The Last Witch in Edinburgh by Marielle Thompson

 

Title: The Last Witch in Edinburgh

Author:  Marielle Thompson

Narrated by:  Siobhan Waring

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 20 minutes

Source: Audiobook Purchased from Audible. Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @kensingtonbooks for the review copy of the paperwork version of the book.

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Nellie is a young beautiful woman that is trying to keep her motherless brother alive and happy in 1824 Edinburgh.  She encounters the Roe Women’s Apothecary and learns about the Cailleach and magic.  After a fire destroys the shop, Nellie is adrift in the world, mourning for her lost love.  After 200 years she finally returns to Edinburgh with her daughter and finds both friends and foes waiting.

My thoughts on this novel:

·       The narrator of the audiobook had a nice Scottish accent. 

·       Fear lingers over all with women being seemingly selected by random to be hanged as witches.

·       This novel was historical fantasy, there were no witch hunts in the 1820s, but the author researched the witch hunts that did take place in Edinburgh and used the historical detail for this novel.

·       The focus of the story was of men trying to keep powerful women down and to keep them from expressing their ideas and helping each other. 

·       The novel switches to modern times as witches live very long lives. 

·       The novel got very preachy at the end about the patriarchy.  There were no good men in the story.  I got tired by the end of only women being good and all men being evil.

·       I didn’t like the turn in the story in the second half of the book.  The first half of the book, Nellie’s brother was so important to her and then she just abandons him.  It seemed out of character.  I also didn’t understand why it took her 200 years to check back on who had survived the fire.

·       The novel focused on social issues and feminism.

·       A same sex romance was featured in the story.

·       It was an engaging story, but the second half was not as good as the first half.

Overall, The Last Witch in Edinburgh was a good fall read and interesting historical fantasy.

Spells and Sandwiches by Kate Moseman

 

Title: Spells and Sandwiches

Author:  Kate Moseman

Narrated by:  Hollie Jackson

Publisher: Fortunella Press

Length: Approximately 5 hours and 57 minutes

Source: Review Copy from NetGalley.  Thank you!

What is your favorite type of sandwich?  I really like a ham and turkey sandwich.

Zelda is in New York City to open a deli.  A vampire offers her free rent on her family’s old restaurant if she will repair a magic mirror.  This changes her life path, and she uses her magic to get through many zany situations.

My thoughts on this audiobook:

·       Hollie Jackson had a great narrator performance with good voices for the characters.

·       This book was entertaining and amusing.

·       It was a cozy fantasy read.

·       The plot did not really capture my attention.  I needed more world building/explanation.

·       Zelda is a great well-rounded character.  She has a great dog named Jester.  There is another dog in the story named Georginia after Georginia Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.

·       This novel was light on the romance.

·       This is the first book in the West Side Witches series.

Overall, Spells and Sandwiches was a cozy read for October.

The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling

 

Do you like when books combine two holiday seasons?  I do, it gives me a Nightmare Before Christmas Vibe.

Bowen Penhallow prefers to live life alone on a mountain in Wales studying ancient magic.  He ventures out to meet Tamsyn Bligh.  Tamsyn is not a witch, but she does procure magical items for witches.  She becomes exclusive to helping Bowen procure items.  She does decide to do one last private job on her own where she will make a lot of cash.  While on this job, she meets Bowen at a wedding that they are both crashing for different reasons. Will they be able to help each other with their projects?  Will sparks fly?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This is the third novel in the Ex Hex series.  I have enjoyed this entire series.  It is a lighthearted and fun series that is great for the Halloween season.  I hope this series continues!

·       This novel was a steamy romance.

·       I really liked the time travel elements of the story.  Bowen meets his grandparents right before their wedding.

·       The story got a bit slow for me in the middle, but then it picked up again and held my attention to the end.

·       It was set a Christmas, so it was both a Christmas and a Halloween read.

·       I loved how Bown and Tamsyn had an opposites attract story.  Bowen is grumpy and Tamsyn is all sunshine.  They had good banter.

·       In the 1950’s storyline, the child Emerald is a hoot.  She is always catching the two of them at awkward times, and she knows that they are up to something.

·       I enjoyed that the author tried something different in this world to keep the story interesting.

Overall, The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling was an enjoyable, fun story with great romance, time travel, and fun banter.  It is perfect for both the Halloween and the Christmas seasons.

Book Source:  Review copy from NetGalley. Thank-you!  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Witches of El Paso by Luis Jaramillo

 

Title: The Witches of El Paso

Author:  Luis Jaramillo

Narrated by:  Raquel Beattie

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 9 hours and 50 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you!

Do you like to read books for the Halloween season?  If so, what are your favorites?

The Witches of El Paso is a brand-new book that was just published in October.  It features a family that can travel through time with their inherited magic.  Nena is a teenager in 1943 El Paso, Texas.  She takes care of her sisters’ children, but she longs for her own life and adventure.  She prays for help and the mysterious Sister Benedicta arrives in response.  She then travels back in time to 1792 where her gift of “La Vista” is calling her.  There she lives in a convent until the day that a mysterious illness kills many and she is sent to care for a sick family member of one of the nuns and her life is changed forever.    

In the present day, Marta is a civil rights attorney living in El Paso with her husband and children.  She helps her old aunt Nena on her quest to find her missing child.  Marta also finds her own “La Vista” along the way.

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was a multigenerational family drama, and I greatly enjoyed it.

·       I loved the magical realism of the story.  There wasn’t too much magic, but I did enjoy how both Marta and Nena found themselves and their magic.

·       I enjoyed the glimpse into Hispanic culture and the history of El Paso.

·       I really enjoyed Nena’s time in the convent in the 1700’s.  The history and day to day life was fascinating to me. 

·       I also enjoyed Marta.  As a mother, wife, and attorney, she feels herself pulled in many directions. She also cares for Nena and through Nena, Marta is finally able to find her authentic self. 

·       It was also interesting comparing the life of a woman in the 1700s, 1940s, and current day.

·       Raquel Beattie was an excellent narrator and made the story very enjoyable.

Overall, The Witches of El Paso was an interesting magical realism, family drama, and time slip novel that was perfect fall reading.

 

The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer

 

Title: The Witching Tide

Author:  Margaret Meyer

Narrated by:  Miranda Raison

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 9 hours and 36 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you @simonandschuster #BookClubFavorites for the free books!

 

When you think about witch trials, do you think about Salem, Massachusetts or do you think about England?  It was only within the last ten years that I found out about the witch finder, Silas Makepeace, in England and the horrors of what happened there.

Martha Hallybread is a midwife and healer who lost her voice as a child.  Her life changes forever when Silas Makepeace, the witchfinder, comes to town.  Her employer and surrogate son, Kit, gets her a job helping Makepeace look for marks of the devil on women.  Martha finds herself in a terrible situation, powerless to help or stop what is happening to the women in her small community.  Will Martha be able to save herself and the other women of her community?

The Witching Tide was a difficult book to read.  It was terrifying how when the witchfinder came to town, neighbors were turning on each other and hysteria ruled the day.  The proof that was used was horrifying and also laughable that such things could be used to condemn women.  They were powerless against the accusations. 

This book was very well written, and Miranda Raison was a good narrator. The one downfall is that it was slow in the middle and tended to get repetitive with Martha’s thoughts circling her mind.  She has a wax doll given to her by her mother that she keeps with her that she constantly worries about.  I just wanted her to throw it away!

The Witching Tide is an interesting story about a terrible time in history. 

The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub (Austenprose PR Book Tour)

 

Are you reading any books for the Halloween season?  I was happy to recently read The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub.  It combined two of my favorite things – Halloween and Pride and Prejudice.

Lydia Bennet is the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter.  She has powers that are not shared by the rest of her family, except for her Aunt Phillips who is able to guide her as she grows into a young witch.  This novel tells Lydia’s background and then retells the story of Pride and Prejudice from her point of view. 

I thought this novel was very fun.  I loved that it was told from Lydia’s first-person narration through a manuscript she is writing to Lizzy to explain everything.  It is very funny and in character for Lydia. I was delighted to find out that Kitty Bennet is actually a cat and George Wickham, is literally a handsome devil or demon.  To me, it seemed like the entire novel was really about the love that Lydia had for her best friend and sister, Kitty, and the sacrifices that Lydia made to ensure her happiness.  Taub really captures Lydia’s voice.  A few of my favorite quotes:

“I suppose if this were a proper book, I’d begin it something like, ‘Miss Lydia Bennet, youngest of five daughters to a father hopefully entailed, had few advantages in life, but not too few to squander.’”

“La!  Imagine what Lizzy would do if she knew I made that spot on her chin pop back out whenever she vexed me.”

“This is the part, I suppose, where the novel would wrap up with a tidy boring moral, so I will say this: Love your best friends.  Forgive your worst friends.  Remember, always, not to judge people too hastily, for everyone is living out the story of their own, and you only get to read the pages you appear on.”

I was delighted to find out in the author’s note that she used real history, myths, and folklore for the novel.  I also loved that Miss Lamb from Sanditon is a character in this novel.  I always find her an interesting character and love her addition to the story. 

I laughed out loud when I read the first line of the acknowledgements, “Guys, I did so much damn research for this book.  I could write a 10-page bibliography.”

Overall, I thought this was an inventive, unique, and fun retelling of Pride and Prejudice perfect for reading during the Halloween season.

Book Source:  Review copy from Grand Central Publishing as part of the Austenprose PR Book Tour. Thank-you!  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

QUICK FACTS

·       Title: The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch

·       Author: Melinda Taub

·       Genre: Historical Fantasy, Austenesque Fiction

·       Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (October 3, 2023)

·       Length: (400) pages

·       Format: Hardcover, eBook, & Audiobook 

·       ISBN: ‎978-1538739204

·       Tour Dates: September 25 – October 9, 2023

 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

A "wildly inventive and utterly addictive" (Julia Quinn) witchy reimagining of Pride and Prejudice, told from the perspective of the troublesome and—according to her—much-maligned youngest Bennet sister, Lydia.

In this exuberant retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Lydia Bennet puts pen to paper to relate the real events and aftermath of the classic story. Some facts are well known: Mrs. Bennet suffers from her nerves, Mr. Bennet suffers from Mrs. Bennet, and all five daughters suffer from an estate that is entailed only to male heirs.

But Lydia also suffers from entirely different concerns: her best-loved sister Kitty is really a barn cat; Wickham is every bit as wicked as the world believes him to be, but what else would one expect from a demon? And if Mr. Darcy is uptight about etiquette, that’s nothing compared to his feelings about magic. Most of all, Lydia has yet to learn that for a witch, promises have power . . .

Full of enchantment, intrigue, and boundless magic, The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch, has all the irreverent wit, strength, and romance of Pride and Prejudice—while offering a highly unexpected redemption for the wildest Bennet sister.

 

PRAISE FOR THE SCANDALOUS CONFESSIONS OF LYDIA BENNET, WITCH

• “Funny and fierce as Lydia Bennet herself, this book mixes witchcraft lore with Austen’s story to make its own unique magic. I’ll never look at Kitty the same way again…” ―Claudia Gray, author of The Murder of Mr. Wickham, a Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney Mystery
• “Taub’s wit and creativity shines through. . . A delight for both Austen lovers and fans of magical adventure stories.” ―Kirkus Reviews

·       “Wildly inventive and utterly addictive. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm now 100% Team Lydia.” ―Julia Quinn

 

PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | PUBLISHER | BOOKSHOP | BOOKBUB |    GOODREADS

 

AUTHOR BIO

Melinda Taub is an Emmy and Writers’ Guild Award-winning writer. The former head writer and executive producer of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, she is also the author of Still Star-Crossed, a young adult novel which was adapted for television by Shondaland. (She also wrote that thing about the Baroness in The Sound of Music that your aunt likes.) She lives in Brooklyn.

INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | X (formerly known as Twitter) | GOODREADS

Spells for Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch

 

Title:  Spells for Lost Things

Author:  Jenna Evans Welch

Narrated by:  Renee Dorian, Ali Andre Ali

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 12 hours and 15 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster.  Thank you @BookClubFavorites #BookClubFavorites for the free book.

 If you had a spell that could do anything you wish, what would that spell be for?  I think my spell would be for an automatically clean house.  No more laundry or cleaning for me! 

 Willow and Mason are two teenagers who find each other and themselves in this compelling young adult novel.  Willow’s mother is always busy with her business.  After her parents’ divorce, Willow has felt disconnected with her mother.  She dreams of traveling the world.  She is surprised one day when her mother announces that her twin sister had died and they are going on a trip.  Willow had never heard of this aunt.  When they travel back to Salem to finish up her Aunt’s affairs, Willow finds even more secrets about her family.  Why has her mother never told her that their family is from Salem and that they are a family of witches?

 Mason is in foster care and all he wants is to find his mother and be a family again.  When his mother’s high school friend Emma and her family agree to become his foster parents in Salem, Mason has a new opportunity.  He learns more about his mother from Emma.  He starts to become fond of his foster family, but he yearns to reunite with his mother.  When he meets Willow, he gets caught up in helping her figure out her family secrets through a series of secret letters that they find.  But will a spell for lost things bring back the thing he wants most of all? 

 Spells for Lost Things was ultimately about relationships.  As a mother, this audiobook brought tears to my eyes.  Mason’s search for his mother, and her inability to give up drugs to be his mother, was heartbreaking.  I love Mason’s relationship with Emma and her family and with Willow.  I also liked the exploration of Willow’s relationship with her Mom.  She learned a lot about her, and they worked to mend their own relationship. I enjoyed the sweet romance between Willow and Mason as well.

 A secondary star to this novel was the setting of Salem.  It made me want to visit and go on some of the tours.  I also liked Willow’s eccentric Aunts.  There is brief magic in the book as Willow learns the history of her family. 

 The chapters were narrated by either Willow or Mason.  I liked that there were two narrators so that each was the voice of one of the characters.  They did a great job narrating.

Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian

 

Title: Hour of the Witch

Author:  Chris Bohjalian

Narrated by:  Grace Experience, Saskia Maarleveld, Danny Campbell, Cassandra Campbell, Arthur Morey, Mark Deakins, Julia Whelan, Kaleo Griffith, Kirby Heyborne, Rebecca Lowman, Mark Bramhall

Publisher: Random House Audio

Length: Approximately 12 hours and 8 minutes

Source: Checked out from the Kewaunee Public Library through Overdrive.  Thank-you

 Do you take books out of a library or always buy your own?  I do a mix.  I check out books from the library, buy new or used books, and love getting books for review from publishers, authors, and NetGalley.

 In 1662 Boston, Mary Deerfield is the 24-year-old wife of the much older Thomas Deerfield.  Thomas is a miller, and they have a fine life, but it is a loveless marriage.  As Thomas’s abuse of Mary escalates, she decides to take matters into her own hands and apply for a divorce.  Why would a woman want a divorce in 1662 Boston?  Why is she thinking independently for herself?  Why have the “devil’s tines (i.e., forks)” been buried near her doorway?  Is she a witch?

 Hour of the Witch was the October pick for the Page-turners Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  I loved this book.  I listened to the first half on audiobook which I thought was intriguing, but I switched to the regular book for the last half after I came down with COVID.   I sadly didn’t get to attend the meeting because I was sick, and I think this would have been a great book for discussion.

 I thought this was a tightly written, intriguing historical fiction novel.  It’s disturbing how women who were alone or women that spoke their minds were accused of witchcraft.  It is written in the speaking style of the 1600s, which I enjoyed.    I couldn’t put this book down, I really wanted to see how it ended.  I thought the narration of the book was good.  There were different quotes at the start of different chapters, and they had different narrators for the quotes.  I was convinced that this was based on a true story until the end.  Author Chris Bohjalian did a lot of research on the time and trials, but this is a fictional account.

 SPOILER ALERT I very much enjoyed the ending of this book.  Although I did enjoy the ending, I realized that it was farfetched and not the ending of that any of the accused women of the time would have had.  SPOILER END

Favorite Quote:  "She was sent to the scaffold because she had a sharper tongue and a shrewder mind than her accusers.  It is always the case when men hang women.  Look at Magistrate Caleb Adams: there is nothing that frightens a man more than a woman who does not live happily under a man's thumb."

The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling

 

Do you have any sequels you are looking forward to?

I loved the Ex Hex last year and was excited to see the follow-up novel, The Kiss Curse was being published this year. 

Gwen Jones lives in Graves Glen Georgia and runs a store that sells witchy items to tourists with her mom and cousin, Vivi.  She has a wonderful talking cat named Sir Purrcival and has started to help and tutor some “baby witches” from the local college.  Gwen’s life changes when Llewellyn “Wells” Penhallow moves to town from Wales and sets up a competing store.  Gwen had a run in with Wells in college and has always considered him handsome, but snooty.  Now that he is in town, will the two kill each other in their rivalry or will something else develop?    Why do Gwen’s powers seem to be decreasing and what does her old college acquaintance, Morgan, arriving back in town have to do with it?

This book is light hearted magical fun in the vein of Practical Magic, Hocus Pocus, or Bewitched.  It really is a good book for the Halloween season.  The romance is the enemies to lovers trope, which is one of my favorites.  The spice in this book is hot.  I liked that the book focused mostly on their relationship, but I did like the comedy provided by the baby witches and Sir Purrcival.  Wells’s hairy brother Browen also made an appearance and I’m hoping that means he will get his own book next year.  The book ends with excitement and some action due to the mystery of Morgan and Gwen’s disappearing powers which led to a good ending.  I enjoyed this one!

Book Source:  The Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman

 

Title:  The Book of Magic

Author: Alice Hoffman

Narrated by:  Jennifer Ehle

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 12 hours and 52 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank-you!

 Are you a fan of the Practical Magic series?  I’ve enjoyed the series and love Alice Hoffman’s novels.  The Book of Magic takes place chronologically after Practical Magic but is the fourth book in the series.  This story brings together many of the characters we’ve been reading about in the series.  Aunt Jet, Aunt Franny, Uncle Vincent, Sally and Gillian, and Sally’s children, Kylie and Antonia are all in this novel.  The novel starts out reacquainting the reader with the various characters and the history of the family. 

 Sally has never told her daughters that they are witches or about the Owens family curse on love.  Kylie falls in love with her childhood sweetheart.  Just after declaring their love, he is involved in a horrific accident.  Kylie decides it is up to her to remove this curse and bring him back to life out of his coma.  She embarks on a journey that takes her back to England where her ancestor Maria Owens was from originally.  As her family embarks on a journey to save her, will they be able to break the family curse once and for all?

 I enjoyed the conclusion in the series, but I am also a little sad that it has ended.  The story seemed to meander at times, but I was happy to see all of the characters and pieces of the story from previous novels comes back together again.  I love the characters and I love Hoffman’s style of writing. 

 Jennifer Ehle narrated the audiobook and did a wonderful job.  Jennifer Ehle was Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice.  I have loved her work as an actress, and I didn’t realize she narrated audiobooks now.  She did a wonderful job giving a voice to each character. 

 Overall, The Book of Magic was the perfect conclusion to the Practical Magic series.

The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith

 

Title:  The Witch Haven

Author: Sasha Peyton Smith

Narrated by:  Piper Goodeve

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: Approximately 13 hours and 31 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Shuster Audio. Thank-you! 

 Frances Hallowell is a seventeen-year-old seamstress in New York City in 1911.  After her boss tries to assault her, he is found dead with her scissors in his back.  How did they get there?  Did Frances murder him?  Before Frances can be arrested, two mysterious women arrive to state that she has tuberculous, and they need to take her to a sanitarium in the country.  Frances discovers that the sanitarium is actually a haven for witches called Haxahaven.  As Frances discovers truths about her mother, she still wonders at her brother’s death.  Who killed him and why?  What is the mysterious organization that seems to be after her for her power?  Will the mysterious Finn who can enter her dreams help her in her quest?  What about Oliver her childhood friend?

 I enjoyed this audiobook. Piper Goodeve is a good narrator that was the voice of Frances. T It’s a young adult novel and I liked the journey Frances went on.  The story started off with a bang and really pulled me into the narrative.  I liked that it was a historical fantasy novel with Frances living in New York City of 1911, but with another layer to that world of magical people.  I loved how Frances found her power and was intrigued by the mystery of who killed her brother.  I was annoyed at times though by teenage Frances as she made some rash decision and seemed to believe different people at different times instead of just stepping back and thinking through things herself.  I guess that is being a teenager, but when it involves the taking of lives, it annoyed me. 

 Overall, The Witch Haven is an intriguing young adult historical fantasy that was a perfect audiobook to listen to for Halloween.