Paranormal romances/mysteries are a big deal, especially in self-publishing/small press markets. Since I enjoy a good vampire/werewolf/witch story (the paranormal) I thought I’d give this a try.
Haley is a witch … with amnesia. She wakes up one day in a motel room in Moonhaven with only the clothes on her back and a deed to a piece of property. She learns that the citizens of Moonhaven know her (as a wild young girl), she’s got a missing family, and … she’s the leading suspect in a murder. Maybe she doesn’t want to know more about her past?
I really like the premise here. A witch with amnesia – and a murder suspect? Cool. I definitely want to learn more.
The writing itself is just a bit uneven. It’s interesting to learn, along with Haley, about Haley. We get to make the discoveries along with her. But it also limits the information we can get. There’s no background perspective which means she either needs to learn things quicker so that we can understand what’s going on. Or … make real use of this. Tease us and reveal along the way. The teasing here just doesn’t work. Instead we get more frustrated. Character-building is tough when even the character doesn’t know her history or typical behavior.
Because our main character has no reference to anything around her, the other characters are also enigmas. This could be resolved if Haley admitted her amnesia, but since she tries to keep it quiet, the rest of the characters here remain unknowns to us. We only see them when Haley has some sort of interactions with them.
The bigger problem here, actually, is the editing. This is a common issue with self-published books. A good editor would help smooth out the pacing and catch some of the errors in the book that I just find annoying.
This is better than average for a self-published book and the premise is interesting enough that I would definitely read more when time permits, but it’s not what I would consider a recommended book.
Looking for a good book? Even Witches Get the Blues by J. D. Winters is a clever paranormal mystery but the writing is uneven and not a smooth read.
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Even Witches Get the Blues
author: J.D. Winters
series: Wicked in Moonhaven #1
publisher: CreateSpace
Kindle edition, 156 pages
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