ARC Review: Witchfall by Victoria Lamb!

I continue my quest for improving my ratio on NetGalley and on having the reviews for ARCs I've received on a timely manner! This one I didn't manage to have up before relase day this Tuesday, but it's up on release week at least! I wanna give a great thank you again to Harlequin Teen for being so kind to me and approving my request once again!

This one is also part of my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge!

Witchfall by Victoria Lamb

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I was approved on NetGalley for Witchstruck, the first book of this trilogy and I really enjoyed, so when I saw that book too was also available for review since it was coming out soon, I had to know what was coming next for Meg, Alejandro and Lady Elizabeth!

Thank you so much to Harlequin Tee for once again approving my request!

As always, since this is the review of a sequel you can expect spoilers for book 1 as those are very hard to avoid but know that I will do my best to avoid spoilers for Witchfall!

Meg finally can breathe without the shadow of witchhunter behind her, but she exchanged that for the long hand of the Inquisition. She has moved to court since Lady Elizabeth was recalled by her sister, Queen Mary. It would seem a good thing, but Lady Elizabeth and Meg are under even a more strict vigilance there, and the Inquisition is there at every step.

The thing I really really love about these books is how fantastically they mix the period time events and politics, with the customs and the atmosphere with the world of magick. While you are reading, it all comes together to seamlessly that you simply think that is how it had to be, with magick in between all the political intrigues!

Being so truthful to the period it also means there are loads of mysoginistic attitudes that always grate on my nerves, nothing against the book but something to be warned about. Also, the Inquisition is scaring as hell (pun not intended, but approppriate) and there's some torture in the book that even if not graphic, it was both deeply uncomfortable and enraging to read.

This is a very solid sequel, without middle book syndrome, with a plot that takes a few unexpected turns, with some very dangerous foes, some new, some old. More magick, more political intrigue, more secrets revealed and more to uncover.

Meg grows as a character, even if sometimes she can be a bit irritating, she has a backbone and she won't stop from doing what's right. Alejandro continue to be slightly heatheaded when it comes to Meg sometimes, but he always manages to be there for her and to help as he can. There's no love triangle despite someone else being interested, it was never an issue of having doubts, though some jealousy was experiencen here and there.

Lady Elizabeth is still not the strong woman the world will meet as Elizabeth I, but she is still trying to navigate the waters of Court and avoid the dangers of the Inquisition. Her change of heart and the end of the book was not unexpected, but it was disappointing.

The climax was a bit quick and over a bit too soon, too easy and at the same time it seems that we go through a loop of "it's over, but no it really isn't" sort of a feel.

A book with exquisite world building, even if I don't seem to connect with them emotionally as I'd wish. Well deserved 3.5 stars.



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Friday Reads: ARC Review of Witchstruck by Victoria Lamb!

For the next Friday Reads, a surprise approval from Harper Collins on NetGalley that through my reading & reviewing schedule off and a welcome change of pace, back to one of my fave genres, historical fiction.


Witchstruck by Victoria Lamb

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I got an ARC of Witchstruck on NetGalley via the publisher but that did not influence my opinion or review of this book at all.

Witchstruck is the first book in The Tudor Witch Trilogy, I was so drawn to this book because it combines historical fiction with the paranormal world of witches.

It is the story of Meg, a young woman with the gift of magick that has been thought how to control her gift and the secrets of white magick by her aunt. She has been brought by her father to the service of Lady Elizabeth, the banned Tudor princess sent into exile and reclusion by her half sister and queen, Mary. Meg didn't want to leave her aunt but was glad to get away from a suitor intent on marrying her, the county's official witchfinder, Marcus Dent.

Being a woman in the 16th century was not easy but being a witch even less, having to hide your gift for fear of being hanged or burnt just on the mere baseless accusation. And being a witch on the circle of the lady Elizabeth, who is always watched waiting for a mistake, could be the most dangerous position of them all. Even more since England is getting a wave of Catholicism washing over it with the marriage & alliance of queen Mary with Philip, the future king of Spain. And to make sure the lady Elizabeth is being catholic and properly pios, she get sent a priest and a future knight of the order of the Compostela Knights to watch over her.

I really liked the way both the paranormal aspect and the historical period mixed in this book, never once I felt it didn't work together. Elizabeth was known to have a certain fascination with horoscopes and seeing the future, proven by her long association with John Dee (alchemist, astrologer and all around mystic) so for me it was no stretch of the imagination to think that she'd want to have & use a young witch as her companion.

I really liked both Meg's and Elizabeth's characters, both are young and are facing not the best of odds, but they both try to do what's right and stay strong and true to themselves despite the pressures from outside. I loved how close Meg's relationship with her aunt was and how she was ready to face danger for her and others she cared for.

Our Spanish Compostelan knight, Alejandro, was a character not difficult to love, showing kindness and not being a horrible fanatic and clearly from the beginning you see something will happen between him and Meg, but I liked that it progressed slowly, with loads of stops and starts because you don't expect things between a witch and a Catholic night to be all passion from day one!

The plot was engaging but without too many surprises, no big twist and turns but still enough intrigue and strife to make you want to keep on turning pages to see if Elizabeth will come back to court, to see if Meg will not be discovered and hanged as a witch...

The only thing that didn't all the time sound right to me where the uses of Spanish words from the Spanish characters, cause some times they weren't actual Spanish words, as when Alejandro's servant kept on calling Meg "signorina", cause that's Italian.

All in all a very engaging read in a genre that I really like and haven't been reading much as of late (historical fiction) and one that leaves you wanting to read more of the story in the next book without a terrible cliffhanger in the end.

Very well deserved 3 and a half stars.



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