Jen McConnel

Louisa Ann is our present day main character. Recently graduated from a University in Boston, she's at a turning point in her life. She's unemployed and frustrated. When she's offered the opportunity to travel to Scotland, she jumps right in. Who wouldn't? This is where things get interesting. Louisa finds out that she's somehow linked to Isobel Key. That there are secrets that she doesn't know about her past. Told in alternating points of view, we see the story from both time periods as the mystery unravels.

Here's the big problem I had. I thought that the chapters from Isobel's point of view were fascinating. They take the reader back to the 1700's, during the witch trials, which is a period I'm particularly interested in. I was enthralled by Isobel's story line as she had to fight the persecution surrounding her. I honestly would have been thrilled to read a whole novel about this topic. The history in these chapters was beautifully woven into fiction that kept me reading.

Louisa's chapters though? They felt boring to me. She did touristy things, pined over hot tour guides, and all the while had to put up with Tammy. In fact, I think it was Louisa and Tammy's friendship that didn't feel real to me. I constantly felt like Tammy was only put there to keep Louisa from feeling totally confident about herself. Even when she was on the right track, she second guessed herself. It got on my nerves. In my opinion, this book would have been more effective if Louisa was just by herself on this adventure.

Things did pick up towards the middle. As Louisa discovered more about the past, I found myself more invested in the story. Still, I never really felt like I was fully in love with Louisa's story line. It got to the point where I'd skim her chapters to get back to reading about Isobel. So points go to The Secret of Isobel Key for being about a topic I'm invested in. Points also go to this book for being well researched. Other than that, I still feel rather lackluster towards it. So, three star rating it is.… (mehr)

**first posted on Realm of the Sapphired Dragon on 7th March 2016 **

I enjoyed this series. It was a slightly different take on the previous sorts of witches/Gods books I have read and it was a welcome change. In particular I liked the way witches and magic was meshed with the worship of the Gods and I liked the idea of the different paths both intriguing and interesting.

This book, book 3, kept me interested right through to the very end. Even though I didn't particularly like Darlena at times, the story itself still kept me invested at all times and in the end I was sad to leave the world and the characters behind.

I found Darlena frustrating for a good portion of this book. At times, for all her talk about wanting to bring balance to the chaos, she seemed to spend more time talking than doing and re-acting rather than acting so it was satisfying to see her grow from book one through the end of of book 3.

I liked the other characters around her such as her mother, Izzie and the twins would love to have seen more of their stories. I particular Izzie and the twins. Their stories which whilst they were crucial to the plot of this story felt like they were still developing and I would live perhaps in the future to read more of their stories

Its rare that I devour a series as quickly as I did this one finishing all three books in a matter of days. This is a tribute to the story telling skills of Ms McConnel, who has a penned a story that is both original and compelling and had me gluds to the pages to see where the story, and Darlena, would go.

It did however leave me with the feeling of wanting more. Darlena's story might be over for now but the world and the characters Ms McConnel has created will remain with you and make you not want to leave.

I enjoyed this book and gave it 3 3/4 stars

Sapphired Dragon XX… (mehr)