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Daughter of the Sea
Elisabeth J. Hobbes and Elisabeth Hobbes
8.0
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On a windswept British coastline, the tide deposits an unexpected gift... It was the cry that she...
Historical Fantasy Shifters Romance
Merissa (12934 KP) rated The Castle of Thorns in Books
Nov 1, 2021
THE CASTLE OF THORNS is a fantasy story loosely based upon Beauty and the Beast. Gisela has epilepsy, but no one understands (or knows) her illness. Luckily for her, a witch knows which herbs to use to treat her. All that is good until her supply runs too low for the usual trip by sea. Instead, they will have to go through the forest where a man-eating monster-fox lives.
This is a sometimes dark story with plenty of death before Knorren realises the error of his ways. Gisela also has a couple of sisters that really should be in Cinderella rather than this story! Jana is sweet with her, but she still coddles Gisela, making her think she is weaker than she is.
Some of the supporting characters didn't do anything for me and actually left me wondering what their purpose was. It is fast-paced, especially near the end when it wraps up with a hop, skip, and a jump.
This was an enjoyable read that I have no hesitation in recommending.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
This is a sometimes dark story with plenty of death before Knorren realises the error of his ways. Gisela also has a couple of sisters that really should be in Cinderella rather than this story! Jana is sweet with her, but she still coddles Gisela, making her think she is weaker than she is.
Some of the supporting characters didn't do anything for me and actually left me wondering what their purpose was. It is fast-paced, especially near the end when it wraps up with a hop, skip, and a jump.
This was an enjoyable read that I have no hesitation in recommending.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
The Shadow Cabinet
10.0
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The follow-up to the sensational #1 Sunday Times bestseller Her Majesty’s Royal Coven All is not...
Witches
Kiss of Darkness (Curse of the Guardians #1) by Taylor Aston White
10.0
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He despises her… almost as much as his beast craves her. Kyra’s seen and survived the worst...
Adult Paranormal Romance
Jousting and Justice (Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic #5)
9.0
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An invitation to a medieval festival. A ferry ride to a mysterious island. A scheming, inept witch....
Paranormal Mystery
Merissa (12934 KP) rated Earth Witch (Witches of Westwood Academy #4) in Books
Jun 21, 2023
EARTH WITCH is the fourth book in the Witches of Westwood Academy and we return to the Academy as Jade is recovering from a mishap in Earthquake class - yep, that's a thing!
As with all the other books, this is a quick read and focuses on both the overall story arc and Jade herself. Arlo is on hand to help her with her self-esteem issues although his constant use of 'Sweet Jade' felt over the top to me. Jade liked it though, which I guess is all that counts.
There was a part in here that didn't make much sense to me OR Jade, and that was why her ex turned up at the Academy to bully her. Maybe I missed something, or maybe it will become clear in later books. One thing that did become clear are the six types of witches and, what do you know, we've got the whole bingo card!
Really looking forward to the next instalment and definitely recommended by me.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jun 21, 2023
As with all the other books, this is a quick read and focuses on both the overall story arc and Jade herself. Arlo is on hand to help her with her self-esteem issues although his constant use of 'Sweet Jade' felt over the top to me. Jade liked it though, which I guess is all that counts.
There was a part in here that didn't make much sense to me OR Jade, and that was why her ex turned up at the Academy to bully her. Maybe I missed something, or maybe it will become clear in later books. One thing that did become clear are the six types of witches and, what do you know, we've got the whole bingo card!
Really looking forward to the next instalment and definitely recommended by me.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jun 21, 2023
Merissa (12934 KP) rated Amethyst Flame (Butterfly Witch #2) in Books
Mar 7, 2022 (Updated Jul 3, 2023)
AMETHYST FLAME is the second book in The Butterfly Witch series. We return to Mo as she heads out for a weekend in Vegas. She is still living with her mum and Manager at the Desert Freeze shop. Both she and her mum are still reeling from what happened at the end of the first book.
If I had to say what this book is about - in a nutshell - I would say trust. Or lack of it. Whatever. Basically, this whole book is a mindf*ck of who Mo can trust and rely on. There are secrets within secrets with all of them, but it is Mo on the frontline.
This book expands on what started in the first part, including a revelation about Mo's moths, and will absolutely leave you wanting more. My Kindle nearly hit the wall with the ending and I can't wait for the next book!!!
An Urban Fantasy where the heroine doesn't have all sorted within five minutes. Highly recommended by me.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Mar 4, 2022
If I had to say what this book is about - in a nutshell - I would say trust. Or lack of it. Whatever. Basically, this whole book is a mindf*ck of who Mo can trust and rely on. There are secrets within secrets with all of them, but it is Mo on the frontline.
This book expands on what started in the first part, including a revelation about Mo's moths, and will absolutely leave you wanting more. My Kindle nearly hit the wall with the ending and I can't wait for the next book!!!
An Urban Fantasy where the heroine doesn't have all sorted within five minutes. Highly recommended by me.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Mar 4, 2022
ClareR (5885 KP) rated The River Has Roots in Books
Mar 11, 2025
I have deep love for a fairy tale - especially the ones that border on the macabre.
The River Has Roots is a beautiful tale of two sisters who live on the border of Arcadia (Faerie), and sing to the Willow trees twice a day in tribute to the men they once were.
The sisters are very close: Ysabel and Esther, and they always want to be together. But of course, as in all good fairytales, a man throws a spanner in the works.
The River Has Roots is a novella and honestly, if El-Mohtar wrote this as a full length novel or decided to write more such stories, I would be all in. The writing is beautiful - full on fairytale style at its best.
This gave me “The Twa Sisters” vibes, equally as tragic, but not exactly the same - you’re not getting an exact retelling. This is a story in its own right.
The Lino-cut illustrations (Kathleen Neely) throughout the book were perfect for the story, too.
There was a bonus story at the end, “John Hollowback and the Witch”, and it was a rather pleasant surprise - a fabulous cautionary tale.
This is a must-read for my fellow fairytale fans!
The River Has Roots is a beautiful tale of two sisters who live on the border of Arcadia (Faerie), and sing to the Willow trees twice a day in tribute to the men they once were.
The sisters are very close: Ysabel and Esther, and they always want to be together. But of course, as in all good fairytales, a man throws a spanner in the works.
The River Has Roots is a novella and honestly, if El-Mohtar wrote this as a full length novel or decided to write more such stories, I would be all in. The writing is beautiful - full on fairytale style at its best.
This gave me “The Twa Sisters” vibes, equally as tragic, but not exactly the same - you’re not getting an exact retelling. This is a story in its own right.
The Lino-cut illustrations (Kathleen Neely) throughout the book were perfect for the story, too.
There was a bonus story at the end, “John Hollowback and the Witch”, and it was a rather pleasant surprise - a fabulous cautionary tale.
This is a must-read for my fellow fairytale fans!
Merissa (12934 KP) rated Fangs & Freaks (Shifters of Myth and Legends #1) in Books
Apr 2, 2025
FANGS & FREAKS is the first book in the Shifters of Myth and Legends series and features Bloody Mary. Bellonna was wrongly accused of being a witch by her so-called best friend, pressed and burnt. At the last moment, she calls on Lilith to help and spends the next three hundred or so years becoming Bloody Mary.
Varys is a unicorn who was kidnapped. Blackwell is the psycho boy, and Warrick is his brother and president of the MC. These four cause chaos and wreak mayhem on pretty much every page and I am here for it.
It is a dark read with TWs, so take note! It is fast-paced and with plenty of bl00d and s3x, although only one scene with the four of them together. Although not a traditional one, our guys do get a HEA.
This was a great read that I definitely recommend and I look forward to reading more in this series.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Apr 1, 2025
Varys is a unicorn who was kidnapped. Blackwell is the psycho boy, and Warrick is his brother and president of the MC. These four cause chaos and wreak mayhem on pretty much every page and I am here for it.
It is a dark read with TWs, so take note! It is fast-paced and with plenty of bl00d and s3x, although only one scene with the four of them together. Although not a traditional one, our guys do get a HEA.
This was a great read that I definitely recommend and I look forward to reading more in this series.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Apr 1, 2025
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Broom Service in Tabletop Games
Jun 24, 2021
A show of hands for all of us who have dressed for Halloween as a witch, wizard, druid, fairy, or the like. My hand is raised. How awesome would it be to actually have power to fly – even by broomstick? Or to make some excellent magic potions? Well daydream no more. Broom Service puts you into the world of flying witches and gathering druids and even Weather Fairies all to help your business deliver potions to towers and other buildings with magical tenants.
At its heart Broom Service is a trick-taking card game with pick-up-and-deliver mechanics flowing to the board. Each player will be attempting to supply the board’s towers and castles with magic potions, but they will need to craft them first. AND one does not simply HAVE potion ingredients handy – they need to gather the correct supplies. The winner of Broom Service is the player who best can supply areas of the board by claiming tricks to increase production of said potions.
To setup place the board in the middle of the table (I am waiting for a game to come along that asks you to place the board in the Northwest quadrant of the table or something similar). Populate the board with the proper Heavy Cloud tokens to be whisked away by players for points and access to additional board areas. Place player score tokens on 10 VP along the VP track. Shuffle the Event deck and randomly place seven cards in a draw pile, revealing one into the discard. Each player will receive their two witch hat pawns to be placed on the main castles, a deck of 10 role cards from which they will choose four each round, a set of one each of the three colors of potions, and magic wands per the rules. The game can now begin!
On a player’s turn they will choose one of their four role cards and place it face down in front of themselves. Once all have done this, the starting player will announce their chosen role and declare that they wish to be Cowardly or Brave. For instance, a player may say, “I am a Cowardly Fruit Gatherer” whilst revealing their role card. By declaring Cowardly, the player immediately performs the action on the bottom of the card for Cowardly Fruit Gatherers: produce one purple potion. In order to perform the actions on top of the card the player would need to declare that they are Brave. The player will not perform the action quite yet as now play continues to the next player in line who, if they also chose to play the Fruit Gatherer card, will declare if they will also be Brave. If so, the newest player to claim Brave will be essentially winning the Brave Fruit Gatherer trick. This continues around the table until the very last Brave Fruit Gatherer has declared and won the trick. The winning player then performs the action while all other previous Brave Fruit Gatherers receive NOTHING. Brutal.
The game continues in this fashion of players bidding on Brave roles for better results (as in the example, a Brave Fruit Gatherer is able to make two purple potions AND another potion of their choice) until players have played seven rounds. They then add up their points per the rule book and the winner is determined!
Now, this is a brief explanation of the trick-taking aspect of the game, but other roles actually allow players to deliver the potions made, and still others allow players to use their magic wands to whisk away Heavy Clouds for VPs and remove their board space blocking qualities. Each time a potion is delivered, the player will earn VPs. The trick-taking aspect is simply the gist and also crux of the game.
Components. I love the components in Broom Service. The board is nice and super colorful, with all areas easy to read and understand (though some players have issues with where the towers actually lie on the board, but you must look at which area the BASES of the towers touch to determine this). The cards have wistful artwork on them and the art throughout is stellar. The wooden witch hats and potions are all great, and I love the colors used on these – I mean, orange and purple go super well together. And then there’s green. All in all the components in Broom Service are just great.
That said, I give Broom Service excellent marks because it truly is a better implementation of its predecessor, Witch’s Brew, in almost every aspect (even though my wife disagrees). The art is better, the components are better, the addition of the board and its mechanics add so much to the game. I love being able to travel to different areas of the board to deliver items, and I really don’t have too many pick-up-and-deliver style games, so this really fills a niche in my collection. Also, on another personal note, Halloween happens to be my favorite holiday and Broom Service is certainly a game for that season. I am definitely not alone in my assessment of this one, as Purple Phoenix Games gives Broom Service a whooshy 14 / 18. Come at me on this one because I am defo a Brave Mountain Witch… or just a normal reviewer who likes this game a whole lot.
At its heart Broom Service is a trick-taking card game with pick-up-and-deliver mechanics flowing to the board. Each player will be attempting to supply the board’s towers and castles with magic potions, but they will need to craft them first. AND one does not simply HAVE potion ingredients handy – they need to gather the correct supplies. The winner of Broom Service is the player who best can supply areas of the board by claiming tricks to increase production of said potions.
To setup place the board in the middle of the table (I am waiting for a game to come along that asks you to place the board in the Northwest quadrant of the table or something similar). Populate the board with the proper Heavy Cloud tokens to be whisked away by players for points and access to additional board areas. Place player score tokens on 10 VP along the VP track. Shuffle the Event deck and randomly place seven cards in a draw pile, revealing one into the discard. Each player will receive their two witch hat pawns to be placed on the main castles, a deck of 10 role cards from which they will choose four each round, a set of one each of the three colors of potions, and magic wands per the rules. The game can now begin!
On a player’s turn they will choose one of their four role cards and place it face down in front of themselves. Once all have done this, the starting player will announce their chosen role and declare that they wish to be Cowardly or Brave. For instance, a player may say, “I am a Cowardly Fruit Gatherer” whilst revealing their role card. By declaring Cowardly, the player immediately performs the action on the bottom of the card for Cowardly Fruit Gatherers: produce one purple potion. In order to perform the actions on top of the card the player would need to declare that they are Brave. The player will not perform the action quite yet as now play continues to the next player in line who, if they also chose to play the Fruit Gatherer card, will declare if they will also be Brave. If so, the newest player to claim Brave will be essentially winning the Brave Fruit Gatherer trick. This continues around the table until the very last Brave Fruit Gatherer has declared and won the trick. The winning player then performs the action while all other previous Brave Fruit Gatherers receive NOTHING. Brutal.
The game continues in this fashion of players bidding on Brave roles for better results (as in the example, a Brave Fruit Gatherer is able to make two purple potions AND another potion of their choice) until players have played seven rounds. They then add up their points per the rule book and the winner is determined!
Now, this is a brief explanation of the trick-taking aspect of the game, but other roles actually allow players to deliver the potions made, and still others allow players to use their magic wands to whisk away Heavy Clouds for VPs and remove their board space blocking qualities. Each time a potion is delivered, the player will earn VPs. The trick-taking aspect is simply the gist and also crux of the game.
Components. I love the components in Broom Service. The board is nice and super colorful, with all areas easy to read and understand (though some players have issues with where the towers actually lie on the board, but you must look at which area the BASES of the towers touch to determine this). The cards have wistful artwork on them and the art throughout is stellar. The wooden witch hats and potions are all great, and I love the colors used on these – I mean, orange and purple go super well together. And then there’s green. All in all the components in Broom Service are just great.
That said, I give Broom Service excellent marks because it truly is a better implementation of its predecessor, Witch’s Brew, in almost every aspect (even though my wife disagrees). The art is better, the components are better, the addition of the board and its mechanics add so much to the game. I love being able to travel to different areas of the board to deliver items, and I really don’t have too many pick-up-and-deliver style games, so this really fills a niche in my collection. Also, on another personal note, Halloween happens to be my favorite holiday and Broom Service is certainly a game for that season. I am definitely not alone in my assessment of this one, as Purple Phoenix Games gives Broom Service a whooshy 14 / 18. Come at me on this one because I am defo a Brave Mountain Witch… or just a normal reviewer who likes this game a whole lot.
