As many of the other reviewers of this book on Netgalley, I loved this book too. It did take me a chapter or two to get into it as I expected a different start from the synopsis but once I did get into it, I couldn't put it down!! The witchy fantasy genre is one of my favorites, especially as each author can do so many different things with it. I loved the way the Catalain Book of Secrets would open to just the spell Ursula needed, reminded me of the early seasons of the TV show Charmed in that way. I also liked how the author mentioned how she liked and somewhat based the book on a much older classic, The Seven Daughters of Eve, and named her main characters after the seven daughters in that book. This book grabs your emotions and makes it easy to feel exactly how Ursula felt when her mother, Velda, forced her to make a potion to kill her father at the age of 12 and how that affected her life from that point on and especially how it even affected her relationship with her own daughters as it changed how Ursula could connect to anyone emotionally. Jasmine and Katrine's lives really reached out and touched my heart. How both women had their lives changed by the earlier actions of their mother and grandmother and how it connected to the arrival of the snakes every 25 years, which was a very original part of the storyline, not something you read in the usual witchy books. It was so sad how Jasmine felt the overwhelming need to bury her magic, to protect her sister by pushing her away from Faith Falls and how she home schooled and over protected her daughter to do her best to keep them both safe because of what happened to her when she was only 10. Katrine's story is equally sad being away from her family and having no idea that Jasmine had used her cooking magic to push her away but it was also wonderful seeing her come back to herself thru out the book even tho she also suffered the same horrific event that caused Jasmine to push her away to begin with. But my favorite part of the book was the ending, many times I am sad to see a book end and wanted more, which I do hope there are more books about the Catalains, but the way all the family came together as well as many of Faith Falls women that Ursula has helped over the years to break the original curse that Ursula's father cast as he was dying. All in all, a wonderful book that I would easily recommend to anyone who is a fan of this genre, well written and well edited.
This book was provided to me from netgalley.com and author Jessica Lourey in exchange for an honest review.
