Though I’m not usually much of a romance reader, I really enjoyed this week’s #spellbooksaturday, a debut novel from an author I will now surely follow…
Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Generations of Montrose women–Augusta, Victoria, Willow–have always lived together in their quaint California bungalow. They keep to themselves, never venture far from home, and their collection of tinctures and spells is an unspoken bond between them. But when young Nickie Montrose brings home a boy for the first time, their quiet lives are thrown into disarray. For the family has withheld a crucial secret from Nickie all these years: any person a Montrose woman falls in love with will die. Their surprise guest forces each woman to reckon with her own past choices and mistakes. And as new truths about the curse emerge, they’re set on a collision course dating back to 1950s New Orleans’s French Quarter–where a hidden story in a mysterious book may just hold the answers they seek in life and in love…
[source: bookshop.org]
Given the easy comparison to Practical Magic, I came to this book with a fair amount of skepticism— and gosh, I was glad to be proven wrong! With four uniquely voiced narrators and richly imagined settings, Brown created a world that felt entirely believable and “lived in.” I really appreciated the intergenerational perspectives, particularly that of Augusta— it seems too often our elders are made into simple caricatures, without mature desires or frustrations, and Brown adeptly steered clear of that flattening. With satisfying character development and a well-paced plot, I breezed through this novel, and am already looking forward to Brown’s future work.
Have you read Black Candle Women? What were your thoughts? Share in the comments!
I have a Bookshop.org list of #spellbooksaturday features for folks to peruse, but in the spirit of transparency, as a Bookshop.org affiliate, I receive a small percentage of book sales purchased through my links. If you find that off-putting, feel free to shop directly through bookshop.org or your own local bookseller! My only goal here is to resist Amazon and the mega-rich.
DID YOU ENJOY THIS SPELLBOOK SATURDAY FEATURE? SHOP THE LIST ON BOOKSHOP.ORG, OR CHECK OUT SOME MORE READING RECOMMENDATIONS…
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