Blurb
Ever since its earliest days, the small English village of Heargton has been steeped in the occult. Tales of witchcraft and paranormal activity have been part of the local folklore for generations. Some people blame the lay lines that intersect at the very centre of the village, others blame a terrible curse.
700 years on, Heargton Village still holds dark secrets, and when one of the village girls falls victim to a terrible ritual killing, the old superstitions resurface.
At the heart of these whispers are the Meadowsweet sisters. All beautiful, all charming, all eccentric, but it is the middle daughter, seventeen-year-old Fox, who captures the imagination of American newcomer Jeremiah Chase; a deviant New York playboy sent to live with his Aunt in the Chase ancestral home of Coldstone Hall. A place that has its own grisly history.
But, as Jeremiah discovers the history of the Meadowsweet Sisters, the Chase family history is also unearthed, leading Jeremiah to understand that good and evil are not always on opposing sides.
A tale of witchcraft, demons and ghosts, blending traditional English folklore with the American Gothic.
700 years on, Heargton Village still holds dark secrets, and when one of the village girls falls victim to a terrible ritual killing, the old superstitions resurface.
At the heart of these whispers are the Meadowsweet sisters. All beautiful, all charming, all eccentric, but it is the middle daughter, seventeen-year-old Fox, who captures the imagination of American newcomer Jeremiah Chase; a deviant New York playboy sent to live with his Aunt in the Chase ancestral home of Coldstone Hall. A place that has its own grisly history.
But, as Jeremiah discovers the history of the Meadowsweet Sisters, the Chase family history is also unearthed, leading Jeremiah to understand that good and evil are not always on opposing sides.
A tale of witchcraft, demons and ghosts, blending traditional English folklore with the American Gothic.
Review
Kat's rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
*** I voluntarily reviewed this book, I gained no monetary incentives nor was I specifically requested to review the book, these are my honest ramblings and I hope you enjoy reading them - kat***
When I first started this book I was going to DNF, I the writing style switches from UK to US intermittently, and using descriptions that are not used in the English Language, that ended up making the passages sound like a 5 yr old had written the sentence.
I am not sure how much research was done for the book but if the proper word had been used the sentences would have made more grammatical sense and not interrupted my reading flow.
Note: There are a few gruesome passages, due to the ritual killing.
Fox, comes into her gift at the same time as American newcomer Jeremiah Chase; is banished to live Aunt in the Chase ancestral home of Coldstone Hall. Spooky goings on in this house too, maybe they will be delved into more in the other books to come.
As the horrors of the disappearances are revealed the Meadowsweet Sisters, have to stop ignoring their heritage and get involved, but when the Chase family intervene too lives are altered and Fox and her sister's lives will never be the same.
So what did I think
Overall Plot line - good, it reminded me more of Sleepy Hollow than a UK witch story, but then I am from the North East, and the stories of witches are few and far between in my home area, they were witch trials in East Anglia, Yorkshire, Warwickshire.
Overall Plot line - good, it reminded me more of Sleepy Hollow than a UK witch story, but then I am from the North East, and the stories of witches are few and far between in my home area, they were witch trials in East Anglia, Yorkshire, Warwickshire.
Characters - Fox was annoying, she's 17 in the UK you leave school at 16, start college get your driving licence, most UK kids are not childish they are nearly adults, when she comes into a power, then decided to keep parts of what she finds out to herself, she caused more issues doing this and it made her look very childish and selfish too, people died because she refused to tell her family - and considering she knew she was a witch and knew what power she got, I could not understand this hesitance.
Chase - what a stereotypical male character, I am sure Ms. John did this deliberately - he had his good and bad points, but when he finds out his real family history is, he does the right thing - not what his family expects him to do, so he did well in my eyes.
The wicked witches ( spoiler free so not naming) - ooh the eldest was a mix of Cruella de'Vil and Evil Queen Regina from once upon a time.
I would say the first 1/3 was my least enjoyable part, but when the mystery starts to unfold the storyline kept me reading and ignoring the weird words picked for describing inner thoughts or what Fox ends up being, I enjoyed the story, one innocent girl dies and a boy's life is in ruins because Fox does not man up but I guess you need tragedy in the story so someone has to die.
want to know what words did my head in? See below:
(view spoiler)
want to know what words did my head in? See below:
(view spoiler)
Jenni's Review
Witchcraft by Katie M. JohnJenni's rating: 4 of 5 stars
***I voluntarily reviewed this book for Katsindiebookblog, and I gained no monetary incentives nor was I specifically requested to review the book.*** This was a really good book to read, yes a few editing issues here and there but nothing that made it too difficult to read. There is also mild changing is writing style but yet again, it was still relatively an easy read.
You start off with Jeremiah, an American Playboy, who gets sent to live with his Aunt to hopefully calm down his rich way of life. We get a brief explanation of who his family is, something we need to remember for the story itself. Then we meet Fox and her sisters. They play it off that they are not witches, but in reality they are. There are many old stories in the town that they live in, and their family is included in those stories. Due to an evening dinner Fox and Jeremiah briefly meet, both seem drawn to each other but with no explanation. Then another chance meeting on the bus to the school they go to. Could this be fate or just coincidence? Not only is Fox running into Jeremiah on the bus, but her powers also seem to start advancing, she has a vision, but is it from the past, present, or future? This particular gift she does not want, but is it something she can embrace? Especially when disappearances start happening around their town?
From the beginning, you are thrown into the action. It is a quickly based read but action packed none the less. Some parts may be slight difficulty keeping up with, especially when all of a sudden a character cuts in, when they weren’t there in the beginning. All in all though, it is worth the read and I look forward to more in the series as well as the author!
View all Jenni reviews
Author Bio
Katie lives in the London suburbs. Her time is divided between writing, teaching English to teenagers and being mummy to two daughters. She started writing seriously after the birth of her first daughter five years ago. She has gone on to have four of her YA novels published and numerous short horror and fantasy stories published by several press houses, including Nexus Press and Winter Goose.
Her series ‘The Knight Trilogy’ is an Amazon.UK number one best selling Fairy Tale series and has been consistently in the top 100 of several categories.
In October 2012 she released her fourth novel, ‘Beautiful Freaks’, a gothic paranormal detective novel set in Victorian London.
She is currently working on a seven book series called the ‘Meadowsweet Chronicles’, a series about witchcraft in a sleeping English village. Book One is due for publication in the summer of 2013. All of her books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and WHSmith.
No comments:
Post a Comment
thanks for commenting