3 out of 5 stars.
I would like to thank Curiosity Quills Press for providing me with an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an open and honest review.
This story was an interesting one. The book is told in the first person by an intelligent, sarcastic and good at heart college girl lumbered with all the usual anxieties that come with being an intelligent, sarcastic and good at heart girl in her late teens, early twenties at college. 😉
I liked it, I really did. But I will admit now to finding the tense a little hard to read at times as it was in the current present tense, but sometimes seemed to slip into the past present tense… yeah, I think I confused myself with that sentence too! Basically, it was being told as it happened… but sometimes seemed to slip into being told as it had just happened and made me go a bit cross eyed. I also felt it a little slow to start, couldn’t quite find its footing as to what type of story it was wanting to be, and then when it did find its footing, became a slightly different story to the one it started out as.
You know, sometimes reviewing things from an emotional point of view makes me sound like such a crazy lady. Just hand me a few dozen more cats and I’ll be fine. 😉
It was a good story and I did indeed enjoy the roller coaster of emotions it gave to me and I enjoyed the characters, how they developed and all in all the general feel of the story.
Being a Pagan myself I did find the “witchcraft” side of it a little insipid and “TV generic”, as in based on what we’re supposed to get up to according to TV shows… but that could just be an issue with this particular reader and I don’t believe that was a flaw in the book.
I am aware there is already a second book in this series out and I’ve even read the blurb… but as much as I enjoyed this book, I would like to leave it as a stand-alone. I’m not too sure why, but I just didn’t feel the connection needed to go racing to get the next one. Again, this is a flaw with the reader and not with the quality of the writing or the book. One was just enough from me, though if I did see other works written by Ms Noser, I would indeed check them out. But I feel I am done with this particular series, sorry.
Would I recommend this book to others?
Yes I would. It was good. It had some great moments and, although not that original, the concept and storyline of this book were good. A little more meat to the witchcraft side of things would have made that part more believable to me, but it still worked on a watered down level.
Would I buy this book for myself?
Yes, I would be proud to have this book grace my electronic shelves as there was just something about it that gives me the feeling I would like reading it again at some point… though, for now, I can’t say I hold a particular interest in following the series. It was a good stand-alone book for me.
In summary – an enjoyable, if a little slow at the beginning, story of a college girl coming to grips with life, death, the afterlife, witchcraft and staying true to herself while also ensuring she gets a passing grade. Well, it’s really a lot more than that, but you better go read it to find that out what else it entails.
Until next time,
Janis.
Janis's Journal 