Destined for Darkness — Lea Ryan

From Bestselling Author Lea Ryan comes Destined for Darkness, the first book in the Fate Binds paranormal romance series.

When AnnaBeth Montgomery inherits her grandmother's mansion, she gets much more than the house and the ghost inside. She discovers she has inherited her grandmother's magical abilities and a place in a secret society of witches.

The MacDowell sisters have controlled Fosters Branch for as long as most people can remember. Behind closed doors, they wield their influence over everything from the mundane to the most important town decisions, and they want AnnaBeth's help.

At the center of it all, AnnaBeth finds Justin MacDowell, the town's sexy it-boy. He lives with the sisters and does whatever they ask. He seems interested in AnnaBeth, but is his interest authentic or a result of their influence?

The sisters offer what seems like an idyllic existence. Power. Justin. Almost anything she wants. All she has to do is follow orders, but fate is fickle, especially with witches pulling the strings. Will AnnaBeth be able to hold onto herself or will she fall under the sisters' control with no hope of escape?

From the author, notes on the Fate Binds paranormal romance series :

The winds of fate don't always shift on their own. Sometimes they're driven by people with the power to steer destiny.

My Fate Binds series is the story of AnnaBeth's romance, but it's also the story of a conflict that carries over from the first book on into the second and the third. She becomes a catalyst with her decisions affecting the course of so much that happens around her, the people she knows and loves and the people she doesn't.

The witches in my books were inspired by the Three Witches in Shakespeare's MacBeth, the old hags who influence Macbeth's decision to murder the king. My two elder witches, the MacDowell sisters speak in a similar way, bouncing conversation back and forth and finishing each other's thoughts, usually in an effort to manipulate whoever they're talking to.

I took inspiration, not just for the Shakespeare witches' purpose, but also their number. My witches are their most powerful when they work in groups of three. They don't speak in rhymes, though, usually.

Writing AnnaBeth's story has been a great adventure for me. With each new book, more of the town's mysterious history comes to light and more of AnnaBeth's family secrets do as well. She finds herself in situations she never thought she would, and sometimes comes out stronger for it.

- Lea Ryan