Underwhelming. The ending was so rushed. ( )

Ceramic artist Tilda Fordwell has moved into the Cottage in Welsh that she and her husband had purchased. But sadly they never got to live there. One year before Matt died in a traffic accident, but Tilda hopes that the lovely cottage and the peaceful surrounding will be good for her. But strange things start to happen after a while, electrical shorts outs and visions. Is there something, someone from the past that is reaching out to her?

I read The Midnight Witch last year, but I couldn't really take to it. The story didn't work for me, but this book; the parallel storyline with Tilda in the present time and Seren in the past work well for me. I liked how the two stories were linked to each other and I enjoyed both stories and how the events in the past influenced in the future. I was I admit a bit enjoyed sometimes with Seren and Prince Brynach. Mostly how blind he was about the danger they were in despite how Seren warned him. She's a god damn seeress, but he seemed to listen tp her only when he wanted to. And frankly, I could understand Brynach wife for being angry with Seren.

In the present time, Tilda is trying to figure out why she is having "power" and what the visions means and I found it intriguing to learn more of the past from her point of view at the same time reading about it as Seren is living it.

I liked the book, but I didn't love it. It was enjoyable to read, but it wasn't really a book that had an impact on me. I liked Tilda's story best I think, I found it more interesting and I was never annoyed with her as I was with Seren and Prince Brynach. Tilda and Dylan's relationship worked for me in that it didn't felt rushed. And, reading the ending made me wondering if them meeting perhaps was meant to be...

Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review! ( )

It's been a year since Tilda's husband suddenly died, and she has decided to move into the house that was meant to be their home together. It's secluded in a Welsh forest, and Tilda believes the serenity of the area will be exactly what she needs to refocus and find a way to move forward. While Tilda's visions and nightmares of her husband's death do start to become less common, they are replaced by new visions and feelings that leave Tilda both confused and a bit frightened. There's a new power in her, and she's not entirely sure what it is. And when her paths cross with Seren, a shaman who lived in the area centuries before, she quickly learns that her quaint cottage isn't the safe getaway she imagined it would be...and there's a danger lurking nearer to her than she could ever have imagined.

The concept here is actually quite interesting. The connection between these two women over hundreds of years and the awakening of old magic provide for an interesting backdrop to the story. The challenge I had, personally, is that there are many little things throughout the book that struck me as irrelevant. It wasn't so much that it completely detracted from the story, but the plot could have been shored up just a bit to keep it even more engaging and focused on the action. That said, I did enjoy this title, and I think it would be of interest to fantasy fans...especially those more interested in the modern or urban fantasy idea. ( )

I had a hard time getting through this one, but I like the cover a lot. I also like how much art makes a difference in the lives of the main characters, especially pottery, which I don't see too much in modern literature. I feel like this book had so many characters to keep track of, even though only three or four were really the main people to follow. In reading this one I kind of skipped some of the middle bits, good ending though. ( )

I really loved Paula Brackston's The Witch's Daughter and The Winter Witch. I was not that happy with The Midnight Witch and thought the story started to drag on forever to the point that I no longer cared how we got to the end, I just wanted to get there. I liked The Silver Witch much more than I did The Midnight Witch, but found that I had problems with this book, that were different than the issues I had with the last one.

Told in the third person, we have a book from two character's points of view. First, Tilda a widowed young woman trying to move on with her life. Second, Seren, a woman that lived centuries earlier.

I ended up giving this book just 3.5 stars due to the following:

First, the pacing of this novel was all over the place. I think that having the book broken up into two points of view (one being Tilda and the second being a young woman named Seren) was a good idea. However, with books like this, there tends to be a stronger voice that the reader likes more. In my case, I was invested more in the character of Seren and the passages that detailed her life. The sections dealing with Tilda were not that interesting until the very end of the book when you find out her connection to what is going on. I also had problems with the fact that the character of Tilda remained pretty much a mystery. I think I was already past the halfway point when I got the idea of what was going on with her and how she was "different." I don't need a huge information dump, however pieces of the puzzle being dropped here and there while the author has another "voice" in the novel the reader is supposed to be following as well made it a bit hard to figure out what the big deal with Tilda was and by the time I found out, I mentally shrugged.

Second, the character of Tilda didn't have enough substance for me and her "magic" made no sense.

For example, we hear about her deceased husband, however, I honestly didn't feel the emotion that she should have felt dealing with his loss. I had a lot of tell and not enough show for me. Maybe it would have helped if we had any dialogue/flashbacks providing some glimpses into their relationship. When we have Tilda trying to figure out the mystery of what is going on with her and her visions since I already knew as a reader who she was seeing, I found myself getting bored with those passages. We had to wait until about 3/4 of the book I recall before Tilda caught up with the rest of us readers. Maybe it would have been better, to not have the book broken up by two different voices.

Regarding Tilda's magic, it makes no sense at all. Especially when you figure out her connections. I am still scratching my head at it and decided to not dwell on it anymore.

Third, the romance that was introduced in the novel didn't work for me, for either characters. With regards to Tilda, I didn't feel any chemistry at all between her and her romantic partner. And Seren's romantic partner may end up angering some people.


Seren gets involved with a married Prince.


It didn't bother me. I had more of a problem with the fact that Seren's romantic partner didn't seem real to me. Throughout the entire book this person was just a blank slate and didn't seem to have much of a personality.

I really adored this cover though. I swear that Paula Brackston's covers are some of the prettiest I have ever seen.

Also, like I said, the chapters describing Seren and her life were the best parts of the book for me.I would have loved it if we actually just had a book told from Seren's point of view. Paula Brackston is able to mix storytelling with the history of the regions she writes about very well which is always what I enjoyed about her previous books.

Please note that I received this book for free via the Amazon Vine Program. This book will be released on April 21, 2015. ( )