I was so excited for this book, as I am fascinated by tales of cunning women and herbalists, and also a lover of historical romancs. This book promised a clash between a herbal healer and a scientific doctor, but unfortunately, the more interesting aspects of the novel were buried under an exceedingly unrealistic and lacklustre romance.

I really disliked the male lead, Anson Locke - he was judgemental and unpleasant from the very beginning. However, he had very little character development beyond lusting after Moira, the town's herbalist, and pining after his dead wife. Moira, too, was far less interesting than she should have been - her gift for healing and her knowledge were quickly sidelined to be problems in her relationship, rather than facets of her personality. I didn't feel much chemistry between the two leads, and the author had an unfortunate tendency to throw in sexy thoughts at the oddest of times, so you'd be reading a page of action (such as an accident the two leads had to provide medical care for), and then there'd be random thoughts dotted in about how much they wanted to lick each other. It was jarring.

Ultimately, this is a great concept for a historical romance with a hint of magic, but it really, really didn't work for me.

Magic in Her Touch by Donna Dalton is a wonderful novel of the struggle women healers faced in the 1800’s. The doctor in the small town of Mineral has passed away and Moira is the only one with the knowledge of healing herbs and potions but the people are very cautious about trusting a woman to treat them. Just as the begin to come around a new doctor shows up. He believes all-natural healing and potions are “snake oil” treatments and harmful. Will the two of them find middle ground to serve the people or will Moira be labeled a witch and burned at the stake?
I couldn’t put this book down; there was so much going on and the struggles of Moira were so real I wanted to know she would be okay. The characters are very realistic and for the time they react as persons of that era might have by being very skeptical of unknown cures. Some of the characters have an agenda that wants to just get rid of Moira for more personal reasons. This book will appeal to a wide audience and I give it 5 of 5 stars. I would definitely read more by this author.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Shades of Dr. Quinn.

Was her mother killed?

Cool.

There's a new doctor in town.

Twat thinks he knows best because he's a man.

I don't think I would want a gift.

That's what you get when you snoop.

Amazing to think people didn't know what cells were yet.

Mother-in-law problems.

Gabe is a sore loser. He's just a kid, why would she be interested?