Motor City Witch by Cindy Spencer Pape

Title/Author: Motor City Witch by Cindy Spencer Pape
Publisher/Date published: Carina Press, October 4th 2010
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Why I read this book: I thought I'd try a paranormal romance.

Goodreads summary: "She’d left magic behind:
Once upon a time, Elise Sutton had been a powerful witch and paranormal enforcer.
Once she’d been madly in love with Fae lord Aidan Greene. But when Aidan had considered his duties more important than their relationship, the love affair ended badly. Shortly after, while on the hunt for a rogue demon, Elise was brutalized and almost killed. Months later she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. To protect her child – and her heart – Elise decided to live a nonmagical life. Until she meets Aidan again, and he assumes Dina is his daughter. When Dina is kidnapped by a racial purity movement, Elise turns to Aidan for help. The icy façade she had built around herself shatters at Aidan’s touch. Together they have to hunt through the human and faery worlds to find Dina and to discover whether or not they have any kind of chance at a happily ever after."

Let me first say that faeries aren't really my thing, I discovered this when I read Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. That said, the Fae didn't annoy me in this one (yay for the author!). I thought they were at time snobbish and egomaniacs, but well, I get that when I read about royalty as well, so that wasn't really a big deal.

I would however have liked if Pape had gone a bit deeper into the paranormal side of the story instead of the romance part. There are so many different paranormal beings to choose from: Fae, witches, werewolves, orcs, all come wirring past, but I felt like the story could have revolved around typical human beings and been just fine as a romance.

I liked Elise and Aidan as the main characters, though I would have liked to see Elise man up a bit more and not jump to weird conclusions sometimes. I also liked the girl, Dina, she was a bit mature for her age, but I like smart children and she was definitely intelligent. Although I thought her huge magical abilities were a bit too much for an untrained 4-year old.
Oh, and if you can't guess who the father is after reading the summary, you should probably read it again (it was pretty obvious).

I didn't really get why Elise's brother was so angry with Aidan, sure they had broken up and he should be all brotherly protective, but after about 5 years that should sort of pass, right? I also assume we'll get to see why he has such a strong dislike for werewolves in a book that centers around him in the series.

My rating: 3 stars (I didn't cry at the romance, so I can't give it more than this)