Eternity (Immortal Witches)

"Eternity" by Maggie Shayne is a truly wonderful read. The love story is poignant and heart-rending, and is mixed with danger and suspense. Even those who are not usually inclined to like stories about witches will enjoy this book, as Shayne depicts the characters in a believable and realistic manner. This book combines romance with "magick" perfectly, creating a delightful tale of fantasy and true love!
Raven St. James is an Immortal High Witch, living in times where being a witch is incredibly dangerous. Raven learns this lesson all too well, when she and her treasured mother are hung for the crime of witchcraft. One man, Duncan Wallace, tries to stop the execution, and an unbreakable bond between Raven and Duncan is formed in those few minutes of horror. When Raven revives beside her dead mother, she is overcome by grief, but follows her mother's instructions and travels to the New World to start a new life.
However, danger awaits her at every turn, because there are Immortal Dark Witches as well, who survive by taking the hearts from Light Witches such as Raven. Indeed, Raven's heart is a powerful one, and there is one evil Dark one who desires her heart above all else.
Raven arrives in the township of Sanctuary, where she begins a life with her Aunt Eleanor. But she is never able to forget the brave and noble man who tried to save her that day on the gallows. It isn't long before suspicions arise about Raven again, and she realizes she may once again be forced from her home. But everything changes one day when a new minister arrives, whose name is none other than Duncan Wallace.
Raven and Duncan's friendship blooms into a beautiful romance, full of exquisite tenderness and a love so deep it negates all else. But when the town's mistrust reaches a boiling point, Raven's happiness is destroyed as Duncan dies trying to save her.
All Raven has left in the world is her dear friend Arianna, another Immortal High Witch, who forces Raven to carry on, promising her that Duncan will return to her one day in another life. And after three centuries of loneliness and longing, Raven finally finds her beloved Duncan. And though Duncan's mind does not remember Raven at first, she knows that his heart could never forget the love they shared.
But before they can find happiness and love in each other's arms, Raven must defeat her lifelong enemy, who once again has tracked her down and is out for her heart. The suspense builds effectively to a thrilling climax, and the ultimate battle between good and evil.
"Eternity" is a book that will touch your heart. Personally, I found it hard to read at times because of the cruelty that was directed towards Raven when she was suspected of witchcraft. However, this only served to make me turn the pages even faster, until I found a resolution for Raven. I have no doubt that readers will come to care for Raven as much as I did. Indeed, with characters that make readers love them and a storyline that will keep readers enthralled, "Eternity" is a book that won't soon be forgotten. This book was a highly enjoyable read, and left me reaching straight for its sequel, "Infinity". I guarantee this book will entertain and satisfy - so don't miss out!

This book has a interesting twist. It is both a historical and a modern romance. Time travel isn't involved but I still found the story compelling.
This is the story of Raven St. James, a witch born in England in the 16 hundreds. She is tried for witchcraft and hung along with her mother but survives because she is immortal. Duncan, is a young preist who tries to stop the murder because its not only wrong but he suddenly has strong emotional feelings towards the witch who he doesn't even know. He thinks that she has died but she escapes to the New World to a aunt and a town called Sanctuary. There she lives free for several years until the townfolk become suspicious. There she meets another immortal witch Arianna who helps guide Raven. Duncan also flees to the New World and ends up in Sanctuary and soon finds her again and love grows between the two. But soon the suspicions are to great and the town decides to get rid of her. Duncan again tries to save her but dies in the process.
Now 300 years later, Raven has come back to Sanctuary and discovers Duncan again. He looks the same,but has no memory of her. He is strangly attracted to her and can't figure out why. Together they must rediscover their love and learn to trust each other. Also evil is lurking and must be overcome for their love to continue.
Maggie Shayne has written a wonderful book and I will really enjoy the next in the series which is Arianna's story.

I don't know why people gave this one star. I truly enjoyed this book, throughoutly. I hadn't been too fond of historical romance. However, this book, with witty dialogue and focus on romance, I loved this book. It was a keeper for me.
Raven was a strong heroine, not whiny. Her emotions are understandable and real. She was brave. I don't think I would endure all that loneliness if I was her.
Duncan, well, let's just say he's my dream man. Then again, I'm a sucker for sweet guy. He's not macho, alpha. He protected what was his. He was fierce about his love. I loved him.
I couldn't praise this book higher.I'm going to re-read this book again and again. Highly recommend this book if you want some sweet romance with no nonsense.

This book wastes no time giving the reader something to be interested in. The story starts off with the main character and her mother in England, being accused of witchcraft in the 1600s, and spans all the way to 1998. The topics of past lives are very interestingly presented in the story. The book also presents witches as magical, and very good and natural people (with a few exceptions...) There were also a few surprises in this book. I liked that this book spanned over so much time, but I do wish more time was spent on memories from past lives (Raven's). I would also like to know why Duncan and Raven had such a strong connection the first time they met in the 1600s. Did they possibly know each other from another life? The ending of this book set the stage very well for the sequel, and I look forward to reading it.

"Eternity" focuses on Raven St James, a young woman who is learning her craft as a witch from her mother. However when she and her mother are denounced by a priest to the local magistrate they are ordered to be hanged. A trainee priest, Duncan Wallace, tries to save Raven's life but is unsuccessful and she is hanged along with her mother. The shocking events of their trial cause a breach between Duncan and Nathanial, his training priest, and he decides to set out to the New World to see if people are more accepting of others in that country. However on the journey across he becomes ill and is tended by a woman he is sure is Raven although she doesn't admit to being the young woman he saw die and he loses touch with her as soon as they arrive in Boston.

The story continues with Raven making her life in Sanctuary, living with her aunt and trying to avoid the notice of the religious authorities. However when Duncan arrives at Sanctuary to be their priest she realises her past is catching up with her and that Duncan, who cannot be told what she is, may be in danger. The story skips forward three hundred years when Raven has another chance to have a relationship with Duncan, who has been reborn in this time, and she hopes this time to trust him fully. However their foe from three hundred years ago also has had his eye on Duncan for a long time and Duncan isn't going to want to believe the wild tales of immortality and evil and good witches; it's possible Raven may have to give her life to save Duncan's this time.

The story was well written with some interesting detail of the witch trials in England and America in the 1700s. An awkwardness was the way that parts written from Raven's point of view were written in the First Person but the other sections in the Third Person which made the story feel disjointed and odd. It's written with quite a new-agey feel and Christianity doesn't come across too well so those for whom this might be uncomfortable reading might do better missing it. However the overall plot was interesting and the supporting character, Arianna, who is the heroine of the sequel, "infinity", is a strong and feisty woman whose own life t tragedy runs through the events of this story.

Thank you Maggie Shayne for writing a book and doing incredible research on the topic as well. Once I sat down and opened the book to the historical rememberences of a few of the women that were horrifically executed... I was hooked.
This book was exceptionally written and had no problem whatsoever with the first person method.
Great detail to the rituals and what moves a "witch" internally.

Although I'm usually not big on reading romance/fantasy-type books, I have to say that after reading "Eternity" I am actually quite eager to read the second book of this trilogy - it was that good!

Maggie Shayne did an excellent job of drawing me into this story, and keeping me at the edge of my seat all the way to the end. Even though there were many times where I knew where the plot was going ahead of time, I still wanted to keep reading - in fact, the pages seemed to turn themselves!

"Eternity" is about a young woman named Raven who learns early on that she is an immortal witch, and her quest to be reunited with the love of her life, Duncan Wallace. Her quest spans centuries, during which she is always searching for, waiting for, the only man she ever loved to reincarnate once again. But when he does, will he remember her? And if so, will he love her the way he did back in the 17th century?

Another part of the plot is that, as an immortal "good" witch (a Light One), Raven is in constant danger of the immortal Dark Ones - those "bad" witches that can only survive by killing Light Ones & stealing their hearts. There is one Dark One in particular that is after her - not only for her heart, but because she caused the man who was like a son to him (Duncan Wallace) to turn against him - to see him as the evil he is. 3 centuries ago he vowed to get Raven back for the pain she caused him - will he succeed?

Overall, I found "Eternity" to be an intriguing, page-turning read. As such, I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy & romance books, as well as those who'd like to try something different (as I did). Who knows, you may enjoy it as much as I did...

ETERNITY is an engaging story about an immortal white witch, Raven, who was born in Puritan times and is persecuted repeatedly by "moral" folk. The man who loves her, a young preacher named Duncan, dies to save her. While she waits for Duncan to be reborn (300 years later), Raven is pursued by a dark witch who can only gain immortality by stealing the heart of a white witch.

ETERNITY deals with the horror of witch trials and the murder of innocent women, so don't expect a light-hearted story. Though well written and engrossing, it does tend to be a bit melodramatic at times, especially with the foreshadowing and declarations of love. Still, I liked it very much, from its first-person narrative (different for a romance novel) to its lovely descriptions of how Raven uses her magic powers. There are no cheesy jokes or banter, no overblown action scenes, and no vulgar love scenes - in other words, a breath of fresh air among the many (unrealistic) paranormal romances out there.

ETERNITY is the first in a series. I'm definitely going to read the next book!!!

This is the first of Ms. Shayne's trilogy. I haven't ventured into them, yet, but this one caused me to risk trouble at work, just to finish it on break, and run to the store right after work to buy Infinity, the next book. (And apparently inspired run-on sentences...) The characters are people, not plot devices, the story engaging, and the pacing appropriate. You may predict the basics of the plot, but you'll enjoy this one, nonetheless. At least I hope you do...Kudos to Ms. Shayne, too, for depicting wise Wise Women. Her mythology of Witchcraft is unique to the series, but her basic depiction of the beliefs is well done & sensitive. Also, she dedicated the book to many of the poor souls lost in Salem to the witch trials and executions, and that touched my heart. Enjoy. =0)

I liked the plot about immortal witches (both good and bad). The author has gumption for experimenting with a plot that covered several epochs.
However, her viewpoint experiment didn't work for me. The heroine's scenes were told in first person, and everyone else's scenes were told in third person. Wow, was this distracting!
Some of the plot twists weren't surprising at all. Also, the villain was just too villainous to be believed. Only briefly do we get to insight into his personality, and I wanted more.
At All About Romance, I gave this book a C-.