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A review by aurigae
Playing the Witch Card by K.J. Dell'Antonia
4.0
In the midst of a divorce, baker and onetime tarot reader Flair has returned to her sometimes-hometown of Rattleboro to turn her grandmother’s magical tea shop into a non-magical bakery. Flair has decided to leave her family’s witchy past behind and to raise her daughter in a stable home. But as Halloween approaches and Flair is drawn into the town’s legendary festivities, she discovers that the secret of the past threaten her family’s future, and confronting her magical heritage is the only way to protect her daughter.
Playing the Witch Card has a full deck of themes and plot elements, including multiple generations of mother-daughter relationships, romances old and new, and the balance between safety and meaning. And yet most of the book’s first half is devoted to vague background on Flair’s past and fall / Halloween vibes.
The action picks up in the book’s second half, developing into a suspenseful battle between mothers and daughters; present and past. I found myself on the edge of my seat toward the end of these much tighter and more engrossing chapters, But I would have found the overall effect far more compelling and memorable if the first half had drawn me more deeply into Flair’s story - both the magical and non-magical sides.
[I received a complimentary ARC from NetGalley. Opinions are my own.]
Playing the Witch Card has a full deck of themes and plot elements, including multiple generations of mother-daughter relationships, romances old and new, and the balance between safety and meaning. And yet most of the book’s first half is devoted to vague background on Flair’s past and fall / Halloween vibes.
The action picks up in the book’s second half, developing into a suspenseful battle between mothers and daughters; present and past. I found myself on the edge of my seat toward the end of these much tighter and more engrossing chapters, But I would have found the overall effect far more compelling and memorable if the first half had drawn me more deeply into Flair’s story - both the magical and non-magical sides.
[I received a complimentary ARC from NetGalley. Opinions are my own.]