Big Witch Energy / Molly Harper

 

3.25 out of 5 stars 

Book 18 of the 2024 Read Your Hoard Challenge

My first purchase from our local romance bookstore, Slow Burn Books. I was excited to read this second-chance romance, featuring Caroline Wilton, one third of the Starfall witches coven. Her old flame, Ben Hoult, has returned to Starfall to be one of the town's doctors. He leaves behind the mainland and his ex-wife. He brings his two teenage kids and his unrequited love for Caroline.

The question becomes whether Caroline can deal with her depressed father, her bitter, overworked mother, and her two useless brothers. She and her mother are struggling to keep their bar, the Wilted Rose, going. She and Ben must navigate their past history, their family dynamics, and the current situation to see if they can rekindle their relationship.

Of course there are ghosts, magic, and mysteries to be solved. Riley, Caroline and Alice have witch business to keep them scrambling, especially when Ben's kids show some aptitude for magic. Ben, being a man trained in science, flounders a bit. It becomes obvious that the Wellings family is still lurking, trying to break into the Shadow Manor to steal the magical devices hidden in it.

Harper wraps up the Caroline and Ben question, while setting up the third book, which will obviously be devoted to Alice. Her controlling and judgmental grandparents have heard that she is actually getting a life and are on their way back to Starfall to put an end to that. Alice most definitely needs a knight in shining armor and I want to see who Harper produces for her. These books are pleasant to read, but IMO lack the charm of her Jane Jameson series; however, I still need to read the next installment.

The Witches of New York / Ami McKay

4 out of 5 stars

The year is 1880. Two hundred years after the trials in Salem, Adelaide Thom ('Moth' from The Virgin Cure) has left her life in the sideshow to open a tea shop with another young woman who feels it's finally safe enough to describe herself as a witch: a former medical student and "gardien de sorts" (keeper of spells), Eleanor St. Clair. Together they cater to Manhattan's high society ladies, specializing in cures, palmistry and potions--and in guarding the secrets of their clients.

All is well until one bright September afternoon, when an enchanting young woman named Beatrice Dunn arrives at their door seeking employment. Beatrice soon becomes indispensable as Eleanor's apprentice, but her new life with the witches is marred by strange occurrences. She sees things no one else can see. She hears voices no one else can hear. Objects appear out of thin air, as if gifts from the dead. Has she been touched by magic or is she simply losing her mind?

Eleanor wants to tread lightly and respect the magic manifest in the girl, but Adelaide sees a business opportunity. Working with Dr. Quinn Brody, a talented alienist, she submits Beatrice to a series of tests to see if she truly can talk to spirits. Amidst the witches' tug-of-war over what's best for her, Beatrice disappears, leaving them to wonder whether it was by choice or by force.

I read this book to fill the Spellbound square of my 2019 Halloween Bingo Card.

I first became aware of Ami McKay last Christmas, when I read the novella Half Spent Was the Night: A Witches' Yuletide. That little taste of this world convinced me to choose this book for Halloween Bingo. I am pleased that I was able to include it.

I really love the atmosphere of this book and the novella. The magic is so much an accepted part of this world that you don’t even question whether it exists or not. It does and all the characters believe in it without reservation. The writing is deft and delicate without being fragile, which is good as serious topics are dealt with. One of those is the continuous relationship between witchcraft and organized religion. Another is the nature of friendship and other bonds between people. Also, the nature of life after death.

It makes me want to plant an herb garden, to spend more time outdoors, to write in my journal. It makes me wish that I could go to New York to visit these women and have tea in their shop. I do hope that there may be more books to come, as I would happily re-visit this version of New York again.

Definitely Dead / Charlaine Harris

4 out of 5 stars

Since Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse has so few living relatives, she hates to lose one - even her cousin Hadley, undead consort of the vampire Queen of Louisiana. Hadley's left everything she has to Sookie, but claiming that inheritance has a high risk factor. Some people don't want her looking too deeply into Hadley's past, or Hadley's possessions. And they're prepared to do anything in their power to stop her. Whoever it is, they're definitely dangerous - and Sookie's life is definitely on the line...

2019 Re-Read

You know, I have library books that I can’t renew and that I should be reading. My kitchen is in chaos and I had cornflakes for supper last night. My to-do list is as long as my arm. And yet, I’m re-reading this series instead of doing any of that. Je ne regrette rien.

This is the heart-break volume, when Sookie finds out that she’s based a lot of ideas about her life on shifting sands—and doesn’t know what is exactly true any more.

“I’d been blindsided with the most painful knowledge: the first man to ever say he loved me had never loved me at all. His passion had been artificial. His pursuit of me had been choreographed.”

To add insult to injury, she is informed by an ancient vampire that she has fairy heritage and that is her big attraction for vampires, who are to fairies what cats are to catnip. He doesn’t even realize that he’s kicking her when she’s down. Quinn has entered stage right at exactly the right to time sooth Sookie’s wounded pride.

Despite the emotional turmoil and unending vampiric politics, Sookie has to deal with her doubly-deceased cousin’s belongings. During the clean-up of Hadley’s apartment, she discovers yet another body-in-a-closet.

“Was this the second body I'd found in the closet, or the third? I wondered why I even opened closet doors any more.”

At least she comes out of these events with a female friend, Amelia, plus some credit with the Queen of Louisiana. She’s going to need both.

Half Spent Was the Night / Ami McKay

3.5 stars out of 5

During the nights between Christmas and New Year's, the witches of New York--Adelaide Thom, Eleanor St. Clair and the youngest, Beatrice Dunn--gather before the fire to tell ghost stories and perform traditional Yuletide divinations. (Did you know that roasting chestnuts were once used to foretell one's fate?)
As the witches roast chestnuts and melt lead to see their fate, a series of odd messengers land on their doorstep bearing invitations for a New Year's Eve masquerade hosted by a woman they've never met. Gossip, dreams and portents follow, leading the witches to question the woman's motives. Is she as benevolent as she seems or is she laying a trap. And so, as Gilded-Age New York prepares to ring in the new year, the witches don their finery and heard for the ball, on the hunt for answers that might well be the end of them.

A charming little novella, perfect for the days leading up to the New Year’s celebration. I was surprised at how long a waiting list there was for this book at my public library! I didn’t get my paws on it until late January, well into the New Year. But I still enjoyed this gentle little historical urban fantasy.

Lovely uses of British Isles mythology and some intrigue made it a worthwhile reading experience for me. I will definitely be willing to read the author’s The Witches of New York for the background story.