Tag: learn

Book Review – The Witch Haven By Sasha Peyton Smith

This was her debut novel in an urban fantasy world, based in 1911 New York City. We follow protagonist, Frances Hallowell, a 17 year old seamstress. She is forced to attend a witch school after killing her boss. Set up as a fake tuberculosis center, she is thrust into a new world of underground magic. Magic that may help her uncover the truth of her brother’s murder.

For a debut novel, we can tell much love went into this story. This was a smasing debut with a wild tale of murder and magic and betrayal. I try to steer clear of some of the young adult reading as it caters to the demographic it is aimed at. Some of those reads feel immature to my cynical thity year old heart. This was not the case with this tale. Frances, while only 17, carries the grief of losing her brother and a grief I know too well. I really loved Franis and watching her struggle but succeed to find a new normal without him.

If you were on the fence, read it. I know I will be adding Sasha Peyton Smith to my list of wonderful authors and will be impatiently awaiting her next one. This was an easy 5/5 for me.

**Spoiler Alert**

When her boss catches her alone at work and tries to rape her, France’s attempt to defend herself. Somehow, her scissors come to save her day, even though she was sure they were across the room. Sbe attempts to hide the evidence with the the help of her supervisor but she still ends up on the police radar after admitting she worked late the night of his death. A pair of nurses arrive just in time, claiming Frances has tuberculosis.

Arriving at the tuberculosis center, Frances gets to see what is actually an academy for magical girls, Haxahaven. They learn how to control their emotions as well as spellwork. Soon after she begins, Francis begins receiving midnight notes regarding her brother’s death. The messenger turns out to be an old work friend of her brother’s, Finn. As more bodies pile up, matching her brother’s circumstances, they team up to piece together the details.

Finn seems to be a gentleman that carres for her until his psychotic side finalely shines through his veneer. He attempts to take over his school, killing members of the board, trapped in a meeting and is headed to take over Haxahaven until Francis tries to intervene. She saaves one of the non-magical familiies slated to be murdered by Finn, Oliver and his family. Oliver is a longtime friend of here brother and offers to help her. Chaos erupts within the magical community. Old hurts and wrongs are brought to lght as the dead pile up.

Can Oliver and Francis save them from a maniacal Finn?

My TBR in Honor of June and Pridemonth

Pixabay

1 – The Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon

A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens. The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

2 – Taken (The Harvest series Book 1) – M.A. Church

We are not alone. In the year 2050 mankind’s never-ending quest for proof life exists in the universe is answered—in the form of massive space ships that appear without warning above the capitals of all major nations. The name of their planet is Tah’Nar—and is dying. The United States sets up a lottery system, and each young man between the ages of twenty-three and twenty-eight is assigned a number. Once a year, for the next five years, numbers will be drawn and a new set of one thousand males will be collected. The media coined the expression ‘The Harvest’ for when the Tah’Narian’s collect these young men.

Captain Keyno Landium Shou is a Tah’Narian starship captain who has been granted the right to take a mate, any mate, he wants during the last harvest on Earth. Dale was seventeen when the aliens first appeared. His parents assumed he’d be safe since the final collection would be done before he turned twenty-three. He didn’t fall within the guidelines established, so they took for granted he had nothing to fear.

They were wrong.

3 – Uncharted – Alli Temple

Treacherous storms. A mysterious pirate king. The prince’s unrelenting pursuit. Georgina and Cinder can only escape by following the uncharted course of their hearts. But just as a future together is within their grasp, Cinder’s past threatens to drag them both to the deep.

4 – Princess of Dorsa (The Chronicles of Dorsa Book 1) – Eliza Andrews

Rebellious Princess Natasia has always known that her fate is to marry a man her father can shape into his heir. But everything changes after a would-be assassin nearly takes Tasia’s life. Someone with means and connections is obviously trying to destabilize the Empire, but who? No noble family is above suspicion, so the Emperor takes the extraordinary step of naming his daughter his true heir.

Tasia suddenly finds herself saddled with learning to rule an entire Empire. But there are enemies on every side, threatening to disrupt the Empire’s fragile peace — there’s the long-standing and deeply unpopular war in the East, disagreements amongst her father’s closest advisors, angry lords threatening their defiance, and rumors of a faraway kingdom trying to sow discord.

Join Newsletter