A review by jaz_gets_literary
Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown

emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, publisher, and HearOurVoices book tours for the arc of this book. Black Candle Women follows several generations of women in one family. They all reside in a home together and stay to themselves. Mostly because of a curse, which will kill anyone that the women fall in love with. 17 year old Nickie is having a hard time with the rules that her mother is putting on her especially after she meets a boy that she likes. Her mother does everything she can think of to get them apart even hoodoo. Nickie doesn’t understand because no one in the the household has told her about the curse. That is until someone lets it slip out but they still never tell her the full story so she searches for answers herself. While reading this book, I kept asking myself why don’t any of the women in the house just explain to Nickie about the curse especially her mother. If you’re trying to protect a child from something you have to be able to explain it to them because they are naturally going to have questions. Yes she probably would have still made some rash decisions to try and rebel against her mother’s reins but it wouldn’t have been as bad as them sitting her down and talking to her. Like she’s 17. She should have been told about the curse when she hit puberty. The ending was a bit abrupt for me. And I don’t want to give any spoilers but I agree with Willow about the book.
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