Book: House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie WhippleGenre: YA Supernatural
Rating:★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
For: Review, and Local Authors
From (and FTC Disclosure): Received for free from the publisher through Edelweiss. All opinions are my own.
Short Synopsis: Jo is a witch, and is from a long line of witches... a line of only women. (The men in their lives come and go.) When her grandma gets sick, it prompts Jo to break a lot of witch rules, including letting her friends in on the secret. There's a powerful force coming to hunt her and her grandma that she doesn't quite understand. Behind the force is a guy and guys don't have magic. Solving this mystery and saving her family and home is the driving force behind this fast paced story.
My Response: I'm not much into the witch talk. All that potion mixing and spell casting isn't my thing I guess. But, though there is a lot of that in this story, it goes beyond that to the relationships between the these women. And also the friends that she ends up including in the circle. It makes a pretty powerful statement for the strength of sisterhood. So that was awesome. The dark magic is pretty scary and creepy too and there is a lot of gross and evil stuff going on here! If you are into that! The magic in general was all pretty cool.
Bottom Line: I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Let's Talk About: It makes some people uncomfortable reading about witchcraft. I guess maybe because this practice is all too real in the world today? Anyway, I wondered how you felt about it? Does it bother you at all, or do you just shrug and go, eh, it's fiction.
Other Reviews:
House of Ivy & Sorrow by Natalie Whipple was an intriguing tale filed with old school witchcraft set into a very contemporary setting. From Bewitched Bookworms
Ultimately, The House of Ivy & Sorrow is a classic Good Against Evil story, but it's done well, and I enjoyed every minute with these characters. From Annette's Book Spot
This was a refreshing YA paranormal read with great characters, cute romance, and a fun plot. From Dark Faerie Tales
I actually really enjoy books with witchcraft and magic in general. Part of my motivation for reading is definitely escapist so it's fun to read stories with fantasy elements. I don't like books with too much cruelty in them though, especially cruelty to animals, so depending on how dark and gritty the witchcraft in this one is, it could be too much for me.
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