✨October Reads✨

This month, despite spending time taking the mobile bookstore off to events, I was able to get three books read! Honestly, I was highly motivated because several of the books I have been waiting months for were released. So, in order of being read this month:

Brittle Magic by Kate O'Shaughnessy

The Witch by Freida McFadden

The Witches of Cambridge by Alice Hoffman

Anyone see a theme here? 🧙🏻‍♀️🙃

🪄 Brittle Magic is a middle grade novel about a girl who searches for not only her special 'talent' but also the answer to what happened to her older brother who passed away just before she was born. Even though it is written for middle grade, I found it engaging. This is a very good novel that has a depth I didn't expect. I wrote a whole blog post on. You can click here to read it.

🪄The Witch is the newest novel by this wildly popular author who takes a departure from the typical stories she is known for writing. Blending thriller and historical fiction, the novel utilizes dual timelines to tell its story.

After losing her job, Julia moves into her grandmother's manor. Although the arrangement is meant to be temporary, she begins to investigate after experiencing unexplained, otherworldly activity in the house. The second timeline focuses on Caroline, who lived during the witch hunts in Puritan Massachusetts. While there are twists, they are not quite as unexpected or complex as those she is known for. The story is eerie, and you can't help but question whether ghosts and unexplained phenomena are real.

McFadden demonstrates some impressive writing chops, challenging those critics who have questioned her abilities as a writer. Personally I hope she writes another novel like this.

🪄The Witches of Cambridge is a dual timeline novel that explores themes of friendship, persecution, family legacies, identity, and power. Whew! But that' s a Alice Hoffman novel.

The novel alternates between the 1950s and the 1600s in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It draws parallels between two generations of women separated by centuries but connected by their struggles. In the 1600s, women who lived independently and outside the religious beliefs that governed society faced the constant threat of being accused of witchcraft and persecuted. They struggled to find a place where they could live freely and without fear. Fast-forward to the 1950s, when women attending college still faced resistance to obtaining an education. The two young women in the novel, Lauren and Ava, face the added challenge of being legacy witches as they navigate college life at Radcliffe while trying to discover who they are, what they are capable of, and what they want for themselves.

Hoffman introduces an interesting speculative twist involving the relationship between the Mather family, known for its history of witch hunting, and the two witch family lines from which Ava and Lauren descend. The novel is listed as book one so the implication is this is the start of another series. Based on how the characters' storylines end, there certainly is room for a continuation!

If you are interested in reading any of these books, you can order them from my storefront - Book Tidals - on Bookshop.org. Not only does my bookstore earn a portion of the sale, but Bookshop.org shares 10% of sales for a profit sharing pool. Every six months these are split among all the independent bookstores who have storefronts with them - like me!