magic topped with a hint of Stephen King's novel Misery- you know the one where the celebrity has the car crash and then the recluse takes him to her house and fixes her up and then the celebrity discovers that the women won't ever let him leave. In Some Kind of Magic we meet Claire Maxfield , an artist who lives in the wop-wops , on her 30th birthday her best friend Olivia gives Claire a Voodoo doll and that same night she finds herself car-jacked by someone on the run. Is this the result of a bit of voodoo magic or something more sinister ? Or has Claire just been in the case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time?
A Fun story which will see a mixture of Love, Romance, Criminal Antics and Magic all rolled into one.
A nice light and easy to read novel that will have you on your toes as you discover all the different twists and turns the story holds for you the reader.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claire Maxfield is bored with her life and just wishing for some excitement. But being carjacked at gunpoint by a prison escapee is not what she had in mind. The injured man, calling himself Dylan, demands she take him to her home where he ties her to a chair. But a snowstorm, handcuffs, and a voodoo doll, change the playing field and the kidnapper becomes the captive.

If you're looking for a unique contemporary romance, this is a good one. Claire is a strong character who doubts herself. Her last boyfriend has just left her and made her question her self-worth. Dylan is injured and needs a place to hide from the police who are searching for him. Claire's secluded cabin is perfect for that purpose. Dylan has many problems he needs to sort out, and the quiet cabin with Claire just may give him a chance to do it.

This book has a little of everything...humor, romance, a little suspense, and great characters. I highly recommend if you want a quick entertaining story. My rating: 4.5 Stars.

[Paranormal Romance · Rating 4 out of 5]

The night of her 30th birthday, with her lover having walked out months ago for a rich young thing and the heroine feeling as frumpy as ever, she didn't know just how much her life was going to change. Driving home from the bar after getting drunk with her best/only friend and receiving a pair of handcuffs and a voodoo doll as presents, the heroine is carjacked by a very wounded man. Scared shitless at the feel of a gun pressing into the back of her head, she does as he demands and brings him to her rental cabin. The man, obviously a survivor of the plane crash she saw on the news, is tanned and very unequipped for the brutal cold of an Idaho winter. He has a bad head wound, his torso is bruised pretty bad and he might be suffering from hypothermia. Still, despite the fight she puts up, he manages to tie her up and disappears into her bedroom to rest.

The heroine might not be the most aggressive woman and she knows she's sort of a pushover with low self-esteem but when given the chance she points the gun at her kidnapper’s head and demands he leave. He stumbles out of the house and into her car and as he drives away she seriously begins to doubt her sanity over living in such an isolated house with no phone and 'watchdog' who actually welcomes her attackers into the house.

The next morning, she decides she needs to walk to the neighbors to call the police but instead finds her car wrecked off the road and the hero a frozen and very sick mess in the snow. Despite all he's done to her and despite perhaps common sense, she knows she can't leave him there. So, she drags him back to the house and tends to his injuries.

Their relationship got off on a horrible step and it takes some time before things get better but eventually they Stop correcting "develop" a friendship and a companionship that feels comfortable and easy. He may be a convicted felon but he is actually a very kind soul who takes care of her and encourages her art. He even comforts her after her ex breaks in and attempts to rape her. It may seem like an odd arrangement considering how things got started but she now sees the man instead and she though she knows he doesn't feel anything for her sexually, she will take the friendship.

Only the hero isn't feeling too friendly. He's had a hard life and has spent most of it alone, fighting for survival. He loves the heroine and torments himself over how she doesn't feel the same way. He knows something has to give because he can't live with this temptation anymore of having a woman's body but not her heart. He leaves, despite the pain it causes for both involved.

When the heroine hears that he might be involved in criminal activity, she storms to gates.... only to discover the man she thought she knew wasn't that man at all. The hero is not a criminal but rather a champion chess player whose identity had been stolen and who chose to remain a recluse because he can't take the publicity. The tattoos aren't gang signs but rather chess pieces and he is not a villain in anyway. He even suffers at the thought of the real criminal sitting in jail. Now, the hero must settle his past before he can have a future with the heroine.
I know very well that I didn't exactly line out the plotline in my summary above but because little happened other than emotional developments, I thought I'd not spoil that for anyone reading this. Over all, I thought this book was very well written and constructed. Despite the contemporary setting I was so not bored with the story and in fact I really quite liked the whole thing. There was a great deal of humor but it was subtle and natural. Sometimes authors have a tendency of forcing the jokes but this author writing style is to just let things happen as they would.

The story had a great flow and it made it extremely easy to read it and to get swept away in the words. The heroine and the hero were both extremely kind but self-conscious people. The heroine was depicted as a frumpy and that she dressed older than she was and that the hero remarks she smells like mothballs. She didn't have a lot of confidence but what she did have was a helpful and merciful personality. She helped the hero even though he was her kidnapper. She helped him even though she thought he was a criminal. What she did have an issue with was admitting her feelings. Of course, she feared putting herself out there only to be rejected.

The hero turned out to be nothing at all how he was first depicted. First off all he's not a criminal. He's a good man who had a hard life and a lot of sorrow in a short period of time what with the loss of his parents, his sister and many of his friends while living on the streets. He too was afraid of putting himself out there emotionally and sometimes his knee jerk reaction to the heroine supposed rejection was to run which he did many times. Only, it seemed like no matter what he always returned to her. P.S....the paranormal/magical element was circumstantial. I don't know if you believe the voodoo doll was responsible for the things that happened around it or if it was just coincidence but the heroine believed it was magic and so, I chose to believe it as well. Plus, I really really wanted to read this book because it was so lovely that perhaps I'm stretching the magical element shelf

[Suzie Quint · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have rated this higher because the characters are emotionally satisfying but there's a line in the book that's so ludicrous it haunted me. In order to make the plot work, it has to be believable that the hero, who was an international chess champion at 18, no longer looks like he did back then. There are, IMHO, lots of ways to achieve that, none of which require a statement that his brown eyes had faded to hazel because of time spent in the desert. WTF? So wrong on so many levels. The worse part is it's so unnecessary. I feel a little insulted that the author didn't do better research. Or even turn on her brain when she looked at what she'd written.

[Jamie Berry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lighthearted

Okay story but oh my good gracious. Does anybody proofread these e books? Words completely missing, there vs their. That kind of stuff drives me crazy. Would have given it 4 stars without the errors.

[Michelle [Helen Geek]]

Free today 03/19/2012 on Amazon

[Jen_C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have enjoyed it more if I liked the main characters but they both annoyed me. Some great dialogue though.

[Lhenry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. Dylan and Clair are unique in their own ways. Loved the voodoo doll stuff and the handcuffs too!

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun if improbable romance between a dorky artist and the apparent fugitive chess master!!!111!! who who carjacks her...before she turns the tables on him.

[Negin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I was in the mood for some lightness and a bit of fluff and romance. I liked this one a lot. Light and easy read.

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

[Sej · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 very simple story. I liked it.