![butel krystina butel krystina](http://img.meibangzx.com/2019/0805/20190805111701624.png)
And I don't mean like A Discovery of Witches slow read with intricate details on the origin of magic, spells, etc. In addition to the above, the entire book was a slow read. It could have been a really great moment with more details included, instead I was just left cold by the whole thing. We get to a key scene at the end of the book and Gwen is supposedly repeating every anti-hex incantation that she ever learned and that she could feel all of the former (and in her mother's case, present) Harper women flowing through her.
![butel krystina butel krystina](https://muzskysvet.sk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/qbuweNTpTWXbLFUYlRkoYQ_Krystina-Butel-e1527719869656.jpg)
would have been really great and added to the overall book. I think having Gwen describe herbs, different spells she learned, the meaning of those spells, etc. There was way too much tell and not enough show for me.
![butel krystina butel krystina](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUtVCHbX4AUZph_.jpg)
And when Gwen figures it out and realizes what this person has done she passively keeps allowing things to keep happening to her (that's where the TSTL comes in).Īnother issue I had while reading was that anything that deals with magic was pretty much glossed over or handwaved away. However, the readers will probably figure it out ages before Gwen does.
![butel krystina butel krystina](https://img.cas.sk/cas/900px/1709483.jpg)
It would have made the final denouement more exciting if the reader and Gwen had not been clued into the fact that this person was all wrong. There is also the mustache twirling villain that I was able to deduce within the first couple of pages. Then we get to Gwen's love interest Cam who was constantly wishy-washy on Gwen until almost the end of the book (yeah a hum-drum romance, totally my not favorite thing to read). We also have Gwen and Ruby's mother Gloria who we hear about in dribs and drabs, but I can't get much of a sense of at all. Gwen's older sister Ruby is ashamed of Gwen's magic abilities and warns her off of telling her 14 year old daughter Katie. The other characters in the book are not written with enough detail for me to even pick them out of a line-up. I also think if we had been told the story and history of Gwen, the town of Pendleford, her family, and her relationship with Cam in a linear way it would have made for a faster read. I think that if we had seen more of her as being strong and not falling apart everytime her love interest Cam ignored her or her sister was mean to her, I could have liked the character more. The main character Gwen at times dances between being a TSTL romance heroine and a strong woman who knows magic. I gave this book three stars because I felt that the main character and other characters were not written well enough for me to really get a sense of them, there was a lack of details concerning the magic, the slow pace of the book, and the constant contradictions that came up while I was reading. Painter to my list of go to authors who write in this genre, but was let down with the overall story-line and development of the characters in her book. I adore Alice Hoffman, Sarah Addison Allen, and was quite happy to discover author Menna van Praag as well. I love magical realism books and am always on the lookout for more authors that write in this genre. I think this is because I don't know what to say about a book that I consider in the end to be a serviceable book, but not very memorable. Painter to my list of go to authors who I have struggled with this review and have started and deleted it about a dozen times. I have struggled with this review and have started and deleted it about a dozen times.