Sharon Bayliss

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I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

After eleven years David receives a call, the children he had with his girlfriend-on-the-side-for-seven-years are found and since their mother is dead, he takes custody. Bringing two new children to his 'actual' family is even the weirdest part. They have suffered from terrible abuse claim to be dark wizards, a tale David believes they've created to cope with the abuse. But then he learns the truth. Everyone around him - himself included - is a dark wizard.

Being a dark wizard doesn't necessarily make you bad, but destruction is your main trait. And for quite some time in this novel, shattered glass is about all the magic you will get. In the beginning I had some troubles to really get into the story because I kept waiting for something to happen. But this isn't a story with a murder to solve nor is there an epic quest of some sort. This is a novel about David and his family, trying to live with the new knowledge of being wizards, in a world where the use magic isn't always helping you, and things can backfire quite badly. I don't think this is a book for everyone, but once I got that, I didn't mind at all and really enjoyed the rest of the story.

It would have been nice to see some more world building, and to know some more rules of the use of magic. So far. limitations aren't really known, and the exact differences between the good, the bad (and the ugly :P) witches haven't really been explained properly. Which would be understandable given the fact they are all extremely rare and hard to find as they try to mix in with the Mundane (or the normal people), but everyone in this book is. Not only David and his wife and children, also his girlfriend-on-the-side-for-seven-years, his brother, parents, brother-in-law and his wife, and almost all other characters are wizards. And all this in the extremely magical setting of: Texas.

So, if you don't mind a slow story where magic isn't always helping the main characters, try this book. It's the first in the new December-people series (Months are given to each wizard to decide just how dark they are, December is pretty bad though) and I'm planning on reading the sequel as well.… (mehr)

3.5 Stars

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

A Taste of Death and Honey is the third book following the Vandergraffs in the December people series, which I've been following from the start. I've also seen its transformation of a rather mundane story in the first book, Destruction, to much more action in the last two books. One thing remains the same, it still feels rather slow, even with everything that is happening. For me, this is not a problem at all and I like the change from the things I usually read.

Samantha, who has now lost her parents and her dearest friend, is looking for the murderer of the latter and ends up back in Housten, where she will, unintentionally put a lot of people in mortal danger. Not so good, for a spring witch now, is she...

I spent the whole first part of the book trying to remember an Imogene, but I figured later that I probably wasn't supposed to remember her. This in the beginning caused some troubles as I couldn't really concentrate on what was going on, with them constantly mentioning Imogene. After things were cleared, this was no longer a problem though and it actually made for a rather fast read, also because I was curious to find how these things work.

What I liked to see, I'll try to explain it spoiler free, was that more than in the other books, you get to see that since they are winter witches, they actually are dark witches, and would be considered 'bad'. Not stereotypically in all their actions but in some of the decisions they make. One striking example (though not one of the more subtle ones) is when Evangeline tells Amanda she's been waiting for someone to try her new killing curse on, and this doesn't result in the reprimand that I would find very normal in this situation.

I did have some concerns with the magic system though. With the witches divided into the different seasons, now it was possible for them to perform certain spells that were not for their season. I don't remember completely how this worked in the earlier books, but why make the division if they still can do it all?

The good news is: at the end Sharon Bayliss announces that there will be a fourth book (and luckily, because it ends with quite the twist!). The bad news is that we'll have to wait for more than a year still to get it!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!… (mehr)

This book took me by surprise - I really didn't think I'd love it as much as I did.

The first chapter read a little awkwardly; I think the writer was finding their footing. It thankfully took off from there - fast. David had an affair and now it's come to haunt him - as he has to take custody of the two kids from that relationship. The children were kept in hiding by the mother and her abusive boyfriend, and they practiced a dark sort of magic.

The story doesn't stop with the surprises. Every few chapters I would sit there stunned, learning something new that changed the game. Changes about the children, or the main characters like David himself. The world building was creative and not like anything else I've read before. A mix between dark and light magic. It's not really in your face types, though, more of a subtle magic. Fascinating stuff.

The wife took awhile to grow on me, but I ended up liking her more later. Each kid had their own personality and current story, which became fascinating.

I can't wait for the second book to see what happens. I'm especially curious about David and the friend's parents. It didn't end on a cliffhanger per se, but definitely makes me want to keep reading.

It's not strictly a young adult, it's as suitable for the adult genre. A fantasy type story. Highly recommended if you enjoy stories with magic as part of the world building.… (mehr)

“When you hurt someone, you always damage your own soul, and it doesn't feel good. A good person can feel it happening. A bad person doesn't notice until it's too late.”

The first book, Destruction, surprised me with it's intensity, dark twists, and unusual storyline. Watch Me Burn fortunately continued this trend - surprises around the corner readers don't see coming, multiple layers of good and bad in all the characters, the characters all united in a big bad but having their own lives and issues on the sideline.

David still stands as a weak type of man but a good character. Of course I can't really blame him being so overwhelmed, his life has gone crappy so fast. I wasn't as crazy about the mother/wife in the first but she's more enjoyable this time around - her character is more in the background perspective-wise, but the impact of her life greatly affects this book and series.

The kids are where it's really at, though. The dark and light in the brothers and sisters keeps rising up to where you're not sure what's going to be at the top in the end. Tragic characters facing hard odds is always fascinating, isn't it?

As before, I love the creative world the author weaves with winter and summer wizards, all falling on different spectrums of power based on when they're born. The war between the two is intriguing, as is the tendency of the families and wizards to corrupt. This one amps up the world by showing a strange blend of unusual talents. The writer weaves her spell well through well-placed words, just the right amount of scene and character shifting, and teasers of stuff to come. Thankfully dialogue has improved from last time.

You definitely need to read the first one before diving into this - both are excellent, and you'll be lost and not caring if you jump into this one without the backstory.

Not a huge cliffhanger, thankfully, but this story leaves you itching for more magic. I hope the writer dishes them out fast, as I can't wait to read more of this series. There's a huge wallop of human emotion mixed in with the witchcraft of this series.
… (mehr)