Book Review: Witch Hemlock Hollow Book 1

Title: Witch (Hemlock Hollow Book 1)

Author: Sandra Kaye

Date: 2021

ISBN: 9788736952731

Quote: "He could be cruel at the best of times, but when his moods turned..."

Why do battered wives stay with their abusers? Because they don't feel that they deserve better lives, guess the social workers from the ivory tower. Because they have to think about how they're going to live without their abusive husbands, say the wives themselves. Raine seems typical. As an orphan who grew up "in the system," she married a man who seemed like a friend at first, and although he wasn't much of a friend for long Raine is not eager to go back into "the system." She's learned to stitch up her own wounds at home and hide them under long-sleeved shirts in August.

Then, instead of having to depend on police or social workers, Raine meets a friendly witch who gives her a protection spell that bounces her abuser off walls. She learns that she is the heir of Hemlock Hollow's founding family, and is betrothed to a distant cousin who happens to be her ideal man. 

Unfortunately, the abusive husband was not an ordinary man either. Soon the conflict between two groups of witchy people builds up to a magical duel in which Raine discovers magical powers even her relatives never guessed she had. 

Thus be it ever to abusers. 

If you enjoy stories where bullies are humiliated this is the book for you. 

I took exception to one throwaway line; Raine feels that the whole world is daily telling her that size nine is not sexy, and, hello, what is currently called size nine in women's clothes would have been too short but not too tight for Marilyn Monroe; Dolly Parton's not been able to get into a size nine since grade nine; Melania Trump has to be at least size eleven and I'd be surprised if Michelle Obama were less than a size thirteen. People in a very Midwestern US witch community don't need to be trying to fatten Raine, and forty's not too young to think about building muscle tone to preserve her bone mass and height, but she's probably about the healthiest size for her to be. But I'm not sure whether this is the author's mistake, or the advertising industry's. 

Another detail in the book deserves attention. Raine is a fan of a fantasy author called Jaymin Eve. There is such an author, and if you want to read more shifter stories after reading this novel and its sequels, visit https://jaymineve.com/.