Author: Barbara Bretton
Pages: 299
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Synopsis: Sugar Maple looks like any Vermont town, but it’s inhabited with warlocks, sprites, vampires, witches—and an ancient secret. And Chloe Hobbs, owner of Sticks & Strings, a popular knitting shop, has a big secret too. She’s a sorcerer’s daughter in search of Mr. Right—and she’s found him in Luke MacKenzie, a cop investigating Sugar Maple’s very first murder. Bad news is he’s 100% human, which could spell disaster for a normal future with a paranormal woman like her.
My Review: When I visited our town library a few days ago seeking books from my Witchy reading list, I nearly didn't take the librarian's advice when she recommended this book. First, it was labeled as a "Romance" (insert finger into throat at the mere thought of mushy romance novels); second, it was dubbed as "fantasy" in the librarian's description (with, you know, Vampires, Selkies, Fae Folk, Trolls - I kept thinking "Um, Miss, I'm not 12 anymore - can't you see the gray hair?"); and third, the main character owned and operated a popular knitting shop (needle crafts are cool but I can't do them and this was really sounding B-O-R-I-N-G).
In the first couple chapters or so, I nearly gave up on the book - thinking it just wasn't for my taste, but I'm SO glad I kept reading!
Barbara Bretton's writing is brilliant! She weaves an intriguing mix of fantasy, reality, passion, mortality and magic - drawing you into the scenes and into the emotions of the characters. She seemed to easily slip into her well-defined characters - transitioning from male to female (and back again) without a hitch. I found myself trying to piece together more than one mystery, trying to guess the outcome (I was WAY off - unusual for me - so this was a pleasant surprise), rooting for the characters and wanting to be there to help them with their challenges.
I'm not experienced at writing reviews, but I do think - after reading hundreds of novels over the years - that I'm a fairly tough critic. It's very hard to hit five stars with me. Long before the end of the story I was turning pages like crazy - yet not wanting the story to end. By the time I'd finished, I had gained new (positive) perspectives into my long-held negative views of "romances", "fantasies"...and even knitting! I'm anxious to read the next in this series. I believe the librarian said that there are three books in this particular group from Bretton.
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Known in the Pagan Community as the "Green Witch", Polly Taskey is descended from Mary Bradbury (Perkins). She uses her writing talents to bring you Pagan by Design Blog and Message Boards. If reprinted, this byline and links shown here must be included.
3 Comments:
I read this book...last year I think it was...and I really enjoyed it as well... No huge suspenseful moments but just a great smooth fun read that keeps you turning pages. Plus the setting and characters..love it:)
♥Melissa
PS I'm playing comment catch up today! lol
Hi Melissa! Yes, you're right it is a smooth read minus huge suspenseful moments, yet very much worth it I think. :) Have you read the next two in this series?
I too truly enjoyed this book... it was on Melissa's list of witch books to read for the challenge. I too was weary about the knitting, but as you agree it was a really good book.
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