Book 20, 2018
Mar. 4th, 2018 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chez_jaeBetween yesterday and today, I read the ebook Pretty Hexed, which is the first installment in author Sara Bourgeois' "Witches of Winterfield" series.
Winterfield resident and witch, Belladonna Nightshade, inherits the local harridan's cat, and a fortune to take care of said cat, when Elsbeth Tory is murdered. Unfortunately, that puts her at the top of the list of suspects, and Detective Benjamin Carmichael, who's new to town, puts Bella through the wringer as he investigates. For Ben, it seems the entire town is keeping secrets, and he's right--most of the residents are magical in one form or another, but he doesn't know that. It's up to Bella to keep him out of the know, and she must also find out what happened to Mrs Tory, before something dark is unleashed in their sleepy little town.
Sounds good, yeah? Well, it wasn't. There was no cohesiveness to the plot, characters were not fleshed out (I don't even know what they looked like!), writing was painfully trite, and there was no resolution to some of the smaller plot points. Thank goodness it was a novella-length story; I would have hated to slog through much more of this. Here's what really bugged me:
♦ Belladonna Nightshade? Seriously? It would be a cool name for a band, or a fun moniker to call a pet, but an actual person? Eesh.
♦ It was mentioned that Mrs Tory was not well-liked, but no explanation was given as to why.
♦ The author kept referring to Ben as "Detective Ben (or Benjamin)". WHY?! Give his title when he's first introduced as a character, and then have other characters address him as such, but DO NOT use his title within the narrative. Guh.
♦ Author kept switching from past to present tense. Yikes.
♦ Mrs Tory's lawyer blabbed all to "Detective Ben" about the will and the cat and Belladonna. Just, no.
♦ Detective Ben then was the one who told Belladonna about it. Again, no.
♦ How did the mayor's wife come to know this, too? Who told her?
♦ No one in town seemed to like it when the witches used their magic, yet virtually all of them are magical as well. Made no sense.
♦ Bella's mother only showed up sporadically, as she'd been caught in a time-warp somewhere and somewhen. Now, that was an intriguing plot point, but the author never explained it!
♦ A mysterious, hooded figure kept appearing and apparently casting spells, but we never found out for certain who it was. Hello?
♦ The narrative was all tell and no show, and the writing was juvenile.
Favorite line: She'd made it this long without letting a man get his hooks in her.
In short, Reader Jae was most displeased. Giving this a mere one star:
*
Winterfield resident and witch, Belladonna Nightshade, inherits the local harridan's cat, and a fortune to take care of said cat, when Elsbeth Tory is murdered. Unfortunately, that puts her at the top of the list of suspects, and Detective Benjamin Carmichael, who's new to town, puts Bella through the wringer as he investigates. For Ben, it seems the entire town is keeping secrets, and he's right--most of the residents are magical in one form or another, but he doesn't know that. It's up to Bella to keep him out of the know, and she must also find out what happened to Mrs Tory, before something dark is unleashed in their sleepy little town.
Sounds good, yeah? Well, it wasn't. There was no cohesiveness to the plot, characters were not fleshed out (I don't even know what they looked like!), writing was painfully trite, and there was no resolution to some of the smaller plot points. Thank goodness it was a novella-length story; I would have hated to slog through much more of this. Here's what really bugged me:
♦ Belladonna Nightshade? Seriously? It would be a cool name for a band, or a fun moniker to call a pet, but an actual person? Eesh.
♦ It was mentioned that Mrs Tory was not well-liked, but no explanation was given as to why.
♦ The author kept referring to Ben as "Detective Ben (or Benjamin)". WHY?! Give his title when he's first introduced as a character, and then have other characters address him as such, but DO NOT use his title within the narrative. Guh.
♦ Author kept switching from past to present tense. Yikes.
♦ Mrs Tory's lawyer blabbed all to "Detective Ben" about the will and the cat and Belladonna. Just, no.
♦ Detective Ben then was the one who told Belladonna about it. Again, no.
♦ How did the mayor's wife come to know this, too? Who told her?
♦ No one in town seemed to like it when the witches used their magic, yet virtually all of them are magical as well. Made no sense.
♦ Bella's mother only showed up sporadically, as she'd been caught in a time-warp somewhere and somewhen. Now, that was an intriguing plot point, but the author never explained it!
♦ A mysterious, hooded figure kept appearing and apparently casting spells, but we never found out for certain who it was. Hello?
♦ The narrative was all tell and no show, and the writing was juvenile.
Favorite line: She'd made it this long without letting a man get his hooks in her.
In short, Reader Jae was most displeased. Giving this a mere one star:
*
