Denai Touch

Excalibar Investigations #1

by Tiffany Shand

Cate McCray is no ordinary witch. Prophesised to be the one to destroy the Covenant, an age-old organisation who seeks to enslave all Magickind, the race is on for them to kill her before she attains immortality.

But before receiving the phenomenal power that comes with it, she must first survive the ascension and the only person who can help her is her elemental partner, Jason Talbot.
But when the time comes, her forbidden love for Jason threatens to destroy them both.

As leader of Excalibar, an elite team of Enforcers, they work to infiltrate the Covenant leading Cate into life-threatening situations. Can she outwit them before it’s too late?

Genres: Paranormal

282 pages, ebook

First published March 1, 2015

Reviews

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denai Touch: Excalibar Investigations Series by Tiffany Shand

Cate McCray is a special Witch, she is prophesied to destroy The Coven ,they want to enslave all of Magickind. The Coven is trying to destroy her before she ascends and before she becomes immortal. With the help of her elemental partner Jason Talbot, they try to stop The Coven for good, before it is too late Add to it that Cate is attracted to Jason, and the feelings are mutual. But their love for each other can (literally) destroy them.

The plot is original, with Cate being a Denai (Witch), she is very likable, as well as Jason. A well written gripping, compelling Witch story. With vivid details and intense prose the story moves at the perfect pace.

There is suspense, action, danger, romance, and family ties. A definite page-turning all night read. I highly recommend Denai Touch: Excalibar Investigations Series to those who love a great paranormal/romance. I also felt the cover was very eye catching and captures the "air" of this fascinating story.

[Shayay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining story with interesting ideas and characters. Good witches against evil witches; lots of cool magical elements. Witch Cate works as an enforcer for the good witches, but she’s also destined to be a leader of the witches; plus, there’s a prophecy about Cate taking out evil. Cate’s magical powers are acting up because she’s close to her ascension, but there’s evil witches out there causing mayhem. I like Cate’s kick butt attitude, but she can be a bit of a brat. She has a good heart though, and puts herself in danger many times to do good. The witches have energy partners aka elementals that “feed” them energy when they are low from magical usage. Jason is Cate’s partner; they’ve friend zoned each other, but there’s some sexual tension there. I’m not huge on friends to lovers; too much back and forth and hooking up with randoms, but I liked the connection between Cate and Jason. Super sweet! I was pretty annoyed at Cate’s obliviousness to how Jason feels for her and her insistence that she doesn’t believe in long term commitment, but they are good together. I liked Jason; not his past romance ways, but love his protective nature. There are some secrets going on in his life that cause him some major problems. Overall, cool magical read with lots of fun action and danger!

[Leslie Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am on a binge reading about the Denai witches. I am so impressed with the level of excellence that went into this book. The characters are so intense and complicated. I will say that the McCray family has a ton of secrets and no sense of personal space. Cate is a firecracker. She may have fear inside, but she does what she thinks best no matter what anyone else says. She doesn't think that much about herself or personal danger. Her entire family has extreme powers and she is coming in to more power as her 30th birthday approaches. Her partner, Jason Talbot, is an elemental and able to feed her power when she begins to wane from too much use. Oh, and he's in love with her. Everybody knows it except her. They are Enforcers and as such they are like the magic police. Together, with their team, they investigate extreme cases. This book is so very good. Betrayal, love, lust, and loyalty play prominently throughout this story. I just wish Cate would give in to her feelings for Jason and give them a chance at happily ever after. There is so much more to this story than just this little bit I mentioned, but for maximum effect you really need to check it out for yourself. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

[Momma Says: To Read or Not to Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one has it all! Gripping suspense, edge of your seat action, and forbidden love in a story of magic and mayhem. The characters are well developed and interesting, the world-building is great, and the story line flows so well, creating a page turner that I couldn't put down.
Cate is a talented witch who has more on her plate than any one person should have to deal with. There's plenty of angst as she and Jason deny their feelings for each other, and if that isn't enough, she faces danger at every turn. Shand builds a world where two groups of witches are battling for control and our heroine often doesn't know who to trust. In fact, there were many characters that I was unsure of until the end and as I turned the last page and several things were made clear, I was still wondering about a couple of them.
Overall, this first in the Excalibar Investigations series is a solid series starter and does well at introducing Shand's world and the characters that live in it. I would easily recommend this one to anyone who enjoys the genre.

[Gayle (OutsmartYourShelf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cate McCray is a Denai witch and Enforcer who is due to ascend and become immortal. She is also to be the one who takes over as leader and the one destined to stop the evil Raven. Phew! Lots of responsibility there. It's not totally surprising therefore, that Cate is a little overwhelmed. She's not even sure if she can count on Jason, her elemental (he provides energy for her), as he has been acting strange lately.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. Reading it seemed to take little time at all, the pacing of the story was just right and there were just enough twists and turns. One small criticism is the back and forth between Jason and Cate, the yes/no got a little wearing, and Jason seems a little too emotionally weak for someone who has been around for thousands of years. Overall though, it was a good read.

I received an ARC of the boxset from the author, via Instafreebie, and I am voluntarily giving an honest review.

[The Mysterious Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book and a wonderful introduction to the world built by Tiffany Shand for her Excalibur Investigations series. That works is a well thought out and well crafted one, and the lead and supporting characters (friend and foe alike) are of equal quality. Add in a well crafted plot full of thrills, action, and (no matter how Cate and Jason try to resist it) budding romance, and the result is one heck of a good story that I'm happy to recommend.

[Jill Gauger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of characters thrown at you in the beginning but it all came together great.
Cate McCray is Goddess Marked and a very powerful Denai witch. Jason Talbot is Cate’s Mavis but he’s hiding the truth that he’s also Nuardian. Together they are a formidable team. They’re hunting down the maker of a powerful drug that burns through a person’s immune system killing them. They are also hunting for Raven an evil, dark Denai witch.
Lots of action and romance.

[Marie Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

The action starts on page one of this book, with just enough small pieces of information that you can understand the basics of the world and magic system, but I was a little confused at the beginning before the tidbits came in. From the sounds of it, Cate also still has a lot to learn and hopefully in the next book, the reader will be able to learn along with her.

This does have a full story arc, which I wasn't expecting out of book 1 of a trilogy. No cliffhangers here!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Denai's Touch begins off slowly. It takes a few chapters before it picks up pace. In the beginning the character interactions and development do come off a bit like YA literature (there is nothing wrong with YA). When the tension between Cate and Jason comes into play, then things really start to get interesting and the character development strengthens. The plot and conflict are strong, there is definitely potential here for a series.

Jason is a 6000+ year old Elemental who has loved Cate, from a distance, ever since he met her several centuries ago when she timed-traveled. She is unaware of this connection at first. He has waited all this time for her to be born, and now they are partners in a cop-like force called Excalibar. He keeps his feelings for her a secret and tries to keep his distance because he knows he is a hunted man (because of what he is), but everyone, except Cate, knows he loves her. He hasn't really succeeded in hiding his feelings for her from everyone else, but her.

She has commitment issues, and does not want any sort of long-term relationship, but she too has feelings for Jason. She hides these feelings because her friendship with him means more to her than having a possible one-night stand or friends-with-benefits type relationship with him. But as most romances go, their romantic tension builds and builds until it explodes and they kiss for the very first time (as well as some other things). But immediately they both regret it, which leads to a rift between the two. She knows he is hiding something, so she believes she can't truly trust him or her feelings for him.

The conflict stems from a witch who has wrecked havoc for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and Cate is prophesied to be the one who would be born who would kill this evil witch, once she comes into her full powers. On top of fighting the dark witches and those in league with Raven, Cate is getting ready to ascend into her immortality, which is causing her magic to be very unpredictable. Tiffany Shand successfully juggles the conflicts in her plot and everything comes to a head near the end once Cate has ascended, accepted her love for Jason, and Raven attacks the Coven.

Now, here is what I didn't particularly like about the story. I thought that Jason, as a character, could have been a lot stronger. He is 6000+ years old yet doesn't stand up and fight for what he wants (Cate), especially once his secrets are revealed and his great fear that Cate will not accept who he really is are proven wrong. He doesn't come across as confident. He is this great and feared warrior, yet he lets her grandmother dictate his relationship with Cate and for a guy who has waited several hundred to thousands of years for Cate to be in his life, he seems to be sexually passive and subdued. If I had been Jason, and after all my fears about Cate not accepting him is proved wrong, I wouldn't have been able to keep my hands off the person I have loved for that long. The only intense moment between the two of them happens before she knows the truth. Once she knows the truth, he kind of mellows out and is ok with waiting (some more). He should have been a bit more passionate (they didn't have to "go all the way") but damn, I wanted some more intense moments and passion. I guess I just wanted him to be more, and there are times when he kind of falls flat. There are several moments between the two of them that had such great potential for tension and passion, but it doesn't really happen. Cate is a more well-rounded character.

The storyline and characters do remind me of some of my favorite series: The Night Huntress Series by Jeaniene Frost, and The Immortals After Dark Series by Kresley Cole. This author and series do have potential. I look forward to Jade's story and will definitely keep up with what this author is up to. She has a great foundation for a story and plot-line, and her writing has potential to grow and get right up there with Jeaniene Frost and Kresley Cole. So in a nutshell, I do recommend this new and up-in-coming author.

[Carlie Cullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t want to give any spoilers during this review, but somehow I think it’s going to be hard not to.

Denai Touch centres around Cate, a very gifted young witch who is waiting for ‘Ascension’ when she will come into her full powers. The problem is there are those who are trying to stop her.
Cate really leapt off the page. She is larger than life and the author has done a great job of building her character. She comes across as feisty, confident, and in full control of her powers, but underneath is a vulnerable young woman who fears her ascension as much as she wants to embrace it. She’s also unnerved at the speed in which her powers are growing and how inconsistent they can be.

With a foe leading the Covenant, a band of dark witches who have been trying to take her family down for generations, who has targeted Cate and wants her dead before she ascends, the young witch has a great deal hanging over her head. Some of her insecurities show she has an Achilles heel, the main one being her Elemental, Jason, who she has feelings for. Cate is a well-rounded, realistic, and relatable character.

Jason is an enigmatic character with a huge secret. It becomes clear quite early that he cares for Cate and does everything in his power to protect her, even when she doesn’t want it. He has to endure a great deal of verbal abuse as he’s seen as a slave by the leader of Cate’s coven (her grandmother), but has the guts to answer back when he feels it’s necessary. I rather liked his character.

The Covenant is led by Raven, a dark witch who is focussed on what she wants and is willing to go to any lengths to get it. She doesn’t care about hurting innocents and encourages her right hand, the loathsome Tasha Phelps, to experiment on then. These are characters you love to hate and they come across as deliciously wicked.

All the other characters have their own personalities, some more so than others, and most are interesting in their own right. There were a couple who came across as bland, even though they were featured quite often and realistically it was possible to give them a bit more personality. However, the pace of the novel didn’t really allow for it.

The world building has been done well and, for the most part, you can picture the surroundings easily. There is good use of description throughout.

The plot itself is interesting, original, and well-paced. It unfolds in such a way as to keep you turning the pages to find out what happens next. This is always a good sign as far as I’m concerned!

All things considered, this is a great debut novel and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. Would I recommend it? If you love the Paranormal Romance genre then I absolutely would! Even if you don’t, it’s still a good read.

One thing’s for sure, Tiffany Shand is an author to keep an eye on!

[Bambi Unbridled · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Through no fault of the authors, I read the wrong copy. I was sent a corrected version of the book, but I got the two copies mixed up and didn't realize it until almost the end of the book. I didn't want to re-read the whole book, so I only re-read from Chapter 28 forward, which is where I could tell I was missing chapters from my original copy.

That being said, this book was well-written and I think that fans of fantasy and witchy-themed books will like it. The story was a classic good vs. evil theme in a fantastical world with multiple planes of existence. There was a good amount of action and battles between the good witches (Denai/Coven) and the bad witches (the Covenant). Of course the leader of the Covenant was making a grab for power and wanted to take over the Coven as Grand Mistress, a position currently held by our heroine's grandmother.

Our hero, Jason, was a great lead character and romantic interest. He is a bit of a tortured soul who has lived a very long and lonely existence on the run from people who want to enslave him. He is very powerful and he cares a great deal for our heroine, Cate. In an effort to protect her, he contemplates leaving to keep her from being hurt by the people who hunt him. He was a little too passive for me at times, especially when Cate's family treats him like absolute dirt. Our heroine, Cate is a mixed blood Denai witch and fey, who is prophesied to be the most powerful witch ever born. Unfortunately, I just did not like Cate. She was too stubborn and reckless and I didn't think she was a team player. I stayed aggravated with her through most of the book, and I hated that she fought the relationship with Jason so hard. This has nothing to do with the writing - I just have read so many books lately where the heroines fight the heroes at every turn and it has started to drive me a bit crazy. I also didn't like the women in Cate's family. They were cold, pompous and only served their own interests.

This was a good job for a debut novel, and a good foundation for the rest of the series. I will keep reading to see how the story unfolds. Based on the relationship status at the end of this book, I think Cate may not be so aggravating to me in the future. 3 stars / 2 flames

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so honoured to review this book, I got offered the opportunity by the author to review Denai Touch and I am so lucky to be able to work with Tiffany the author.

The way the author has created this amazing world that is so detailed and real is just incredible. There is a strong mental image throughout the whole book it's like Tiffany has drawn these images and entwined them with the words.

You get entranced in the book pretty quickly when Cate is battling the evils of her world with her brothers and best friend Jade. Cate is deemed to be the next Grand Mistress after her Gran passes away, she will be the most powerful Denai alive. Of course being the next Grand Mistress comes at a price many want Cate dead and will stop at nothing to take her power.

Cate needs Jason more than ever he's her best friend and he is always there when something goes wrong, Jason is so supportive of Cate and they have such a great connection and bond. But will they see it?

I love how you can dip your feet into reality and fiction at the same time, the connection between Jason and Cate is just so overpowering it makes you mentally connected to the both of them begging them to like each other.

The book is so engaging it had my full attention the whole time and around every corner there is something new arising you can barely come up for breath.

When you read the book you become Cate you root for what she believes in and Cate comes alive and I really love to feel like I'm the actual character it makes reading such an amazing experience and Tiffany has got that down to a T.

Great read.

[J. Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suspense, romance, paranormal... three of my favourite genres in a novel and Denai Touch didn't disappoint.
I found myself really getting into the story by the third and fourth chapter to the point I was having trouble putting it down.
I found the concept of this novel extremely intriguing as it went against the grain of a typical paranormal romance. I was drawn into the story, intrigued by the characters and their individuality's as well as the magnetizing magic that surrounds them, both literal and conceptual. Even though there were a lot of characters (and I found myself re-reading some parts to really understand each one - to no fault of the author) as the story came together, each one was a necessary and integral part of the novel as a whole.
I thoroughly enjoyed the strength written into the female characters in this novel, as much as some of them clashed (which, let's be honest, conveys out of Magickind and into real life) - the fight Cate shows against both her powers and her love (and *swoon... where can I find me a Jason Talbot?) was both entertaining and entrancing. Truly a good versus evil fight, added in some family drama and a happily ever after... what could be better?
This was my first time reading Tiffany Shand and I have to say, a part of me felt both giddy and impatient at the end of the book reading when the next novel in the series was coming out!

[Lale Yildirim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brings new ideas to the world of supernatural adventure and builds up a great story that keep you reading. leave a great happy feels but leaves you wanting more

[TDCbookreviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Denai Touch by Tiffany Shand

Genre: Urban Fantasy

About the book: Cate may be the prophesied woman to stop Raven, leader of an evil coven. But will Cate's partned get in the way of it all?

Review: I've read Tiffany's other works and this book had a similar feel. The story was very engaging and not easily predictable like others can be. I want to read more.

Author Page/website: https://tiffanyshand.com/

Link where you can purchase: https://www.amazon.com/Denai-Touch-fa...

Overall Rating (Out of 5 stars): 4 out of 5 stars