Runaway Magic

Given that it's filled with interesting characters and ideas, this paranormal romance by the author of Runaway Time ought to ignite more often than it does. In the Hong Kong of 1871, American schoolteacher Susannah Stone is armed with an unreliable talent for casting spells and a description by a time-traveling friend of the man whom she will marry. Whoever that may be, she's certain it isn't Luke Wyndham, an arrogant British earl who removed his daughter from her school. When Susannah casts a spell to make him bring his daughter back, she finds herself caught in a web of sexual attraction and deadly intrigue. The narrative is bogged down by too many subplots and paranormal elements, plus a tendency to move the plot through long, talky scenes. Gordon (who also writes as Brooke Hastings) does write the occasional funny or suspenseful passage, but these are offset by the painful awkwardness of others (""His member was like an electric eel, charged and ready to strike""). (Aug.)