Payback's a Witch (The Witches of Thistle Grove, #1)
Lana Harper
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets The L Word in this fresh, sizzling rom-com by Lana Harper. Emmy Harlow is a witch but not a very powerful one—in part because she hasn't been home to the magical town of Thistle Grove in years. Her self-imposed exile has a lot to do with a complicated family history and a desire to forge her own way in the world, and only the very tiniest bit to do with Gareth Blackmoore, heir to the most powerful magical family in town and casual breaker of hearts and destroyer of dreams. But when a spellcasting tournament that her family serves as arbiters for approaches, it turns out the pull of tradition (or the truly impressive parental guilt trip that comes with it) is strong enough to bring Emmy back. She's determined to do her familial duty; spend some quality time with her best friend, Linden Thorn; and get back to her real life in Chicago. On her first night home, Emmy runs into Talia Avramov—an all-around badass adept in the darker magical arts—who is fresh off a bad breakup . . . with Gareth Blackmoore. Talia had let herself be charmed, only to discover that Gareth was also seeing Linden—unbeknownst to either of them. And now she and Linden want revenge. Only one question stands: Is Emmy in? But most concerning of all: Why can't she stop thinking about the terrifyingly competent, devastatingly gorgeous, wickedly charming Talia Avramov?
No posts yet
Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update
Your rating:
Well that was… a book. I just wasn’t invested in these characters and the whole thing was meh. Not bad, but not special.
02.5 stars
video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv9fmGAhHVo
For me, the writing style was not to my liking--overdone and too full of adjectives and heavy description, weird thesaurus-level word choices that stuck out as jarring and unfamiliar, not casual or natural. While these descriptions did lend a strong atmosphere and autumnal vibe, the setting was really the only element strengthened, in my opinion.
Character development was so-so: Emmy was very annoying to me, Talia was brash and hotttt, but we didn't get much more from her. Linden was a cardboard supportive cutout, and so was the bad guy ex--a stereotype.
While the story was set up to be a 'coming home again'/'finding yourself' for Emmy, I didn't think that was accomplished well: Emmy doesn't have real growth throughout (doesn't figure herself out), and also there wasn't any debate about whether or not she should come home and stay in this small town. Yes, she references how great of a life she has in Chicago and the wonderful friends she has there, we never see her pining after that life or texting those friends? She's overcome from page one by the feelings she has for her hometown, and the argument for going to Chicago is pitifully poor.
The romance was weak in my opinion, it seemed to be lust and chemistry but no emotional development because we don't have strongly established characters/personality.
For Emmy to be made 'magical mayor' at the end... that was over-written and stupid. I compared it to Emmy being crowned prom queen, because she was just blubbering and crying happy tears and stepped forward to take the crown. People were cheering for her (this stranger that's been gone for like 10 years?) and saying "you deserve this!" and I was flabbergasted!
I was okay with Emmy stepping into the challenge and winning the thing for Talia, but then I didn't think it made any sense for Talia to hand over the power?
0 0
