Willow Born is your typical YA fantasy fiction about Colette's return to the modern world after a long slumber and her realization of her powers. I love the diversity of the characters here: the strong women and the fair folks. I especially held a soft spot for Raphael, Colette's too-good-to-be-true guardian angel. The prose style was engaging enough such that you will continue turning the pages.
However, as I said, it is a typical YA fantasy, so you will expect a clear cut antagonist and a love interest, which I honestly was expecting something more. I was a little disappointed by the side characters, which were one-dimensional for my liking. Despite this, I will still recommend this book because this is something that I would still read if I were younger.
*I got a free copy in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley

** spoiler alert ** I loved, and I mean loved, the concept of this book. I mean, it’s awesome. It somehow packed angles, witches, garden trolls, nymphs and succubi all into one book AND when you read it, you don't just think to yourself "this just doesn't make sense". The story flows with all of these elements and I didn't find myself put off by it at all.

What I was put off by however was the lack of interest the main character has in mostly anything but this boy that she can't decide if she wants to spend time with or send away. She has come back from the dead (more than 50 years later), is told that she is a witch, that angels are now popping up all over, that things like nymphs and kitchen elf's are real, that there is a murderous (possibly supernatural) something running around abducting and killing girls in the community, that there is a war building and that her life is basically in danger if she doesn't figure out how to be a proper witch, and here this chick is, making cinnamon buns.

She makes no effort whatsoever to get to know the decade she finds herself in. Somehow the other 16 year old's she finds herself friends with don't make fun of her or at least find it very, very weird that she has no idea what the heck google is.

By the end of the book she’s been back for months and she’s still reluctant to take much of what Miss Collins says as serious. Miss Collins, by the way is a wonderful old Willow that Colette was lucky enough to stumble upon and who is willing to help this teenage angst out. She recites lists of supernatural creatures, and verses from the bible, but aside from that she’s not taking anything seriously. Never mind that there is a girl at school that is more than suspicious almost from the moment Colette meets her. At least one person is acting like they are under a spell that makes them a tranced out zombie whenever they are in line of sight of this girl. No. Colette needs a part time job! That's what she needs!

So by the end of the book you find yourself with a lead character that is of course out of time and finally hit with the idea that yeah, she might have to be useful to save herself as well as half the town. Go figure, she’s not ready. Yet, as they always do, somehow in the last jumble of chapters the main character blunders her way clueless to the end and manages to claim victory. Now she has help obviously, but still. For a girl that didn't even have the common sense to tell Miss Collins about the weird shit the other girl was doing at school and experienced at the coffee shop, WHEN THEY WERE ACTUALLY HAVING A CONVERSATION ABOUT THE WEIRDNESS OF THIS GIRL ANYWAY, .... its just amazing the girl even lives to be the victor at the end.

“I tried, but there is no way that I’m going to be able to deal with or defeat whatever Lilah is on my own. I don’t have the skills, I don’t have any help…”

BS. You did have help, and you know what else you had Colette? TIME. You may not have had an abundance of time, but you had enough to take everything seriously before you decided to throw down for the final battle.

I didn't expect anything more from the end of this book but for Colette to just drown in the pool because she wasted all of her time taking Valium and being an idiot.

Okay, to be reasonable, whenever Colette does manage to care enough to ask a question everyone who knows the answer decides to be all elusive and mysteriously cryptic about the it. WHY??? If every one of these supernatural allies knows whats about to happen, and they know this girl is not ready, why are we playing the 'she'll figure it out just in time' game? This is almost more frustrating than the girl at the middle of all of this spending almost all of her free time in a vintage clothing store.

Random other things I have issues with:
• Just by the way, the Valium, what the hell is all of that about? Does Colette now have a pill problem? She talks about Summer’s magic little pills. Summer is the one that just casually handed this girl a Valium in the car before school. Like really, what is going on here, it’s just mentioned a few times casually and the reader isn't supposed to care? THIS is probably why this girl is so damn apathetic about everything. She doesn't know she’s high off her ass.

• The writing mistakes. Oh my goodness. I hope after publishing they cleaned this book up a bit, because it needed it. "…lighter than I can I ever remember feeling and when the song is over my toes tingle with excitement." There are a few of these little things all over. There is also a place in chapter 28 where the exact scene with Miss Collins and her fountain books is used again. Colette either has a very bad memory or it’s a reused scene because for the second time now she thinks this book is her mother’s book and Ms. Collins has to explain the exact same thing that she's already gone through a few chapters before.

• The Angel thing. What is going on there? This could be a whole book of its own but it’s only brought up a few times and nobody has explained why or even offered a theory except that good ole stand by “It’s the end of the world!” But also, WHY DOESN’T COLETTE CARE?! I know what I would do if someone just broke the news to me that angels were now playing peek-a-boo all over the world. I would start with “Say again?!” And then I would find out what on earth was going on. At least as far as what anybody else knew. Honestly this book really needed to be at least another 200 pages longer just to world and character build a little better.

• OH YEAH and the fact that this girl doesn’t care at all that she’s come back from the dead! She mentions it sure. She’s aware of what happened. But that has not stopped her one bit from getting tied up in the nonsense that typical teenagers get caught up in. Now I know that, not everyone sees this as unacceptable, but when people are getting kidnapped and killed around you, and you KNOW you are special, maybe give less of a crap about the tingles in your elbow.

I'm mad at this book because it could have been so much better. Colette could have been so much better. Instead she’s so frustrating that I nearly put this book down never to pick it up again, nearly every other chapter. The whole book you’re yelling "Oh my god girl, clue in already!"

A good mystery that had a cool noir feel to it. There were a few things that took me by surprise and a few that I caught on to right away. If you like an intriguing southern mystery, this is a great read.

Murder, magic, energy, and religion is all connected in this interesting YA fantasy. The dark writing tempts and teases; Enjoyed the characters though I'd like to delve deeper into personalities and history. The story/plot itself was intriguing: women of color disappearing past and present; these women linked with a magical, secret society. It was at times confusing. All in all a good first effort for the author.
I'd like to read a follow-up story of Matt and his powers and supporting characters.
Voluntarily read ARC for honest review.

DNF @ 25 % It didn't grip me as I though it would.

**2.75 stars....

Did you say witches?! And Magic?! Sign me up!!

So.....where are all the witches?! And what do you mean there's no such thing as magic?! I was so let down, but yet I finished it so there's that.

Willow Born is about a girl who is brought back for unknown reasons. She slowly discovers how she died, secrets about herself and her mother, and there's some supernatural things going on. This had so much potential, but I was so confused in the beginning. I didn't quit know what was going on and as the story played out it didn't really become any clearer. I really wish there was more time spent on Colette and her discovering herself and her powers, but it soon became a high school romance/popular girl drama. And then there was this weird section that really made no sense to me on how it was even relevant. I was just confused a lot of the time, but there was enough to keep me going. I just wish the story was more developed and had a clearer picture. there was potential for it to be good, but between the confusion, lack of witches and actual magic, and plot holes with no explanation or follow through it fell flat for me. There were also a lot of grammatical errors and a whole section that I think was just cut and pasted from the beginning of the book.

I was really rooting for this one and was hoping to be pleasantly surprised, but it just didn't work out all that well.

Collette is sure she died . There was a fire and she could feel life and her soul slipping away. Then the urge to breath hit her. And connects brain and lungs to mouth to swallow cold and dirty water and realizes she is drowning. Electricity rages in her chest, throat and scrapes at her brain. Then Collette realizes she is too exhausted to put her shields up .Collette is an Empath. All Collette’s life she could see emotions and she could also feel them. Then Collette realizes she will run out of time before she reaches land. Then Collette feels someone close and hears “ hold on”. Then Collette gets knocked in the face with a life preserver and the man yells for her to hold on to the life preserver and he will pull her in. Once in a house the man she feels calm with and nicknames “ Mr. Familiar” grazes her arm when he hands her some black tea with lemon and a shock of electricity Then the man says his name is Matt Collette had been almost eight years old before she had learned to create a mental block that shielded her from people’s emotions. Then a door slams and Matt tells her to stay there no matter what she heard not to go upstairs. Then Coillette hears Raphael in her head. Then Matt says he almost shot Colette’s cousin. Then Collette asked Matt if he could see Raphael as most of the time he appears to Collette as a shifty eyed tabby cat and all the time she is the only one that can see Raphael. Then Raphael gave Collette an excuse and says “dad knows you have were in his special liquor cabinet after bible study”. Raphael is Colette’s imaginary friend at least she thought he was imaginary. Then Raphael has cleaned Matt’s memory but said he did let Matt remember Collette Then Raphael gets one of the guys to drive them and cleared his mind also. The Raphael said they were going to Collette’s new home. Raphael agreed Collette had in fact died. Then he told Collette her mother was dead she had been for a long time. The Raphael said it was his job to get Collette settled again. Raphael said he had always been and that some called him a familiar but her mom called him friend. When Collette asked what was wrong with her Raphael said she had been apart from her body for quite awhile that there will be things she knows nut has no memory of learning and others that will just be new to her. Then they come to a grand house and they sat on the steps. Raphael said Collette had always known she was special. Her mom knew it and it scared her . She had styled Collette . Then Raphael said to go in the house he wanted to give Collette a tour of the house before he left and reminded Collette he could not stay. Raphael was never in human form very long . Then Raphael said it was not his place to tell her who she was that there were others who were better equipped for it then he was and then he handed her a folded and yellow envelope with her mother’s handwriting on it. On the inside of the envelope it said “ Get thee to church - Mama” . Then Raphael was gone. Then Summer who was the niece of her lawyer came to pick Collette up and introduce her her uncle Silas who was counsel to the supernatural . Raphael had left the gloves which were Collette’s armor. Skin to skin contact was too intense for Collette. The next day Summer came to take Collette to school and Matt comes up to Summer and asked for an introduction to Collette. Then Collette gets a peer advisor. Named Qutey. Collette shadows Qutey and ended up assigned to a project with Carlos. Qutey and Carlos and Collette and they had to investigate a local mystery.
I didn’t really care for this book. It dragged for me. I just didn’t find it very interesting and had a problem with it keeping my attention. I also found this a little confusing, this just wasn’t for me.

Let's start with "Willow Born is a mash-up of "The Craft, Gossip Girl and Rebel Belle." Now that that's out of the way let's get into the details.

I enjoyed this book less than I thought I would. I follow the author and twitter and her posting of the summary definitely intrigued me. I was extremely happy to have found it on NetGalley. The plot of Willow Born is definitely an attention grabber "coven? black girl magic?" Count me in. However, I found that the plot got lost in the romance and I did not think was going to be a romance novel. In fact, I feel that the book would have been vastly improved if the romance aspect had been removed from the story-line. The romance starts on the first page. It was slightly ambiguous of this is a case of insta-love or not. The pacing was steady and I did find myself wanting to go back to reading this. I think this is indicative of a captivating writing style and I applaud the author for that.

The setting was definitely under-utilised in this. Religion and Christianity are central to this story-line, and for a book placed in the South I believe that the importance of religion and superstitions within the Southern U.S. was definitely worth exploring.

With respect to the characters, Ms. Collins is the clear stand-out. Her personality seemed fully fleshed out and her character was easily relatable. In contrast, a lot of the side characters were uni-dimensional and very unappealing. I found that all the characters started to bleed together at one point. The MC was interesting, in theory, but I found that she was not fully fleshed out for a main character. Notwithstanding, I appreciate the bit that spoke of her as a girl out of time but I do feel that the author could have pushed the envelope a whole lot more.

The LI was horrible, Edward Cullen level of emotionally manipulative and abuse. I don't think this a good depiction of healthy relationship and this one of the issues that really bothered me about this book. I'm nor sure what the target age group is but it is not the type of relationship I would want a teen to emulate. This is not the only thing that bothered me, sexual representation is treated as problematic.

As one reviewer noted before, the villain's sexuality (though unclear if it is bisexual or pansexual) is treated as a means to an end. The other character on the LGBT spectrum has his sexuality implied in a throwaway sentence. This is not representation and should not be treated as such. This is not okay and again, not the type of book that I would recommend.

In summary, Willow Born promised a lot and could not deliver. While I did enjoy the writing style and the idea of the plot, I found the romance (and the abuse nature thereof) made this a very uncomfortable read and I would not be comfortable recommending this.

Novelist Shanna Miles spins a story of magic mixed with Christian elements in her book, Willow Born. I've never read a story quite like this, so kudos for its unique concept, and for featuring multicultural characters. But the combination of angels and trolls and fairies and witches took some time for me to get used to., and tended to take me out of the narrative dream, at times. The book is generally well written, with lovely, descriptive passages like "....the water smells of earth and sand and growing things.' although metaphors get tangled in phrases like ""If it (laughter, music and the sounds of people) were a food, it would be like powdered sugar, landing like snowflakes on my eyelids...". I think young adult readers will like this,

This was a very interesting concept and not what I was expecting at all. I really liked how the witches' magic was rooted in Christian-elements simply because that isn't something I've seen before. I mean usually witches and Christians are completely on the opposite ends of the spectrum, but I think it was a really great idea. For instance, the witches recited Psalms like spells and their familiars are actually guardian angels and even the villain reveal at the end was rooted in Christian mythology. There were also some of the more 'standard' witchy things like trolls and fairies and spells using herbs, but it was all blended together in a way that you don't usually see.

I also enjoyed the diverse cast of characters and the coven's background. A coven of black southern witches descended from slaves and rooted in Christianity is something that just makes so much sense I'm almost surprised I haven't seen it before this. Ultimately the reason I gave this only 3 stars was because it did veer a little bit too much into standard YA territory for me - under-developed romance and high school drama and all that. But even though a lot of adults read YA it isn't really meant for us, and I think that this would be an excellent book for high schoolers.

I was impressed with they way this book was written and how fast pased it was it kept me interested.

An interesting magic system based on the Bible and herb teas, plus a bit of a murder mystery with a black/mixed girl main character in the South- sign me up! Unfortunately, this book did have pacing issues, with a slow start and a rushed climax. I also noticed several typos and grammar errors, which will hopefully be ironed out before publishing. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of YA fantasy, with the warning that there is some disturbing imagery so probably not for readers under 15 or so.

If you love stories about witches, magic, and the past and present clashing, this is definitely the one for you! I was hooked from the beginning when we learned Collette died and came back to life. Her journey to understand what happened to her by using a school project to investigate her death, as well as watching her navigate high school, friends, and her crush was interesting.

Miles’s strengths are clearly in writing and descriptions, such as her use of color and movement to describe the emotions Collette sees in others. For example: “a milky-green anxiety is buzzing around him.” In addition, each character was fully developed with strengths, weaknesses, motivations, and unique voices. And she did not disappoint when it came to secondary characters.

Although I loved each piece of this story – the Willows, Collette coming back and learning how to fight the demon, and the murder mysteries – there may have been too many pieces for one story. Possibly because of word count limitations, the more pieces to the plot, the less they can be developed. Although they did tie together at the end, some explanations were breezed over when they warranted something deeper.

My review on The Winged Pen blog will be posted in May.

I really enjoyed this story but it's a bit hard to follow in the beginning of the story. There is a lot of things that come out later but it felt like because the author is saving thesr things it's hard to be connected in the beginning. There is a lot of different elements in the story from angels and demons to witches, like the main character. I liked Collette as a main character. I appreciated that she actually tried to follow the advice of the wise characters in the story. A lot of times in YA the main character is very reckless and I thought she was pretty responsible. It was a grear story overall and I would definitely recommend it.

Rich in imaginative plot twists! This novel hooked me in with a story that delves into the supernatural, amidst racial tension and scandalous secrets galore! An ever timely narrative!

I received this e-book through NetGalley in return for an honest review. Willow Born, by Shanna Miles comes out June 1, 2017, from Rochelle and Reed Publishing.

Stumbling through its foreword and first few chapters, Willow Born hits its stride once our leading lady, Colette, starts attending high school. With that structure, however minute, suddenly the storytelling shifts from barreling to merely rushing, and the reader's confusion is paralleled and assuaged at the same rate as Colette's.

The story follows a young black girl as she wakes up in a lake, having been recently resurrected, is rescued from near-death by a young man, is possibly kidnapped by her imaginary friend who is possessing the body of an ill-clad co-ed, and then meets with her lawyer. Colette knows something's up (read: she probably shouldn't be alive) and when an inconceivable school Mega Project combining her Forensics class and her Journalism class (two subjects I never took in public high school) require her to dig up a cold case that just happens to be her own, she starts to learn about her past, and her self. On top of that, young girls keep disappearing, and some of them are lucky enough to be found dead. Oh, and also, there's been some angel-sightings.

It's confusing, yes. There are a ton of different elements, yes. You definitely have to suspend your disbelief. But I was only seven pages in when I first said, "Okay, I love this," aloud. Miles has done something that absolutely fascinates me. She has created a network of women, the Willows, who have effortlessly combined two seemingly irreconcilable belief systems: the Gospel, and old magic. Old as in lets you see kitchen fairies keeping your floors scrubbed and trolls helping your garden protect you, old. And, in fact, Willow philosophy folds in the modern sciences as well. Trolls and fairies are God's creatures, and magic is just energy obeying the laws of physics in ways most of us plebeians don't understand.

I swear, this book feels like someone took all those tumblr prompts that don't seem like they should go together but they JUST DO and made something lovely.

Along with the beauty of Willow philosophy, this book does something else that I love and deeply respect and that I, personally, haven't seen a lot in the YA Paranormal or Fantasy genres. Willow Born operates with Black As Default. Unless otherwise specified, all characters are black as default, and that's wonderful.

The main factors contributing to my rating are how confusing the beginning was, and how forced the ending felt. Miles seems to be gearing up for a sequel that I don’t feel she earned. Several story points were introduced and never followed up with (i.e. THE GUN), and while Colette is very interesting, Matt’s story really needed some filling out (WHY did he feel compelled to protect her, WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THAT?), and all the side characters seemed to blend together. In a movie remake, Summer, Qutey, and Brianna would probably be recast as one character and there would be next to no story alterations. Carlos is fantastic, though. Keep Carlos. Protect him.

Now, I know that the book-to-e-book transition often exacerbates the typo issue, and that ARCs are not finished copies, but this version had way more than it’s far share of misspellings, misquotations, and missed punctuation. It’s not affecting my rating, but it was super distracting!

So overall, I give this book a 3 out of 5 star rating. Incredible premise, but the execution could use some love.

~dustmotesandvellichor

Publishing June 1st 2017 by Rochelle and Reed Publishing

I came this close to giving up on this one. I have yet to add anything to any kind of ‘did not finish’ pile and I’m too proud to give up now, so I persevered. Here’s what I discovered:

Willow Born very much has the feel of a debut novel. It also has the feel of a novel that would have benefited from a lot of editing or perhaps just putting it aside and coming back to it in a year or so and then cutting bits and adding bits in. Does that make any sense? What I mean is that Willow Born has some really great ideas and most of the actual writing is pretty decent but there are so many loose ends or just unnecessary threads that I spent the first 60% of the book utterly confused. In the last 40% I just decided that the things I had thought were important and plot relevant and about to be explained probably weren’t any of those things and I should just read the book like none of the plot mattered.

In terms of subject/story…this kind of reads like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossed with old school Dr Who crossed with some kind of teen high school drama. There’s paranormal activity, there’s time travel (of sorts) and there’s romance for the sake of romance. None of this is overtly a ‘bad’ thing it just doesn’t make for particularly compelling reading.

If you think you might give this book a go you won’t have a terrible time of it, the last 40% of the book actually got quite interesting and exciting. But you have to be willing to commit to the confusion of the earliest phase of the book first.

By the way: I received a digital copy of this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

There was a lot to love in Willow Born but an equal amount to dislike as well. The characters are unique, the plot is ambitious and original. However, for each thing I adored there was a thing that made me frown. The transitions between time and place is unclear and the pace is choppy. All together Willow Born is an intriguing and engrossing read, which I would recommend to juvenile readers.

Why DNF? Fatphobia (one of side characters is described as weak and fat) I did not read far enough to see if the label put on him is challenged. Of course on the opposite spectrum the love interest is muscular thus brave. The story overall needs to be polished more.

Liked: black love interest, main character is reborn (born? reincarnated? summoned?) knowing her past, I think overall the story is a good idea