The Witches of BlackBrook

January 1, 2018
Thawer’s tale of witch sisters trying to find one another throughout multiple lives doesn’t live up to its potential. In 1693 in Ipswich, Mass., Karina is burned at the stake for being a witch. Before she dies, she casts a spell that flings her and her two sisters into the future to be reborn. After 300 years, Karina, now known as Trin Hartwell and living in BlackBrook, N.Y., has found one sister but still searches for the other. Without her, the trio can never regain the power they had in their original lives. After meeting Caris Hardy and her cousin Jason, Trin thinks Caris is the missing sister. However, sinister forces are working to keep them apart. The flashbacks to the 1690s are interesting, but they don’t add much to the story. Despite keeping memories of their past lives, the characters are thinly drawn, leaving the reader to rely on awkward exposition drops to understand them. There’s no chemistry between the romantic leads, and, though the villain is surprising, the climax has no tension. There’s just not much here for readers to sink their teeth into.