Book Review "Witches of Portland - By Sea" by T. Thorn Coyle. blurb: When is the cost of bravery too high? Raquel just wants to run her café, spend time with her coven and son, and hopefully, fall in love. But her son, Zion, is hiding something serious and won’t tell her what it is. Then Charlie shows up. Tall, broad shouldered, and crazy handsome. Turns out, the people threatening his gaming store are the same people who are threatening her son. Together, can they fight for what is right? But how much will they have to suffer to break through? "By Sea" is a standalone book in a nine book series. --- Review: My expectations about this Urban Fantasy book series were growing with every book and to me, "By Sea" has been the most suspenseful so far. Afroamerican Raquel believes in powers of the Yoruban religion (Òrìṣàs). She and her son Zion, her coven, other groups and game store owner Charlie (who finds a connection to the Norse god Thor) fight against white supremacists. There is some violence involved but also a lot of magic and I really liked the way the conflicts are solved in the end - and I won't say more about that because of spoilers. I love it when Urban Fantasy contains social criticism, in this case racism and the ideology of Nazis. As Charlie makes a connection with Thor and starts working with runes for protection, of course the topic of white supremacists who abuse the Norse Religion and its symbols/runes comes up as well. There is also a group of Heathens who fight against the Nazis, too. As in every book of the series, there is a romance subplot - between Raquel and Charlie. Though they are very different, in my eyes it's a nice romance and I just wished for these characters to find happiness in the end.
