cordelyajade's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book much more than I expected to! It surprised me so many times and definitely kept me guessing!
sjj169's review
3.0
Set in Savannah GA this book begins with a family of witches. The main anchor Aunt Ginny has been murdered. Got to find a replacement for her ole hateful ass. So the families converge on Savannah.
Savannah is the perfect setting for this book. A strong family of witches in one of my favorite cities? Heck yes.
At about 40% of the book I got frustrated. I thought it was going to go the love triangle way and I hate that crap. People if your book is good YOU DO NOT NEED THAT!
Luckily, that ended and the book turned out actually pretty good. I love books about witches and there just isn't enough of them. Yes I know there is paranormal romance ones but most of those suck.
In this one you get some hoodoo, boo hags, a golem and a whole gang of witches which equals awesomeness.
I do want to read on to the next in this series before making final judgment on it.
I recieved an arc copy of this book from Netgalley and 47 North in exchange for an honest review.
Savannah is the perfect setting for this book. A strong family of witches in one of my favorite cities? Heck yes.
At about 40% of the book I got frustrated. I thought it was going to go the love triangle way and I hate that crap. People if your book is good YOU DO NOT NEED THAT!
Luckily, that ended and the book turned out actually pretty good. I love books about witches and there just isn't enough of them. Yes I know there is paranormal romance ones but most of those suck.
In this one you get some hoodoo, boo hags, a golem and a whole gang of witches which equals awesomeness.
I do want to read on to the next in this series before making final judgment on it.
I recieved an arc copy of this book from Netgalley and 47 North in exchange for an honest review.
turrean's review
3.0
Got this pre-pub through the "Kindle First" program.
Mercy is an apparently ordinary person born to a powerful family of witches. Her twin sister has all the power, charisma, and looks. The tyrannical witch who has been the head of their clan for decades dies in uncanny circumstances; a few sexy but boorish men hover around the two sisters; and an astonishing number of family secrets come to light in the month-long span of the book. No one is who they seem to be, and Mercy has to come to grips it all.
The Savannah setting was great. The heat, the tourists, the descriptions of several monuments and parks all added to a clear sense of place. In particular, the scene set near the old Candler Hospital was eerily well-detailed.
The cast of characters was large; I can see the author is making a run at a series, so this is the book in which he establishes everybody's backstory. Over the course of the novel, some shocking revelations come to light which completely change our understanding of the people in Mercy's life.
Several of them do flip back and forth between good and evil in a way I found pretty unconvincing. (One does a complete journey from Glinda to Wicked Witch and back again twice. Would you like some sweet tea? And a knife in your heart?) I also found the selection of the successor to the powerful "anchor" position baffling. The author dedicates quite a bit of time describing the importance of the process to the witches involved. Yet when the magical selection yields a wildly unconventional candidate for the job, everyone kind of throws up their hands and says, "Probably just a mistake. We'll ignore it," and goes on as if everything had proceeded as expected.
These are safely minor points, though. Mercy is a complete innocent when it comes to dealing with her Machiavellian family; the reader learns along with her. The characters were refreshingly complex, the setting was a treat, and woohoo! a love triangle (quadrangle?) with no vampires or werewolves. I'll be back for the next book.
Mercy is an apparently ordinary person born to a powerful family of witches. Her twin sister has all the power, charisma, and looks. The tyrannical witch who has been the head of their clan for decades dies in uncanny circumstances; a few sexy but boorish men hover around the two sisters; and an astonishing number of family secrets come to light in the month-long span of the book. No one is who they seem to be, and Mercy has to come to grips it all.
The Savannah setting was great. The heat, the tourists, the descriptions of several monuments and parks all added to a clear sense of place. In particular, the scene set near the old Candler Hospital was eerily well-detailed.
The cast of characters was large; I can see the author is making a run at a series, so this is the book in which he establishes everybody's backstory. Over the course of the novel, some shocking revelations come to light which completely change our understanding of the people in Mercy's life.
Several of them do flip back and forth between good and evil in a way I found pretty unconvincing. (One does a complete journey from Glinda to Wicked Witch and back again twice. Would you like some sweet tea? And a knife in your heart?) I also found the selection of the successor to the powerful "anchor" position baffling. The author dedicates quite a bit of time describing the importance of the process to the witches involved. Yet when the magical selection yields a wildly unconventional candidate for the job, everyone kind of throws up their hands and says, "Probably just a mistake. We'll ignore it," and goes on as if everything had proceeded as expected.
These are safely minor points, though. Mercy is a complete innocent when it comes to dealing with her Machiavellian family; the reader learns along with her. The characters were refreshingly complex, the setting was a treat, and woohoo! a love triangle (quadrangle?) with no vampires or werewolves. I'll be back for the next book.
brit25131's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
robin_f's review
3.0
It started out pretty good and original, and I really enjoyed the descriptions of the Southern climate and stuff, but Jesus, did it turn into a mess. It felt rushed at times, and there's one aspect towards the end that almost ruined the whole book for me, but I won't spoil it. I'll probably read the next book in the series, but my expectations aren't necessarily sky high.
kelliaujulii's review
3.0
It had its moments, but overall the story had too many confusing twists that didn't fully make sense. There were several plot points that seemed thrown in simply to be a shock. The characters also, while interesting, changed their motivations and behaviors too regularly to actually seem like a real person.
indianajane's review against another edition
3.0
This book about a family of witches in Savannah, Georgia had some good points: There were some interesting elements to the story. The main character was someone that I cared about enough to make me care about the outcome of the story, and some of the other characters were at least interesting.
But the book also had its weaknesses: It felt chaotic, like it didn't quite hang together. The magical elements of the story often felt inconsistent, like the author didn't quite have the world he was writing about figured out. There was almost too much going on; a little editing of story lines could have made it a stronger book. I wasn't surprised to find that the author was male, because in some ways Mercy, the main character, seemed like a caricature of a teenaged girl. (Which was another peeve of mine: Mercy was supposed to be 20, but she read about 16.)
The second installment is due out in June and I may read it to see what happens next and to see if the consistency has improved, or I may not.
But the book also had its weaknesses: It felt chaotic, like it didn't quite hang together. The magical elements of the story often felt inconsistent, like the author didn't quite have the world he was writing about figured out. There was almost too much going on; a little editing of story lines could have made it a stronger book. I wasn't surprised to find that the author was male, because in some ways Mercy, the main character, seemed like a caricature of a teenaged girl. (Which was another peeve of mine: Mercy was supposed to be 20, but she read about 16.)
The second installment is due out in June and I may read it to see what happens next and to see if the consistency has improved, or I may not.
pidgevorg's review
4.0
Four stars just for the character Mother Jilo alone. The image of Jilo in her bright colored dress, scheming as she sits in the middle of her inter-dimensional room with its “haint” colored walls, with that three legged cat on her lap licking its phantom paw... that just stuck in my mind. In a good way. Not in a creepy way at all... Anyway, her character was so complex and fascinating, even though it didn't so much develop as was revealed slowly. The rest of the characters were pretty interesting too, with the exception of the main heroine. She, of course, had to be a speshul! preshus! poster child for cheap self-help books, probably to attract Bella Swan fans, who apparently think this is a strong and appealing personality. But I just pretended like she was a somewhat annoying but disembodied third person narrator instead of a first person one. Which actually worked out just fine because when push came to shove she had so little agency anyway. Mother Jilo should have been the narrator. Well, maybe next time? Also, there should be a Booker, or Pulitzer, or some kind of snooty award for best character, and Jilo should get it.
leighpenny's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
skateanddonate's review
5.0
A good read. This new author is a good storyteller. The beginning seemed a bit slow as I was reading; I kept wanting the plot to get started. But looking back it had started I was just thinking the murder was the enticing incident. Great world building. one of those books I couldn't put down and I'm going to pay for that at work tomorrow