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The Witches of BlackBrook – Book Review

The Witches of BlackBrook by Tish Thawer
(Witches of BlackBrook #1)
Published by: Amber Leaf Publishing
Publication date: 23 June 2015
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal Romance The Witches of BlackBrook by Tish Thawer is the first instalment in the Witches of BlackBrook series; however, it is does not have an open-ending.
Quick-paced and easy to navigate, the story is about three witches: Karina, Kara and Kenna, who lived in the late 1600's, when magic was practiced freely. Mischief befalls the three, when a woman tricks the elder sister, claiming her baby is ill. After that, Karina is accused of killing the baby and being the devil's daughter. She is sentenced to burn at the stake, where she performs a spell to protect her and her sisters.

Karina's spell takes the sisters, and the rest of the witches, across time, to be reborn in different bodies every time.
The Witches of BlackBrook opens with a short but powerful prologue. We see a witch's sacrifice from the first page, which immediately gives an idea about the character, even though we are not sure who that character is from the beginning but later learn that it is Karina.

The novel shifts between the present, where Karina is Trin, and their episodes and events from their past life before and during Karina's trial. Trin is a massage therapist and lives with her roommate/sister Kit, believed to be Kenna. Throughout their previous lives, they have been in constant search of their third sister Kara, but to no avail.

The narration is in the third person throughout the novel, but we get the sense of things coming from certain perspectives. There are also short sections of an unknown character constantly trying to separate the three sisters and prevent their union. This character adds suspense and gives a strong eerie and creepy atmosphere.

In the present, Trin meets Caris, a teacher, who recently moved back to BlackBrook with her cousin. During her first massage session with Caris, Trin sees memories of her and her sisters and immediately believes that Caris might be the third lost sister. However, Kit believes otherwise and we get a strong sense of jealousy.

I enjoyed the use of spells, and the seamless shift between present and past.

Trin may be the eldest sister, but she's not the wisest. And I really liked that. "Trin was always thrown off when another witch was around. She desperately wanted everyone they'd stumbled upon to be Kara, that she'd lost perspective over the years."

There is also the character of Jason, Caris' cousin, who is instantly attracted to Trin and reminds her of her long lost love, Jeramiah.

The overall setting and descriptions throughout the novel are vivid, but there were several images and lines that stood out for me:
"She should be excited and proud of Kit, and she was, but the urgency of finding out what magical barrier was being cast upon her entire destiny seemed like a trump card in her book."

There was also the use of tarot readings. "Trin acknowledged the Magician card as her past, no surprises there. But the present and future cards had her undivided attention.
The Seven of Swords indicated deceit and deception surrounding her present, while the reversed Tower forewarned her of major changes, where she could no longer count on those close to her."

Although in several instances the novel reminded me of the book and television series Charmed, Tish Thawer put in several twists, giving The Witches of BlackBrook its own character.

Overall: A quick-paced magical five-star must read.

Note: I received a free copy of The Witches of BlackBrook via Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.
Posted by Nada Adel at 12:00 PM Links to this post Labels: 5 Stars, Adventure, Book Review, Book-Series, Books, Earth, Elements, Family, Imagination, magic, Must Read, Poetry, Reading, Spells, Suspense, witch


Cover reveal for new necromancer series Cursed 


Cage of Deceit: Excerpt & TWO giveaways

Cage of Deceit by Jennifer Anne Davis
(Reign of Secrets #1)
Published by: Clean Teen Publishing
Publication date: 25 August, 2015 

Add Cage of Deceit to your Goodreads to-read list: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23688106-cage-of-deceit?ac=1

Excerpt from Cage of Deceit As part of the blitz, there is a free ebook copy of Cage of Deceit up for grabs via my blog. The winner will be announced on the Facebook page and contacted via email. They will receive their gift after 21 September.


Clean Teen Publishing is offering a blitz-wide giveaway for a Mystery Box that will include 3 specially-chosen young adult print novels, bookmarks, swag, and awesomeness. Open internationally.


Purchase the book via Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
 

Posted by Nada Adel at 1:30 PM Links to this post Labels: Adventure, author support, Authors, Book Blitz, Book-Series, Books, Fantasy, Free Book, Freebie, Giveaway, Reading, Women, Young Adult


Excerpt, guest post & giveaway - Mortal Musings' tour 

Add the book to your Goodreads to-read list.

An excerpt from Mortal Musings

Brett blinked at the words he couldn’t remember typing. A poem? He turned slightly, looking first at the curl of hair brushing his shoulder, then to the unfamiliar face beside his.
The stranger who filled his vision paid no attention to him. Her cheeks were flushed. Before Brett could process what he was seeing, she turned away to stalk about the small room. She examined their surroundings unabashedly, scoffing at his possessions as though he himself were inconsequential. Almost as if he wasn’t even there.
Had he passed out at the computer? This didn’t feel like a dream, but maybe he’d hit his head on the desk, hard enough to jumble what was left of his mind.
Brett couldn’t look away. Such undiluted condescension intrigued him almost as much as the drapes of silken cloth he supposed were a dress, floating about her body like a cloud, though of course that wasn’t possible. Then again, was “possible” even a factor in what he was seeing? The nearly transparent, grayish-white material shifted as she moved, exposing tantalizing glimpses of her flesh to his curious eyes, but she didn’t notice him staring.
Similar clouds must have filled his brain, since he hadn’t even wondered yet how she’d gotten into his house—into his office!—without him noticing. Maybe she was a friend of his sister’s, playing some poorly planned prank? Or maybe hours of staring fruitlessly at the blankness had caused him to hallucinate, and neither the strange words nor the girl were actually there.
Brett’s lips pulled into a humorless smile. Maybe this was his muse, sent as a joke by whichever powers that be as a response to his mental ranting.
What a completely idiotic idea, especially since muses were supposed to be invisible. And not real, he reminded himself yet again.

Rafflecopter giveaway There is also this interesting guest post by Aria Glazki titled "What You Don't Know"
How many times have you encountered the advice: "Write what you know"? Even those with no relation to the writing community have likely heard this touted as the cardinal rule of writing.

It's true, writers spend an inordinate amount of time and effort on observing the world around us to amass a solid basis of that which we know. And yet, if we were merely to transcribe the events around us, it would make for some extremely dry reading. No one would read past the first couple pages, if that.

In reality, what we write is a combination of observation, knowledge, and imagination.

If I wrote only what I knew, I couldn't have set Mending Heartstrings in Nashville and Portland, or Mortal Musings in Colorado. I hate to disillusion anyone, but I've never been to any of these places. Neither have I met a muse that took corporeal form (though that would have been cool).

The thing is, what writers "know" isn't limited to our direct experiences thanks to others' shared stories, research (the amount of information available online is truly astounding), and our imaginations. All of those weave together into a wealth of material from which we can pick and choose pieces that we can recombine into (hopefully) evocative works of fiction.

Fantasy and paranormal novels are of course the best example of this Ñ all these worlds and creatures painstakingly crafted not from something the writer "knows" but from imagination, and often collaboration. These stories remodel the fabric of reality, melding what the author knows--whether from observation or lore--with the plasticity of the imagined. And really, every effective story must do the same.

So don't write only what you know. Observe everything, learn what you can, then tear it apart and reimagine it all into something incredible.

Check out the rest of theblogs on this tour, including book reviews.

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

Buy the book via:Amazon US • Amazon UK • Amazon CAN • Smashwords • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository Labels: author support, Authors, Blog Tour, blogging, Blogs, Books, Mythology, paranormal, Reading, Relationships, Romance, Writing
