📚#HalloweenBooks @SueBavey Reviews Legacy Witches by @CassKayWrites for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Sue.

Sue blogs here https://suelbavey.wordpress.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Sue has been reading Legacy Witches by Cass Kay.

Legacy Witches is a fun, yet dark story of murderous witches, set in Salem, Massachusetts, a place I have visited on many occasions. Salem is filled with witch-related tourist attractions, but the legacy witches of the title are part of a hidden world – away from the tourism – that reaches back through history to the Salem Witch trials.

Vianna Roots managed to escape this heritage by fleeing to Boston, but now that her mother is dead she must return and deal with her legacy. She has the unusual talent of being able to see ghosts and witnesses the ‘death loop’ of her old best friend Nancy, who must have been murdered in her mother’s house and whose ghost is now stuck there along with the ghosts of Vianna’s ancestors. This mystery niggles at Vianna and she decides to stay on in Salem until she can get to the bottom of it. She has to overcome many hurdles – the house is possessed by the family’s familiar, a demon named Shuck who has yet to accept her, an old school crush, Charles, is determined to woo her but is not exactly what he seems, a HooDoo practitioner wants to force her to sell the house to him and the coven is treating her like an outcast and determined to get rid of her.

Vianna befriends another outcast, a transgender witch named Sandeen and the two of them quickly form a bond. Sandeen was a great character and one of the highlights of the book for me. I also liked Vianna. She was determined not to be bullied by the coven witches into selling them her house or by Charles into dating him when her intuition told her something wasn’t quite right.

Legacy Witches was spooky and action-packed and I enjoyed the mystery thread, a perfect read for October.

Book description

Coming from a long line of murderous witches hasn’t exactly been sunshine and rainbows for Vianna Roots. When she inherits the family’s haunted house after her mother dies, she decides flipping the rundown dump is her smartest move—but the ghosts that haunt her have a different plan.

When Vianna finds the ghost of her childhood friend Nancy, she’s drawn into the mystery surrounding her friend’s death. Her meddling attracts the attention of the oldest coven in Salem. In order to get her out of town, they make an offer on the house, but Vianna hesitates. She’s no longer sure she wants to abandon the demon familiar who possesses her home, the transgender outcast witch—who may just be the best friend she never knew she needed—and her high school crush, who now wants her in his life.

Vianna must find a way to solve the case of her murdered friend, stay out of the hands of the most powerful coven in Salem, and face the past she’s so desperately tried to run away from.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS 

📚Book One Of The Accidental Witches Series📚 Rosie’s #Bookreview of Brimstone And Broomsticks by @debra_dunbar

Brimstone and Broomsticks by Debra Dunbar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Brimstone and Broomsticks is book one of the Accidental Witches series of paranormal romances.

Lawyer Cassandra (Cassie) Perkins is the oldest of seven sisters, descendants of a witch who escaped the Salem witch trials. Their Great, Great….Grandmother set up a town where paranormal beings could live side-by-side under an agreed set of rules; usually everyone gets along, if you ignore a little hyperactivity around the full moon.

When the Devil’s son arrives in town, he lands in jail after a bar brawl. What he doesn’t expect is a no-show from his lift home, diminished supernatural abilities and a lawyer who sizzles with witchy powers.

This was a fun story and the first book in a series. There’s a bit of a mystery and trouble with werewolves, but with seven witches in the family, I’m expecting a whole lot more mayhem and entertainment as the stories progress.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Book description

Maintaining the town wards is the only witch-magic Cassandra Perkins performs—well, except for that time she set her ex-boyfriend’s pants on fire. But when she gets stuck defending a man who claims to be the son of the devil against assault charges, Cassie finds herself firing up amulets and dusting off her broomstick.

Who knew a demon could be so hellishly sexy? Or that his arrival could cause so much trouble in a town full of werewolves, trolls, and harpies?

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

📚Time For Some #Horror. Terry Reviews Black Rock by David Odle, For Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Terry.

Terry blogs here https://terrytylerbookreviews.blogspot.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Terry has been reading Black Rock by David Odle

Black Rock by David Odle

4 out of 5 stars

The story starts in a classic fashion for this sort of tale – a family en route to somewhere else turns off the road to find a toilet and anything that might ease their journey on a dark and lonely night.  The scene is filled with foreboding, and sets the stage nicely for what comes next.
A curious fellow called Benjamin Clark is threatening the town’s Pastor Thomas Loggins – he knows a secret from Loggins’ past, and will reveal it unless the Pastor pays a terrible price.  Thing is, Clark has done this before.  More than once.  Going back many years…
Some don’t agree with my theory that writing talent is something you need to be born with – you can hone it, develop it or ignore it, but if the talent is not innate, you will have a hard time delivering a story in such a way that makes people want to keep turning the pages.  Which is what it’s all about.  David Odle certainly has this talent – the suspense worked so well, and I was totally invested in the story.  Just two aspects let it down, for me, was that it wasn’t very well edited.  I felt it could have done with another draft or two, and a more eagle-eyed proofreader.  The other disappointment was the lack of resolution about Benjamin.  It’s hard to explain this without giving the plot away, but I needed to know more about his history and motivation than I was told.

All in all, though, it’s a good book, and I’d recommend it for the storytelling quality alone.

Book description

We all possess secrets. We lock them away. We bury them into the deep recesses of our mind. We go about our day and pretend they aren’t there.

That’s exactly what Thomas Loggins was doing. Going about his days. The head pastor of a small church in a small town. A family man, with a loving wife and a wonderful daughter.

Until one day, that all changed. It began as a typical meeting with a new member of the congregation. But Thomas soon realized this was anything but typical. This man knew things. Things that nobody should know. And he was making impossible demands.

Thomas’s simple life in the quaint town of Black Rock crashes into life or death when the stranger utters, “I know your secrets, pastor, and it’s time to pay the price…”

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

🧙‍♀️’For Fans Of The Macabre And Light #Horror’ @JillianChantal reviews Legacy Witches by @CassKayWrites for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Sherry.

Sherry blogs here https://sherryfowlerchancellor.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Sherry has been reading Legacy Witches by Cass Kay.

Vianna Roots is a reluctant witch from a Salem family which has a long history of witchcraft.  She also sees the dead which is not a normal characteristic of a witch. She’s never fit in—either with the town or her family and she had a bad relationship with her mother. As soon as she was able, she escaped in the middle of the night and had no intention of ever returning to her childhood home.

Fate had other plans for Vianna. Her mother died and she had to return home to take part in the burial ritual. But Vianna had other plans than performing the ritual as it is supposed to go. She wanted to tie her mother to the grave so she couldn’t come back and harass her like her other dead relatives—especially her grandmother Susannah.

When Vianna arrives in Salem, she has an accident in her old truck with, of all things, a local policeman.  Then, when she gets to the house she inherited, which she can’t wait to sell off, the house won’t let her in and things continue to go downhill for her from there.

She doesn’t want to wear witch robes to the cemetery and chooses a red dress from her mother’s closet which turns out to be the dress her mother wore when she was initiated into her role as a witch. Something Vianna is determined not to let happen to herself.

At the cemetery, we meet a number of other characters who all have distinct personalities and who do not much care for the rebel Vianna. The scene is set for more drama in her life.

Vianna ties her mother to her grave and once she returns home, she starts to clear out some of the old things lying around. In searching a drawer, she finds a rotting hand. A vision of a woman reliving her death in the bathroom shows her where the hand originated. And now Vianna is on a quest to help this spirit to rest—a spirit she happens to know quite well. But she doesn’t plan to embrace her legacy as a witch. She is going to solve this issue with this spirit and sell the house and leave again as soon as she can.

Along the way to her goal, Vianna goes on a date with a man she had a crush on in high school. She finds, not only is he weird and possessive, but his mother has issues, too. He’s persistent and annoying. She’s mystified about why he’s suddenly attracted to her. Old school mates wreak havoc in her life, and, when danger arises, she even has to head back to the cemetery to dig up another ancestor and get a bone from her—not because she wants to embrace her legacy, but because it’s necessary to do so.

The cemetery caretaker is someone she knew in the past who is not welcome in the witching community either and they strike up a friendship. I loved their relationship. It was nice to have someone that the heroine could rely on and who was a great character. She offered some relief from the gloomy atmosphere and danger the heroine was in.

This book was delightful to read. A lot of great action, a mystery about some paintings and a dead girl in the bathroom as well as the friendship that arises between two people who don’t fit in, makes for a great story. The author also gives us fans of the macabre and light horror a lot of great, descriptive scenes.  This is no white witch, light comedy type story that glosses over some of the darker sides of the craft. I quite enjoyed the change of pace from those type of stories.  

I recommend this one as it is chockful of great scenes, some humor and a compelling story, not least of which is how misfits can find their place and make the home/family they need.

Book description

Coming from a long line of murderous witches hasn’t exactly been sunshine and rainbows for Vianna Roots. When she inherits the family’s haunted house after her mother dies, she decides flipping the rundown dump is her smartest move—but the ghosts that haunt her have a different plan.

When Vianna finds the ghost of her childhood friend Nancy, she’s drawn into the mystery surrounding her friend’s death. Her meddling attracts the attention of the oldest coven in Salem. In order to get her out of town, they make an offer on the house, but Vianna hesitates. She’s no longer sure she wants to abandon the demon familiar who possesses her home, the transgender outcast witch—who may just be the best friend she never knew she needed—and her high school crush, who now wants her in his life.

Vianna must find a way to solve the case of her murdered friend, stay out of the hands of the most powerful coven in Salem, and face the past she’s so desperately tried to run away from.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS (Due out Oct)

📚This Author ‘Dares To Be Different’. @deBieJennifer reviews dark #UrbanFantasy Legacy Witches by @CassKayWrites for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Jenni.

Find out more about her here https://jenniferdebie.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Jenni has been reading Legacy Of Witches by Cass Kay.

Legacy Witches by Cass Kay

When Vienna Roots returns home to Salem for her mother’s funeral after a decade away, she expects a short trip. Bury the old witch, sell the family home, try not to let the ghosts of her ancestors or the demon haunting its walls get in the way of the sale, and get back to her life in Boston. No, she does not want to get involved in the tangled, occult politics of her hometown. No, she has no intention of taking over her mother’s place, or practicing her family’s particular brand of brutal magic. No, she doesn’t want to get the police involved. But when Vienna finds a hand in a drawer, and an unexpected specter haunting one of the upstairs bathrooms, she knows this quick trip home isn’t going to be nearly as fast or as simple as she’d hoped.

The market on urban fantasy and witchy protagonists is arguably glutted at the moment. Witches are cutesy, they’re sexy, they’re demon huntresses and vampire lovers and all sorts of fun combinations of back-cover blurb buzzwords, but something that truly sets Cass Kay’s Legacy Witches above the rest for me is that her witches are dark.

Vienna Roots’ ancestors and peers deal in moldering corpses, gruesome deaths, and necromantic rites as a matter of course, and while Vienna herself shies away from the murder edges of magic, Kay seems to revel in the gory details. As something of a connoisseur of gory details, I appreciate the unflinching approach to maggots and skeletons and what a pain in the butt it is to rob a grave on a rainy night.

I appreciate that Kay doesn’t try to redeem the terrible things that the Roots witches have done in the past, and the lengths they will go to to protect their own.

A story of generations, and rewriting the scripts of eras come and gone, Legacy Witches is more than just one more urban fantasy with a witchy protagonist. This is a novel with heart, a story about growth, and acceptance, and magic far darker than most authors in the genre dare dabble in from a writer who obviously knows her craft. In a market that has long been saturated by the cozy, the sexy, and the action-y, and the overly romantic, Legacy Witches dares to be something different, and as a reader, I appreciate that too.

5/5

Book description

Coming from a long line of murderous witches hasn’t exactly been sunshine and rainbows for Vianna Roots. When she inherits the family’s haunted house after her mother dies, she decides flipping the rundown dump is her smartest move—but the ghosts that haunt her have a different plan.

When Vianna finds the ghost of her childhood friend Nancy, she’s drawn into the mystery surrounding her friend’s death. Her meddling attracts the attention of the oldest coven in Salem. In order to get her out of town, they make an offer on the house, but Vianna hesitates. She’s no longer sure she wants to abandon the demon familiar who possesses her home, the transgender outcast witch—who may just be the best friend she never knew she needed—and her high school crush, who now wants her in his life.

Vianna must find a way to solve the case of her murdered friend, stay out of the hands of the most powerful coven in Salem, and face the past she’s so desperately tried to run away from.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS (Due out Oct)

Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Melissa reviews The Black Hours by Alison Williams

Today’s book review comes from review team member Melissa, she blogs at http://mllegette.com/

Melissa chose to read and review The Black Hours by Alison Williams

The Black Hours – Alison Williams

Good golly. Talk about intense. I had never heard of Matthew Hopkins until reading Williams’ The Black Hours. Learning that he was in fact an actual human being was almost more than I could stand. (I was having a hard enough time when I thought he was fictional.)

The book is aptly named. Serious dark hours will be before you, reader, you have been warned. We are talking injustice piled onto injustice, served with a heaping side of (you got it) injustice.

But if you’re fascinated by history — especially Witch Trials — you will find this to be a trip back in time. It’s clear that Williams took great care in her research. The characters are vivid (I liked that both the persecuted and persecutor told their views — made it all the more horrifying), and the writing is smooth. If you’re looking for a Halloween read, check it out. You’ll certainly get chills.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com