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 4/5 ⭐

Followed by notoriety she never asked for, Natalie is looking for a way out of the darkness and evil that seems to find her. Even if that means leaving her job on the police force.

Let me just start with holy cow, the imagery and language Blanchard sets us up with is... *chef's kiss, perfection. Very rarely do I feel like I am there in the scene following, watching the characters as the story unfolds. But here, I am walking with Natalie as she goes to interview potential witnesses or as she is driving along the snowy landscape of her hometown. It’s mesmerizing.

I was disappointed that this was yet another story with a love triangle. And as it was introduced so early on, I knew it was going to be a prominent plot point to the story. But it made me cringe every time an interaction happened between Natalie and the one man she wasn't in a relationship with, Luke, her childhood friend, and boss. That right there should be a good sign that it wouldn't work. Too much history. And never the right time. Not to mention the man she was in a seemingly committed relationship with, who was ready to do whatever he could to make her happy and keep her healthy. Something it seems she desperately needs after the stressful events of the previous year. And she couldn't stop thinking about what-ifs with Luke. I am not a fan.

I'll admit that a book with a witch element too always grabs my attention. This will most definitely not be the last one I pick up just because of the title or cover. And I was thrilled to see that the story delved into the witchcraft, or in this case, Wiccan, element and provided the readers with information and described the covens and their practices instead of just saying she was a Wiccan and moving on. It made it that much better in my opinion.

And while it felt that there was new information being shared every chapter it was never overwhelming nor did it feel like an info dump. There were times when it felt like information was being repeated that didn't need to be but also, the dialogue reads a lot like a procedural.

It felt like it started to drag about halfway through. I was bored reading every new detail that was spelled out. I kinda wished some of the details would have been summarized. The continual interruptions of Natalie’s inner monologue of what if’s with Luke also started to ruin it for me. They seemingly came out of nowhere and while I guess that makes sense, you never know what is going to remind you of something, I was tired of it after 200 pages in.

It was great. And I really loved the mystery and crime and how well written it all was. But the love triangle and confusing back and forth between Natalie and Luke just killed it for me. This was a solid mystery-thriller ignoring the muddled romance aspect of it. But that is probably just a personal preference.

I was captivated until the very end, and I never saw it coming.

12/7/21

*This review was previously posted on my Google Site.

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