Recent Reads: New Witch on the Block by Louisa West

New Witch on the Block by Louisa West  

Series: Midlife in Mosswood #1
Publisher: Kindle Edition
Publication Date:  June 30, 2020

 

Format: Ebook
Source: KU/ Freebie

Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

She thought she was running away from her past, not catching up with it.

Rosemary Bell just wants to live a quiet, happy life and raise her daughter as far away from her toxic ex-husband as she can get. But when they move into a decrepit cottage in the woods of Mosswood, Georgia, Rosie realises her life will never be simple.

A gang of meddling neighborhood do-gooders want to run her out of town. The vicious laundromat machines keep eating her spare change. Not to mention her buff Irish stalker who insists that he’s a Witch King and that it’s her royal destiny to be his Queen.

And to top it all off, strange things keep happening around Rosie when she least expects it...

She could deal with it all, but her ex won’t rest until he tracks her down. When her ability to protect her daughter is threatened, Rosie shows them all that nobody messes with the new witch on the block.

Practical Magic meets Bridget Jones’ Diary in this fun, heart-warming short novel about starting over, putting family first, and finding love when you least expect it.

Review: 

Sadly, I did not jive with this read. I wanted to DNF it but pushed through to see if it improved.  I normally love a withcy themed book regardless of the plot and characters but this one just didn't hit right on a few levels for me. It was a freebie on Kindle Unlimited and I think I was actaully able to 'buy it' for free on a Stuff your Kindle day. 

Plot overview - Rosemary is running from her abusive biker husband to live with her daughter in a new small town. This is the first book in a series. Rosemary finds out she is a witch from a weird guy living in the woods in a trailer and that she is his queen... it was very red-flag. 

I found the ploy messy overall. It wasn't great explanations, there was really no basis for witches and powers and that aspect was never fleshed out really. Otherwise the world was very normal and the drama experienced was very 'normal small town'. 

It seemed as if the author wanted a cozy- witch origin story but then was like 'oh I need drama and she is running from a bad guy'...  

She lost me pretty quickly when Rosemary took a cab to her location - I was a bit confused. I know that even getting away is a feat for women in abusive situations but she was so scared of being found and it seemed unlikely that a cabride distance would be enough space to keep him away...

There were a lot of plot holes like this. Characters were also a bit one-dimensional and the world build was non-existant. For was was dubbed as a Practical Magic alternative there was not enought magic build up at all. 

All that to say, I wasn't really into it. It was just OK, nothing great/ unique.