Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night by Kresley Cole

Mariketa is known as the Awaited, a witch with all five of the Witch powers: Healing, Warrior, Seeress, Enchantress, and Conjurer, but she wants nothing more than to win the contest known as the Hie, a race across the world for magical Talismans, run by many of the races of the Lore. But despite the fact that the races in the Lore are Immortal, she is only 23, and still a human, still able to be killed.

Her foremost competitor in the Hie is Bowen MacRieve, a Lykae warrior who lost his only true mate 150 years ago, when she ran from him and was impaled on the branches of a tree when he assumed his wolven form on the night of the Full Moon. Bowen blames himself for her death, and when the prize of the Hie was announced: a talisman that would enable its bearer to move in time, twice, he immediately saw it as a chance to go back and save his mate from her fate... until Mariketa.

Bowen helps her in one of the challenges, then shuts her and some of the other competitors inside a deserted tomb. But Mariketa takes revenge on him for his betrayal, a curse that takes away his Lykae ability to heal. When he loses the Hie to a vampire, he is only too ready to leave Mariketa and the others to their fate, until he is told that she is not immortal- she is still human. Bowen is amazed at her courage, attempting a Hie that could get her killed, and must return to her to get her curse off him anyway.

But as the two spend more time together. Bowen, who hates witches, realizes that he not only doesn't hate Mariketa, but that he is starting to feel as if she is his true mate. But how can this be? A Lykae is only given one true mate, and if she is lost, he will be alone for all time. How could Mariketa be calling him this way? Is it a spell? And if it is, does he really want it removed?

But Mariketa is called "The Awaited" for a reason, and that reason is, apparently, to take out the Dark Witch Goddess known as Haxa. But can she do it while she is still a human, or will Haxa's wiles and power smack her down like a bug? And even if she can win, will she be forever pulled into a mirror realm where only she can bring about her return?

This book was quite a change from the Lynn Viehl books, which are deadly serious at every minute, and Kresley Cole's immortals are more like... reading about frats in college. So much of all the Lore creatures are like rowdy frat boys and sorority girls, when even the foremost seeress of the Valkyries is known as 'Nucking Futs Nix' (and no, that isn't a typo), where most immortals party down and love fast cars, sex and liquor. They treat immortality like a forever party when not killing evil creatures and creating havoc. In fact, killing evil creatures and creating havoc is just *part* of the whole party!

Most of this book takes place in the jungles of South America, where a war is being fought by guerillas and government forces, and the immortals (Two Fae, two rage demons and Bowen) must protect one mortal witch (Mariketa) from being killed in their care and return her to the Witches Headquarters in the states, that being New Orleans, Louisiana. For Bowen and Mariketa to bond and adjust to being mates, though, Bowen will have to give up on his hatred of all witches, and Mariketa will have to forgive him for abandoning her and stranding her in a tomb of imprisoned incubi (which, to give him some credit, Bowen didn't realize were there at the time).

I liked this book, because it was a freewheeling, fun contrast to the books I had read previously, and because it was fun to read, even with Sciatica pain pounding on the walls of my mind. None of the characters seems to take themselves very seriously, so this is an antidote to fuddy-duddy stick-in-the-mud characters who agonize over being what they are, and that's become too prevalent among supernatural romance novels lately.

So kick over the traces and enjoy a world that's well-crafted but not ultra-deadly-serious. Hang out with supernatural beings who enjoy being what they are and doing what they can do, and even have fun at it. Enjoy Kresley Cole's books, which make you grin even as you enjoy the stories within them. Highly recommended.