* * *
47North, 2014
The premise of this made me think agreeably of how a spinoff Harry Potter story about a Squib might have read. Mercy Taylor is the only non-magic person in a very powerful witching family. She enlists the help of a disreputable Hoodoo practitioner in order to fall in love with her best friend instead of her sister's boyfriend—and then the family matriarch is immediately murdered, and Mercy is stuck pitting wits against magic, family secrets, and an enemy that wants her dead next.
The book contained magic, witchcraft, demons, political correctness, and a few other things that make it hard for me to recommend it unreservedly to about half my normal readership. It also contained a thoroughly enjoyable plot, a lot of surprising twists, a reliable genre voice, and some lovably human characters, of whom Uncle Oliver and Aunt Ellen were my favorites aside from protagonist Mercy. It made the hour or so of sitting in Les Schwab pass much too quickly.
Rating: Two peanut butter cookies and a chocolate one. With milk. There are a couple of oatmeal raisin cookies on the plate, but they'll only set your teeth on edge if you expect them to be chocolate chip, and if you don't like raisins, and if you eat them. :)
This sounds like something I would like. Also, I love oatmeal raisin cookies best. That's not part of the metaphor, it's just true. Sometimes I bite into what I think is oatmeal raisin and it turns out to be chocolate chip, and my mouth goes, "ohh, whoops :(" I like chocolate chip well enough, but not when I'm expecting delicious oatmeal rasin.
ReplyDeleteI can't stand peanut butter cookies. I can tolerate oatmeal raisin. But chocolate chip is the best, so I'm thinking maybe this book wouldn't be for me. Nice review, though. :)
ReplyDeleteLaura, you should totally read this book. I think you'd enjoy it a lot. George, you almost certainly should not. :)
ReplyDeleteCookie ratings--love it!
ReplyDeleteI'm in trouble, though, because I love all those cookies, homemade of course, but don't think I'd like the book. Hmm, what would my ratings be?
***** Chocolate chip biscotti homemade
**** Chocolate chip cookies homemade
*** Oatmeal raisin homemade
** Oreos
* Wafer cookies
Deborah
HAHAHAHA.
DeleteOh, just wait. I've only gotten started.
I like homemade chocolate biscotti, too. Chocolate chip I haven't tried, but it sounds beyond wonderful. I'm SO GLAD Lent is over right now.