Book 88, 2016
Nov. 7th, 2016 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chez_jaeSunday, I read an ebook novella Convicted Witch. It's the first installment in author Willow Monroe's "Jagged Grove" mystery series.
Trinket has turned her back on her witchcraft after using her powers as a teen led to a tragedy. Now, she's in law school at Duke, engaged to be married, and looking forward to the future. Her mother, however, embraces her witchcraft, but Bilda is getting a trifle dotty and sometimes causes bad things to happen. After one such debacle, Trinket learns that she and her mother have been banished to the supernatural village of Jagged Grove.
Trinket is naturally outraged, but she makes a deal with the sexy Angelo: she'll stay for one year and train the young witch, Maggie, to be the village healer, then she wants to return to her normal life. Unfortunately, when Trinket arrives, she learns that Maggie has been murdered.
I'm on the fence about this one. Overall, it was a good story. The characters had some depth, the plot clipped along at a good pace, and Trinket was an engaging main character. However, I was as vexed as she was that she seemed to be getting punished for her mother's transgressions. As the story moved along, it was becoming clearer to the reader and to Trinket, that her move to Jagged Grove was orchestrated long before her mother messed up. Angelo was, once again, a sexy albeit heavy-handed man that the female lead was reluctantly attracted to. Guh, spare me from this trope!
Other things that put me off:
The author switched from past to present tense throughout the narrative. That should have been caught by a competent editor and corrected.
Virtually all of the women that Trinket met in Jagged Grove were jealous, psychotic twats. WTF?! Sure, have one jealous, psychotic twat for some drama, but that damned many? And, they were all hating on Trinket, because all of them were crushing on Angelo, and all of them seemed to think he and Trinket were "together". There was Wisp, who's engaged to someone else, Portia, the bartender who keeps trying to slip Angelo a love potion, and Rachel, the dead, bitter witch whom Angelo was once an item with. Thankfully, there was another sexy guy for Trinket to set her sights on, which seemed to make Angelo jealous. Good grief.
There was no real resolution at the end. So much hate. Yes, I know there are more installments in the series, but I can haz closure, please?
Favorite line:"He also loves dragons, has the coolest shop in town, and likes to practice his macramé." / "A vampire that likes to macramé?"
If I could give it a 3 1/2, I would. Since it annoyed me, it gets a 3:
***
Trinket has turned her back on her witchcraft after using her powers as a teen led to a tragedy. Now, she's in law school at Duke, engaged to be married, and looking forward to the future. Her mother, however, embraces her witchcraft, but Bilda is getting a trifle dotty and sometimes causes bad things to happen. After one such debacle, Trinket learns that she and her mother have been banished to the supernatural village of Jagged Grove.
Trinket is naturally outraged, but she makes a deal with the sexy Angelo: she'll stay for one year and train the young witch, Maggie, to be the village healer, then she wants to return to her normal life. Unfortunately, when Trinket arrives, she learns that Maggie has been murdered.
I'm on the fence about this one. Overall, it was a good story. The characters had some depth, the plot clipped along at a good pace, and Trinket was an engaging main character. However, I was as vexed as she was that she seemed to be getting punished for her mother's transgressions. As the story moved along, it was becoming clearer to the reader and to Trinket, that her move to Jagged Grove was orchestrated long before her mother messed up. Angelo was, once again, a sexy albeit heavy-handed man that the female lead was reluctantly attracted to. Guh, spare me from this trope!
Other things that put me off:
The author switched from past to present tense throughout the narrative. That should have been caught by a competent editor and corrected.
Virtually all of the women that Trinket met in Jagged Grove were jealous, psychotic twats. WTF?! Sure, have one jealous, psychotic twat for some drama, but that damned many? And, they were all hating on Trinket, because all of them were crushing on Angelo, and all of them seemed to think he and Trinket were "together". There was Wisp, who's engaged to someone else, Portia, the bartender who keeps trying to slip Angelo a love potion, and Rachel, the dead, bitter witch whom Angelo was once an item with. Thankfully, there was another sexy guy for Trinket to set her sights on, which seemed to make Angelo jealous. Good grief.
There was no real resolution at the end. So much hate. Yes, I know there are more installments in the series, but I can haz closure, please?
Favorite line:"He also loves dragons, has the coolest shop in town, and likes to practice his macramé." / "A vampire that likes to macramé?"
If I could give it a 3 1/2, I would. Since it annoyed me, it gets a 3:
***
