Witches, vampires, shapeshifters, covens…magic. This book is
fantasy bookended with romance.
Laurel Pearson has never felt that she ‘belonged’.
Encouraged by her loving foster mom, Laurel decides to find somewhere she
belongs, picks up a dart and throws it on a map and ends up in Cincinnati. On her way to a maybe-interview,
Laurel almost gets run over by a truck and then gets some TLC and a job in a
bookstore, Book Wyrm. Wyrm stocks trinkets and dried herbs in addition to
books. Laurel is sent to pick up an order of herbs to Barleywick and finds the
driver of the truck that almost ran her over, Rhea Barnes. Gruff, short and unwelcoming,
the woman with an intricate design of scars all over intrigues Laurel. It doesn’t
take long before Laurel start discovering things about herself, viz. that she
is a witch, and about her magical parents.
We really wanted to like this book much
more than we did because we completely loved this author’s previous book, Silhoutte, and because
Laurel is adorable. But Rhea killed it for us. No matter how much an author
justifies a character, we just cannot get behind someone who leads on – lets down
– locks out another person. Especially one as sweet as Laurel.
But despite our personal preference,
this book is admittedly very well written (with some great lines and hilarious
lines), engaging and entertaining.
⭐⭐⭐☆
