A review by mpshort
The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith
4.0
3.5 stars leaning towards a 4! The Witch Haven was a wonderfully magical but also dark story. Once again a perfect fall read that I accidentally read too soon. But I am happy that I did read it! This book is very slow paced in the first half but I didn't mind the slowness of it. It reminded me of an every day school girl attending classes with her friends just with a kick of magic sprinkled in, I really liked the mundaneness of the school in the beginning but I understand if it's not for everyone.
spoilers below!
The book really starts to pick up around Chapter eleven with the introduction of Finn D'Arcy. Now let me just say, I already could tell something was wrong with him from the beginning. It felt a little too obvious that he wasn't going to be a good guy, I wish that the romance between Finn and Frances was written better. IF it was, then the betrayal that happens later in the book would feel so much bigger. I never bought their relationship especially from Frances point of view. I can understand Finn's attraction to France (her power) but I never understood why Frances was into him, it felt a bit forced to me. Also maybe it was just me but Finn killing William didn't make any sense either, the initial betrayal of him using Frances for her power was already enough to deem him as a bad guy, I just didn't buy it.
I really liked Lena and Maxine, they were great friends to Frances. I really liked how Lena was very much her own person, she wasn't there just to support Frances. Also I loved how Maxine and Lena had their own specialized magic (Lena being a seer and Maxine being a finder) I wish we had something like that with Frances I wasn't satisfied with her just being good with everything (maybe her specialty could have been blood magic since she was very fast to control people)
Speaking of Frances, I overall thought she was an okay protagonist. I did want her to find out who killed her brother but she was so fast to abandon her friends it was like damn okay. But then I sympathize with her because she's a scared girl thrown into the secret society of witches, of course she's going to make mistakes she's all new to this!
Overall I really liked this book they were just some parts that I think that could be better, improved upon. If there's a second book I would consider picking it up!
spoilers below!
The book really starts to pick up around Chapter eleven with the introduction of Finn D'Arcy. Now let me just say, I already could tell something was wrong with him from the beginning. It felt a little too obvious that he wasn't going to be a good guy, I wish that the romance between Finn and Frances was written better. IF it was, then the betrayal that happens later in the book would feel so much bigger. I never bought their relationship especially from Frances point of view. I can understand Finn's attraction to France (her power) but I never understood why Frances was into him, it felt a bit forced to me. Also maybe it was just me but Finn killing William didn't make any sense either, the initial betrayal of him using Frances for her power was already enough to deem him as a bad guy, I just didn't buy it.
I really liked Lena and Maxine, they were great friends to Frances. I really liked how Lena was very much her own person, she wasn't there just to support Frances. Also I loved how Maxine and Lena had their own specialized magic (Lena being a seer and Maxine being a finder) I wish we had something like that with Frances I wasn't satisfied with her just being good with everything (maybe her specialty could have been blood magic since she was very fast to control people)
Speaking of Frances, I overall thought she was an okay protagonist. I did want her to find out who killed her brother but she was so fast to abandon her friends it was like damn okay. But then I sympathize with her because she's a scared girl thrown into the secret society of witches, of course she's going to make mistakes she's all new to this!
Overall I really liked this book they were just some parts that I think that could be better, improved upon. If there's a second book I would consider picking it up!