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The Witches of Portland #8
By Dark
A witch with a bad feeling about everything. A partner facing her own challenges. With the help of the ancestors, can they stop danger in its tracks?
Alejandro has it good, except everything in his life feels wrong. But when his partner challenges him, and a possible new love interest comes knocking, the last thing he wants is to face another challenge, this time from a long dead family member. As this ancestor desperately tries to communicate the danger targeting Alejandro’s friends, he gets the sense there’s more to the situation than meets the eye…
With the help of his coven, Alejandro must uncover the deep secrets of his family’s past, and the secrets Portland holds. To protect his relationships and his life, he must risk everything he knows before death strikes yet again…
By Dark is the eighth spellbinding book in The Witches of Portland series of paranormal urban fantasy novels. If you like fast-paced plots, real-world issues, and the smallest dash of romance, then you'll love T. Thorn Coyle's magical series.
Discover By Dark to break the spell of danger today!
Alejandro has it good, except everything in his life feels wrong. But when his partner challenges him, and a possible new love interest comes knocking, the last thing he wants is to face another challenge, this time from a long dead family member. As this ancestor desperately tries to communicate the danger targeting Alejandro’s friends, he gets the sense there’s more to the situation than meets the eye…
With the help of his coven, Alejandro must uncover the deep secrets of his family’s past, and the secrets Portland holds. To protect his relationships and his life, he must risk everything he knows before death strikes yet again…
By Dark is the eighth spellbinding book in The Witches of Portland series of paranormal urban fantasy novels. If you like fast-paced plots, real-world issues, and the smallest dash of romance, then you'll love T. Thorn Coyle's magical series.
Discover By Dark to break the spell of danger today!
236 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 13, 2019
11 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
T. Thorn Coyle
89 books191 followersTT. Thorn Coyle has been arrested at least four times. Buy her a cup of tea or a good whisky and she'll tell you about it.
A salty-tongued, tattooed mystic, Thorn is author of the alt-history urban fantasy series The Panther Chronicles, the novel Like Water, and two short story collections. The Witches of Portland will be out in Spring, 2018. She has also written multiple non-fiction books including Sigil Magic for Writers, Artists & Other Creatives, Kissing the Limitless, and Evolutionary Witchcraft. Thorn's work appears in many anthologies, magazines, and collections.
She has taught magical practice in nine countries, on four continents, and in twenty-five states. Her other occupations have been numerous, and include working four years each on the Pacific Stock Options floor (as a young Anarchist punk with a blue, flat-top Mohawk), in a woman-run peep show, and full time in the San Francisco soup kitchen she ended up volunteering at for twenty years. All of this, along with her activism, informs her fiction.
An interloper to the Pacific Northwest, Thorn joyfully stalks city streets, writes in cafes, and talks to crows, squirrels, and trees.
Thorn is active on:
Twitter @ThornCoyle
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tthorncoyle
Medium https://medium.com/@ThornCoyle
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ThornCoyle
http://www.thorncoyle.com
A salty-tongued, tattooed mystic, Thorn is author of the alt-history urban fantasy series The Panther Chronicles, the novel Like Water, and two short story collections. The Witches of Portland will be out in Spring, 2018. She has also written multiple non-fiction books including Sigil Magic for Writers, Artists & Other Creatives, Kissing the Limitless, and Evolutionary Witchcraft. Thorn's work appears in many anthologies, magazines, and collections.
She has taught magical practice in nine countries, on four continents, and in twenty-five states. Her other occupations have been numerous, and include working four years each on the Pacific Stock Options floor (as a young Anarchist punk with a blue, flat-top Mohawk), in a woman-run peep show, and full time in the San Francisco soup kitchen she ended up volunteering at for twenty years. All of this, along with her activism, informs her fiction.
An interloper to the Pacific Northwest, Thorn joyfully stalks city streets, writes in cafes, and talks to crows, squirrels, and trees.
Thorn is active on:
Twitter @ThornCoyle
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tthorncoyle
Medium https://medium.com/@ThornCoyle
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ThornCoyle
http://www.thorncoyle.com
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 19, 2025
A witch with a bad feeling about everything. A partner facing her own challenges. With the help of the ancestors, can they stop danger in its tracks?
Alejandro has it good, except everything in his life feels wrong. But when his partner challenges him, and a possible new love interest comes knocking, the last thing he wants is to face another challenge, this time from a long dead family member. As this ancestor desperately tries to communicate the danger targeting Alejandro’s friends, he gets the sense there’s more to the situation than meets the eye…
With the help of his coven, Alejandro must uncover the deep secrets of his family’s past, and the secrets Portland holds. To protect his relationships and his life, he must risk everything he knows before death strikes yet again…
Alejandro has it good, except everything in his life feels wrong. But when his partner challenges him, and a possible new love interest comes knocking, the last thing he wants is to face another challenge, this time from a long dead family member. As this ancestor desperately tries to communicate the danger targeting Alejandro’s friends, he gets the sense there’s more to the situation than meets the eye…
With the help of his coven, Alejandro must uncover the deep secrets of his family’s past, and the secrets Portland holds. To protect his relationships and his life, he must risk everything he knows before death strikes yet again…
September 28, 2020
Ooo, so if you read my reviews you know I love this series already. This one was extra interesting because it also featured a polyamorous relationship! More of my people getting represented. I thought she did a really good job of representing a polyam interaction. Certainly it's not the only style, or the only way a person could be polyam, but it definitely was one way of doing it and I loved reading a real live romantic interaction between two people in a polyam plotline. Love these books!
December 31, 2022
I have not read any other books in the series. While I feel I might have missed out on some cool cameos, it did not affect my enjoyment of the story, it can stand on its own in this universe.
My favourite part of the story was definitely the depiction of an established couple that practices polyamory. Alejandro is having a midlife crisis and is unhappy with his current job. These insecurities are creeping into his relationship and he is doing his best to avoid the conversation. Shekinah is coming more into her role as a Yoga practitioner (and a potential teaching role) but can feel her lover drawing away. She is finding support in her other partner Maureen while waiting for Alejandro to come around.
I loved that we get two distinct journeys in their 2 POVs that involve themes and characters unrelated to the other person. Of course, they are still involved in each other's life and working on their relationship but it doesn't feel forced. It was a beautiful depiction of two fully fleshed-out characters who are polyamorous.
The magic part of the story was very cool and interested if not exactly to my interests. I like how mindful practices and general esoteric applications were involved, something that often gets pushed away when it comes to witches to give space for a harder magic system. Alejandro's Mexican ancestors are involved, there is a strong focus on intra- and interconnected communities and looking for support from like-minded individuals.
I enjoyed the buildup and the bit of mystery of what was plaguing but the climactic battle scene came on too fast for me.
I received a digital reading copy from the author, with no expectations to write a review.
My favourite part of the story was definitely the depiction of an established couple that practices polyamory. Alejandro is having a midlife crisis and is unhappy with his current job. These insecurities are creeping into his relationship and he is doing his best to avoid the conversation. Shekinah is coming more into her role as a Yoga practitioner (and a potential teaching role) but can feel her lover drawing away. She is finding support in her other partner Maureen while waiting for Alejandro to come around.
I loved that we get two distinct journeys in their 2 POVs that involve themes and characters unrelated to the other person. Of course, they are still involved in each other's life and working on their relationship but it doesn't feel forced. It was a beautiful depiction of two fully fleshed-out characters who are polyamorous.
The magic part of the story was very cool and interested if not exactly to my interests. I like how mindful practices and general esoteric applications were involved, something that often gets pushed away when it comes to witches to give space for a harder magic system. Alejandro's Mexican ancestors are involved, there is a strong focus on intra- and interconnected communities and looking for support from like-minded individuals.
I enjoyed the buildup and the bit of mystery of what was plaguing but the climactic battle scene came on too fast for me.
I received a digital reading copy from the author, with no expectations to write a review.
October 13, 2019
An extraordinary story.
This was more than an ordinary action story. I loved the way that the themes connected the magical powers and political works. The idea of a 'group mind' with powers that harm in the real time is not something that is often attempted in stories of this sort. For that I consider this author quite brave. It worked.
This was more than an ordinary action story. I loved the way that the themes connected the magical powers and political works. The idea of a 'group mind' with powers that harm in the real time is not something that is often attempted in stories of this sort. For that I consider this author quite brave. It worked.
September 18, 2019
I have loved all of the Witches of Portland books; this one has a special place in my heart because of how well polyamory is depicted. I'm sad that the series is almost complete and so pleased with the power, presence and actions in the penultimate novel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2021
another one-sitting make-me-cry old-fashioned-healthfood-store-candy read. satisfying.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews