Dark Witch

I loved the beginning/ prologue. The book started out so strong with the telling of the first dark witch and her three children. I was pulled right into the story. Then Iona showed up. I really disliked her. She was just too perky, too "Mary Sue Sunshine" and had absolutely no filter. It was almost like she was a 5 year old at Disneyland for the first time. It started to grate on my nerves after a while. I liked the rest of the characters a lot. Branna, Connor, Finn, Boyle and Meara seemed more normal to me. Well, as normal as a bunch of witches and their friends could ever be.
I just wasn't feeling the love or romance between Iona and Boyle. It felt just too forced. I felt like Iona came across as a "poor me" type too often to have Boyle really fall for her. The one relationship I did like and want to read more about was the one between Finn and Branna. But, it looks like I will have to wait until book #3 for that one. As for the bad guy, I thought he was kind of underwhelming. He is supposed to be this charmer who seduces his prey, but I saw none of that. Maybe he will try to seduce one of the other women? The battle in the end was also kind of a let down. I expected more.
I'm not sure if part of my issue was the fact that I listened to the audiobook. I'm not sure that the narrator, Katherine Kellgren, was the correct one for this. Her voice made the Irish characters seem a lot older than they are supposed to be. I kept picturing plump older women in their 50s, not 20s or 30s and her Iona voice grated on my nerves throughout the whole book. Maybe had I read the book and put my own voices to them, I would have like it more. I'll probably go ahead and read the next two books in the trilogy to finish it up, but I'm not holding my breath that I will like them any better.