Calendar Girls (October 2018): Hocus Pocus {Favorite Book with Witches}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New month, new Calendar Girls post! If you are unfamiliar with Calendar Girls events each month, check out their info page here.

Melanie and Flavia are the original creators of this event, but in January, both creators explained that they had full plates and let us know that they would be putting CG on the back burner. In walks Katie from Never Not Reading, and Adrienne from Darque Dreamer Reads and we are up and running again! Thank you sooooo much to Katie and Adrienne for keeping this awesome and unique event alive!

The votes are in, and October’s theme has been decided!:

Hocus Pocus: Favorite Book with Witches

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Can I just tell you, I was hoping REAL HARD that this would be the theme for October. I mean…. for obvious reasons! I LOVE Hocus Pocus (the movie) and need to watch it at least once every year. And then there is the fact that my blog name contains the word WITCH.. Although, when it came down to writing this post, I found that I was having a hard time finding witchy stories to talk about. OBVIOUSLY I need more witches in my life…

Here are some of the contenders:

   

TBR books that feature Witches:

   

Truthfully, unfortunately, there are just so many witch stories on my TBR that I haven’t gotten around to, which truly made this choice a hard one for me. And the only reason I didn’t go with the obvious Harry Potter choice was because I really wanted to pick something that featured witches in a specific way. This is how I came to the following choice:

 

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow…

Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town.

Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under.

Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into.

Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.

But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.

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GUYS! This was my most anticipated book of 2018. I was sooooo excited to get my hands on it, and then when I somehow ended up getting it shipped to me a few days before it’s release, I just, I couldn’t contain myself. And I mean, look at that GORGEOUS cover. I am beside myself. One of the most beautiful books I own without a doubt. And you haven’t even seen it naked!

I read The Wicked Deep fairly quickly. It wasn’t difficult to get through, nor was it as bad as some reviewers made it out to be. Truthfully, it wasn’t super amazing (as I originally raved)- but let me defend it here a bit. Shea Ernshaw did something super unique. She took the idea of witches, and made it feel somewhat normal, something believable. She created this drab, just sulky town that gave you a chill to the bone just by reading the description. It was wet, and grey, and really sets a spooky mood throughout the story. The idea of whether or not the sisters were really terrorizing the town from the deep each year was gripping, and the question of whether they were actually “witches” or just women scorned really made you buy into the hocus pocus.

Now to be fair, there were a lot of problems with this book that after sitting with it for a while, I can see and understand. People were really upset with some of the plot points, and some of the character actions and things that happened during the story. And that cannot be ignored. Some of those points are valid and really were problematic. HOWEVER- this book really did something different with that idea of a witch. It was interesting and thought provoking and really, it was the mood of the story that really sold me on the quality of the book. Do I wish certain things were done differently? Of course- but I still really enjoyed this witch’s story and therefore have named it as my choice for the month of October.

 

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Be sure to check out our lovely host’s picks for this month as well!

Never Not Reading

Darque Dreamer Reads

Until next time Calendar Girls (and Boys)….