Fun and unique. It held my attention and didn't seem to slow down. I wonder what the second book is about. ( )

Title: The Witch’s Kiss (The Witch’s Kiss #1)
Author(s): Katharine Corr, Elizabeth Corr
Publisher: Harpercollins Children’s, 2017 (Sept 19)
Genre: YA Fantasy

**I received a copy of this book from the author and my review is in no way affected or influenced by receipt of this book**

(Apparently Amazon is removing all reviews with the words “in exchange for” so I have had to modify my disclosure statement so my reviews don’t all get pulled)

My Review:

Oh, how I wanted to love this book. It makes me very upset that I didn’t because it had all the potential in the world: a great cover, an awesomely nice Author, and a killer blurb. My heart aches for what this book could have been. I almost wish it remained unread with all the potential still there. Waiting.

The book gets major points for the cover. So at least there’s that. I love each one in the series and the one that comes out in a couple months is the best one of all.

So, in a nutshell, Merry is a Witch. We know she is one...we know that her family line has witches throughout. We know that Leo, her brother, is not a witch. We also know that something happened to Merry involving a boyfriend named Alex that upset her...but we don’t know what. Basically it’s mentioned that he was pulled out of the water and Merry doesn’t want to know about him or talk to him. This is all given to us at the beginning.

The thing with Alex, by the way, will drive you insane...you want to know what happened but you don’t get any hints. It drove me nuts.

Ok, anyway...I can’t really explain much about the plot because it was kind of thin. Essentially, one of Merry’s ancestors promised to fulfill an oath through her blood relative - that she would defeat an evil wizard that she was unable to defeat. She (the ancestor) put this evil wizard and his slave to sleep because she was unable to defeat him, but she left all the tools Merry would need if or when he woke up. She leaves this magic manuscript that has the answers to most of Merry and Leo’s questions, a sword hilt, and a braid. Weird, right? But they all have a purpose. And they are placed in a box that is accidentally opened....and Jack, the slave to the wizard, is controlled by dark magic to cut out the hearts of those in love and take them to the wizard.

The whole story is mainly Merry waiting to figure out how to defeat this evil wizard and save the poor boy Jack. And of course she falls for him. But we don’t really have any sense of danger. And there is no real chemistry or excitement in the meantime. I felt like I was supposed to be worried but I never was. Every time that Jack was possessed, Merry knew and was able to knock him out. And then they just talked about how horrible it was to be controlled by the evil wizard who was still asleep. Under the lake.

And all this time, Merry is fighting her witch powers but we don’t really know what they are - we get a sense that she’s not a good witch because she has no control over herself, but we also have no idea what she is capable of doing as a witch. And where do these powers come from? There’s a coven and a grandma, and a mother, but they are completely in the background too.

I don’t know how to explain it other than there was no real meat to the story. It was, Merry said this, Leo did that, Jack did this...and I felt nothing for the people in the book. I wasn’t nervous or excited or anything. I kept reading with high hopes it would turn around, but I think it was the writing tone that did it for me: it was very young. Yes, that’s it: it felt like a MG novel.

Is it Classroom-Appropriate?

Yes. But there’s really no use to using it in the classroom. There’s nothing you could discuss except maybe the history of the curse...maybe it could be used in a fairy tale unit in middle school, and you could discuss the problems Merry has with being a witch. Why she fights it so much. There are some LGBT points for Leo as he is a gay character that has to hide his sexuality, but that also isn’t explored in-depth either.

I would give The Witch’s Kiss ★★☆☆☆ for Classroom Use...there's just no good educational value in it.

Age Range

There’s nothing in this book that warrants anything harsher than a PG rating. With that said, I would say a reader as young as 10 could read this, though the length of the book might be intimidating for a younger reader. I would feel completely comfortable letting any age really read this. 🤷‍♀️

End Result:

Such a letdown. I hate writing bad reviews because it’s so rare. After I finished the book, I looked at other ratings and I wasn’t alone in feeling the way I felt: the average rating seemed to be three stars on Goodreads. And it’s funny because that is exactly what I was thinking when I read it: it’s ok, but not great. It’s readable. It passed the time. But it’s also very forgettable and I probably cannot see myself continuing the series unless book two hooked me right from the start - there’s just too many good books out there to waste time on a mediocre one.

So I give The Witch’s Kiss ★★★☆☆.

I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re a fan of regular fantasy, but if you like younger novels with less complicated plots, then it wouldn’t hurt to read this. Some people did love it. Just wasn’t my cup o’ tea. I guess there are books out there that I don’t love. Who knew! 😬🤭 ( )

Four Reasons to Read The Witch’s Kiss

1. It’ll make you Google Anglo-Saxon swords.

Medieval, renaissance, Victorian, Elizabethan… all these periods that fill the fantasy landscape, but I can think of none that cover the Anglo-Saxon period! I don’t know a lot about English history, to be fair, but I spoke to other people at the launch party, and they agreed that few books (especially YA fantasies) talk about the period.

Quick history lesson: The Anglo-Saxon period ran from around 450 to 1066 AD in Great Britain. Continental Europeans (Germanic tribes) settled on the island and mixed with the locals. People spoke Old English, and Christianity made a comeback. Women were more equal then than 100 years ago.

Yes, I Wikipedia’d that. What are you going to do about it?

I think bookworms are naturally curious people, and a book that entertains, educates and inspires readers to dive into the subject matter is a sure winner! I would go as far as to say that the incorporation of flashbacks, dreams and stories within stories set 1500 years ago was my favourite aspect of this book.

2. You’ll want a big brother like Leo.

Ok, when I went to the party, I had only just started the book. I know, I know – I was very ashamed. People asked me about what I thought of Leo, and I want to take back what I said then, which was that I didn’t like him. Yes, I was not a fan of his behaviour when he was first introduced, but he quickly redeemed himself!

For certain reasons that will make sense when you read the book, I did not crush on Leo, but that didn’t stop me from seriously appreciating him and wishing I had a big brother like him!

Just a few reasons why I loved Leo:

- He wanted to study medicine, and he worked on a farm to save up money! DEDICATION.
- He clearly cared for Merry and tried to help her throughout her ordeal.
- Even when something terrible happened to him, he had Merry’s back and did what needed to be done.
- He had cool older friends (except for one of them who can go eat rocks). What girl didn’t want an older brother with cute friends to crush on?

However, I do have an amazing younger brother who came to the party with me! Reading about all the ways that Leo and Merry took care of each other made me appreciate my brother even more, and the amazing relationship we have.

3. Merry sounded like a real 16-year-old British teenager.

She was naïve. She did stupid things. She was insecure at times. She drank tea. She was on school sports teams. She had crushes.

REGULAR. TEENAGE. GIRL.

Except for the whole magic thing. Merry did not want to deal with the whole magic thing. I really loved that

At first, I thought that Merry sounded and acted really young. BUT THEN I realised that, actually, a lot of YA fantasies have teenagers that don’t actually seem like teenagers. They’re often way more competent and together than I would have been at that age. Once I had that epiphany, I actually appreciated that Merry seemed like any other schoolgirl.

Sidebar discussion: In the book, Merry admits to using memory charms to help her study for exams, and how she was a bad person because of this. I disagree! Why? Because we don’t tell people with photographic memory that they’re cheating. If magic is a natural thing for Merry, why shouldn’t she use it to her advantage? Should tall people not be allowed to compete in races because they have a natural height advantage?

I think we don’t like the idea of people using magic that naturally comes to them as a study aid because we’re jealous of them. If magic helps Merry remember something, why not use it? It’s just like using any other memorisation shortcuts, like mnemonics or doodles.

4. The end will knock you sideways.

Another admission. I was reading and thinking that it seemed way too cliché and easy for a while. SILLY ME. Those sneaky Corrs… I thought I had it all figured out until they threw in a final twist. I won’t say anything more, but you’ve been warned.

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I can’t wait for the next book, The Witch’s Tears, to come out! I’ve been promised that the cover will be just as cool, and the way The Witch’s Kiss ended has left me very curious as to what might be next for Merry…See this review in its natural environment, Dani Reviews Things.
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