Blackheath
Book
1 of The Blackheath Witches
By: Gabriella Lepore
Published: December 20, 2015 Of Tomes Publishing
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Pages: 323 Calibre
EReader
Source: Xpresso Book Tours
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Seventeen-year-old
Maggie Ellmes is dogged by a case of chronic bad luck. She figures that’s just
her lot in life—that is, until the psychic at Blackheath’s annual carnival
reveals that Maggie’s problems are caused by more than just ordinary
misfortune; she’s actually been cursed.
Desperate to shake
the hex, Maggie has no choice but to seek out the help of Joel Tomlins, a
rebellious classmate who’s descended from Blackheath’s most powerful line of
witches. After breaking all of his coven’s conventions to help her, Joel
discovers that the curse isn’t as bad as Maggie fears. In fact, it’s much, much
worse.
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Book
1 of the Blackheath Witches series was written in the two years after
Evanescent but luckily I’m reading it just a week after for this Xpresso book
tour.
Gabriella
Lepore knows how to draw out the development of young teen relationships really
well, and write about small town life, qualities that carry over into
Blackheath. You feel like you’re really there in a good way.
We
get drawn into the lives of the Tomlins, the
witch family of Blackheath, who move up to Really Old Aunt Pearl’s crumbling
but awesome manor house. Second-oldest son, Joel, figures that Maggie from
Blackheath high school, who he’s sweet on, is the target of dark witch
practices by other witches.
It's neat that a boy, Joel is the witch here. There’s
loads of nice detail on early teen interaction and relationships though I was
looking for a little more witch stuff. I would say this is a bit more of an
early teen novel than paranormal per se.
I was also a little mystified that Joel didn’t seek family help earlier
on (despite family issues) and tried to go it alone protecting Maggie.
The
author has a sweet, almost whimsical writing style that just wiggles its way
into your heart. And I was laughing that the boys never once thought to maybe
repair stuff like broken stairs, but then there’s no female present in the
family to prod them on I guess and boys will be boys.
There’s
a nice unexpected twist towards the end, and a glimpse of the absent and
mysterious matriarch, Evangeline; likely more of her to come in book 2.
If
you have early teens in your life who like to read, don’t hesitate to gift
them with Blackheath.
As I did for
Evanescent, I heartily recommend this charming read for early teens and all
young at heart readers. 4.3 Stars!
Grab your copy at Amazon
Check out Gabriella on the web at these links:
Great review! This sounds like a fun read and easy to get into! Glad you liked it! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your support, Giselle! I've loved doing Gabriella's book tours and really enjoyed reading her books. Thanks for the opportunity:)
DeleteI LOVE this Blog Tour! So many new authors to find and read! I came across Blackheath by Gabriella Lepore on this tour and am very excited to add it to my "MUST READ" list. Thanks for the great opportunity to win. Thanks for introducing me to all the new authors to check out!
ReplyDeleteThanks for popping by Kristina! You will really enjoy reading Gabriella's books and I'm looking forward to book 2 in the Blackheath series :)
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