First of all, despite having given it 3 stars, I actually enjoyed this book more than Ava Lavender, which became so wildly popular on Booktube and blogs in 2017. Perhaps it was because I had an early eARC, but this book had a serious need for editing, and lots of times it felt like there was a chunk of story missing - this could easily have been 50 pages longer, and it would have been a much better read. 

Now that I got that out of the way, I really, really liked this book! It was so lush and magical, and I loved Nor's family. I wish Nor had been able to do more magic, but I enjoyed also watching her discover her powers. Price Guide to the Occult is set in a small island, and the witch-y atmosphere of the place was really nice! I also enjoyed how purely malignant Fern Blackburn was, and the goriness of her black magic sacrifices were very descriptive.

Nor is recovering from the traumas her mother inflicted on her, and does self harm, her arms covered in scars. So please take that into account if you want to read this book, it could possibly be a trigger.

All in all, I truly enjoyed this book! I wish the ending had not been so rushed. I will also read in the future the finished copy (did you see how gorgeous the hardcover is, with its pages' edges painted red?) and maybe enjoy the read even more!

I LOVED IT, has nurtured my love for witches even more, it’s such a beautifully atmospheric book, I feel that it was exactly what I needed. Deal with sensitive issues such as self-harm and abuse, so I want to warn you about that. 

The story follows Nor Blackburn, she’s the descendant of Rona Blackburn who was, long time ago, a very powerful witch who came to the island of Anathema with the hope of creating a life there. But the 8 original colonists of the island blamed her for things that happened and decided to kill the witch that was causing her problems, but Rona managed to escape and cursed the colonists. Now we go back to Nor, who doesn’t want to be more than a normal teenager, but with an extraordinary magical power and a curse that chases her lineage, that will be a bit difficult to achieve. One day this book called “The Price Guide to the Occult” appears and promises to be able to cast any kind of spell for a certain price, but this book will only bring darkness to the island since its author is nothing less than Nor’s mother, which arrival will only bring darkness. 

The Price Guide to the Occult, is such a deep and dark book, but at the same time it’s very light to read, in fact I’m surprised to have enjoyed it as much as I have, being honest I didn’t have big expectations, I’m sorry book! LOL. But .it knew how to captivate me with its captivating plot, mysterious characters and its beautiful writing style

I think that although it’s a very short book in fact makes you feel many things, Nor’s life has been so difficult as a child, her mother is an evil woman who did terrible things with her, and all this has left large sequels in Nor. She has attempt against her own life on several occasions but we can see how little by little she’s getting stronger and somehow manages to overcome all the darkness that haunts her. 
Her story being so painful made me as a reader immediately felt attached to her and want her to be happy. One thing I admire a lot about this main character is that she doesn’t play at being the victim at any time, she in fact almost never shares what happened to her to anyone. I think I saw something very positive about her, Nor’s very sweet with others and she really cares, and that shows a lot of strength in her, I like that

Talking about the plot in general, I liked it a lot, I think the ending was weird, I’m not sure, maybe it was too fast or too light for me, even so I enjoyed the dialogues, there is something very epic on them lol.
The epilogue promises that there may be another book after this one, which would make me very happy. But honestly I think that from beginning until a little more than the half of it, is the strong part and is the one that I’ve enjoyed the most, I like how atmospheric it turned out to be, the island and its descriptions are beautiful and at the same time sombre, which It makes it the perfect setting for this kind of stories. Although the book focuses a lot on the Blackburn family and magic, they can also see other characters and other families that connect with the main story in a very interesting way

The characters are great, I will not talk about Nor again because you already know that I love her, but there is another ones that are perfect for the book, the writer has a lot of talent to write characters, that’s for sure.
We have Savvy, she’s Nor’s best friend, and she’s absolutely funny and always says what she thinks, I love that. We have Nor’s grandmother, Judd, and she’s so particular and different, I loved this character, besides I was pleasantly surprised to see how Judd is in a relationship with another woman and the dynamic between them together with Nor is fantastic, the natural that this relationship is, has been so pleasant to read. Then we have Gage and I really don’t know why I liked him so much, I think I would have liked him to have a stronger role in the plot but I really liked him, I guess it’s the typical bad guy who is not that bad (I’m a cliche lol). And finally we have Reed and oh god is the sweetest guy ever, I love him, I feel like he’s like Simon of Shadow Hunters or something like that.
Honestly, I liked even the bad characters, it’s funny cause there’s always someone I don’t like but in this book I could talk about them forever, there’s something so natural in the way they’re created, you just start reading about them and you feel you know them since ever and with that said, you can imagine how well written this book is!

The writing style is very beautiful, the way in which the chapters are divided and they begin with a Rona’s phrase, is very engaging. But at the same time I think it’s not complex at all, it’s a simply beautiful and poetic writing, that kind of writing that works perfectly for this kind of story

I highly recommend this book if you want a magical, atmospheric and quick to read story. That I’ve emphasized its simplicity doesn’t mean that it doesn’t touch strong issues, it’s necessary to be careful. I think that if you want to have a great time with very well created characters, a couple of curses and a mysterious island, this one is perfect.

Nor Blackburn lives on a tiny island with an interesting past. She hasn't had to deal with her quasi-cult leader mother in ages, when a mysterious book comes out that gains alarming popularity. In this book, you can order a spell for something you want, and it comes true. Nor's life starts to get pretty weird.

Not bad.

This story starts as what seems to be a simple romance and looking at unique people in a quirky town but takes a dark turn and that is when it gets really interesting, You get sucked right in and you can't stop reading until the end.

I read this as a potential Illumicrate August book and I really enjoyed it. Super atmospheric. Not quite as good as Ava Lavender but still incredibly enjoyable

2.5 Stars
TW: Self-Harm

So this book really went downhill very quickly for me. The book had promise at first specifically with The prologue and the magical quality of the writing. However, the first half was pretty slow paced which I wasn't minding at first, I actually thought that this book might half gotten 4 stars until around 40% through. The slower pacing of the first half made the increased speed of the plot in the second half very apparent and it felt quite rushed, as did most parts of the novel.

The characters felt shallow and not really fleshed out. All the side characters were just meh and had one dimensional personalities. Although I don't know what I was expecting since Nor didn't have much of a personality either. Nor as a character annoyed me so much because she was hiding so many things and her being a deus ex machina.

The romance was done really poorly in my opinion. The main love interest appears maybe 5 times max, and his interest in the main character makes absolutely no sense. In addition it seemed like there was meant to be some weird love triangle that was actually written out halfway through, but the author didn't remember she wrote it out by the end.  

In the end between characters that weren't well done and whom I didn't care about, and a plot/storyline that was rushed and mostly didn't make sense I just didn't enjoy this. If you are looking for representation of self harm in a fantasy/magical book this could be it, but as someone who's never suffered from mental illness I can't say whether the representation was particularly good, and even if it was I'm not sure if that would be outweighed by the other poorly done aspects of the book.

"Time might heal all wounds, but what about the scars those wounds left behind? Even if Nor's physical scars faded away, she would always remember where they had been, always be able to trace the path of the pain with her fingertips."

It had kind of slipped my mind that I had this book, and when I stumbled upon it in my Kindle library, I thought I'd give it a shot. After getting through the prologue, I got strong The Raven Boys vibes, that became gradually less and less palpable the deeper I got into the book. The Price Guide to the Occult is the first in-one-sitting read I have had in the longest time and it felt hella good to suck in a book in one breath. I'd call The Price Guide to the Occult worthy of reading with next to no hesitation, but don't be fooled, it has it's flaws. Let's get into it, shall we?

"...and all the scars, evidence of all the times she'd battled death and won."

Maybe, with The Price Guide to the Occult, it would be best to recount what I liked and what I didn't in bullet points. This is a new, never-tried-before method for this gal, so bear with me.

Lena approves of:
• diversity (of both ethnicity and sexuality)
• Savvy, the mandatory quirky sidekick, and her sassiness 
• cute doggies
• respectful portrayal of mental illness
• witches and witchery, because hell yes
• the dark-fairy-tale vibe
• Gage and Charlie and the rest of the lot

Lena is on fence about:
• the special-snowflakedness of the main character - one of my greatest book pet peeves - but in the case of The Price Guide to the Occult, this particular trope is handled reasonably well. 
• Fern Blackburn
• the love triangle 
• the open-ish ending

Lena does not approve of:
• the mild-but-still-there instant romance - there was next to no development to the relationship between Nor and Reed, one moment nothing, the next - peekaboo - it was just there. There was a little bit of built up, a lousy backstory, but the actual relationship felt flat. 
• speaking of development, no one, with the exception of Nor, really changes or develops over the course of the book
• author's inability to write dramatic scenes - there was a handful of scenes that were supposed to be goose-bump-inducing but Leslye Walton just seems to be unable to write a dramatic turn of events - she fails to convey the atmosphere (which is something she excels at in other parts of the book), to add any kind of suspense to the scenes that beg for it

"Nor did care about Reed. In fact, she cared so much that she sometimes felt it would swallow he whole. But that was the whole point. She cared about him enough to stay away."

In my humble opinion, The Price Guide to the Occult should have been longer. This is a book with a strong focus on characters, but the 280 pages don't allow enough breathing room to let the characters grow and flow naturally. Everything feels rushed and too quick. The story line is done well, I can't deny that, and the main conflict is given a lot of thought, but the relationships and inner motifs of the characters weren't even quarter of what they could have been with 50 more pages added in.

This gave me all of the eerie vibes, all of the exquisite writing, all of the angsty character, and all of the atmospheric setting that I was anticipating and yet, somehow, I still wanted more.

For such a short book, and with such a sinister premise, this delivered little in the way of plot. I felt there was much more to be explored and I would have appreciated a larger focus dedicated to the witchcraft elements, with an explanation and exploration of their use. Protagonist, Nor, displayed some unsettling yet fascinating abilities and a continued focus on this would have held me a captivated reader.

That is not to say this was a flawed book, but that this set the stage for greatness and I would have adored a prolonged performance, to fully engage with the myriad of innovative notions and intriguing characters I felt denied the chance to fully explore.

I enjoyed this book and all the family dynamics.  The evil mother was an interesting dynamic.  I did tell my book club about this book and gave it a favorable review.

It took me some time to read this book but it was not its fault. The review will have two parts: things that i liked and things that i did not like. I will start with those that i liked:
- I really enjoyed the concept of this book and the overall idea of the Blackburn witches and their Burden that changed from daughter to daughter 
- Nor's friendship with Savvy was so beautiful and heartwarming, plus her relationship with her grandmother, Apothia and the ones that worked at the shop
- I really liked how the author added bits and pieces of greek mythology which is my favorite 
- The book was full of action and i've never got bored while reading it 
- I liked how the villain in this book was the mother and not some external source 
- I found enjoyable that mostly everybody on the island had a connection with magic somehow 
- I was keen on how Fern's powers, Nor's mother, were presented and described 
- I liked the fact that Nor had discovered more gifts and the learnt how to accept herself 
- The ending was very interesting and made me want the next book 

Things i did not like:
- I think Nor's scars had been given too much attention 
- Sometimes the third person was a little confusing and there were times when i didn't know where the action was going 
- I think Nor had been given too many gifts at convenient times 
- That she kissed a guy that she barely knew and didn't even like while being with another one 
- That her dad had to die before we got to see more of him 

All these being said, the good parts overcome the bad ones. I strongly recommend this book to those who love fantasy and even to those who want to try something new.

This book is a pleasant surprise. I did have high expectations for this book, but I lowered it since due to the meh reviews. It turned out to be darker and more complex than what I expected, which is something that I really enjoyed. The setting was atmospheric and while the characters aren’t exactly fleshed out, the plot was very intriguing and enough to keep me engaged!

I considered this book thorougly disappointing. The writing style, the characterization, the story itself; I could rant here about all the things I didn't like, but let's leave it at that.

First of all, thank you to Netgalley and Candlewick Press for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Second, I would like to place a trigger warning here for self harm, detailed talk of self-harm/self-inflicted wounds, and emotional abuse.


Now that that’s out of the way, I can get on with this review. I’ll admit, when I read the premise for this novel, I had literally no idea what to expect from it. It’s such a genre-bending, weird little book, but y’all. I. Loved. It. It was exactly what I needed and wanted to read.

The stories of Rona Blackburn and the lineage of the Blackburn daughters was fascinating to me. The author managed to weave words and create such a rich, detailed backstory to her characters that sounded like it was straight out of a history book. The way that everything wove together was captivating and immediately hooked me, and the rich, decadent descriptions kept me tethered to the story all the way until the end.

The characters were a strange and wonderful cast whom I loved learning about. Nor’s myriad of family members made me happy and I somehow wanted to be a part of her world and be friends with her friends. Nor was by far my favourite, though, and she was such a relatable main character. I’ve mentioned it before, but I am a huge fan of unreliable main characters; I find that it adds such a dynamic twist to the story that keeps readers guessing and wondering in ways that just doesn’t happen with other characters. Nor’s pain and suffering echoed within me–I suffered from self-harm in high school at her age (and I have yet to kick the habit), and so it was nice to see this explained in a way that didn’t romanticize it the way that a lot of young adult novels do.

One thing that I do have a complaint about is the way that the novel ended. The climax was a bit confusing, and I felt as though the final scene between Nor and her mother could have been drawn out a little. It felt like it was over too quickly–adding more scenes between Nor and her mother would have benefitted the book a lot, I think.

All in all, I thought that this was a great book with a lot of great facets about it, and I will definitely want to own a finished copy at some point!

The Price Guide to the Occult by Leslye Walton is a unique paranormal novel.  Rona Blackburn moved to Anathema Island off the coast of Washington over a hundred years ago.  She claimed a plot of land and put a sign on the door that said “witch”.  A year after she arrives on the island, the men come at her home and set fire to it.  Rona escapes into the woods and casts a dark spell on them using her blood and that of her daughter.  A hundred years later, her descendant Nor is the eighth (and last) of the Blackburn daughters.  She lives with her grandmother, Judd and has what she calls an unremarkable gift (she can hear and talk to plants as well as animals).  Nor’s goal is to make the slightest mark as humanly possible on the world.  Nor dropped out of high school and works in a dead-end part-time position at the Witching Hour.  Then The Price Guide to the Occult comes out which allows people to order spells for a price.  Two things catch Nor’s attention:  the picture of the author and the free spell included.  The author and the caster of the spells is Fern Blackburn, Nor’s mother and the free spell is a Blackburn family spell.  Fern is a dangerous witch with formidable magic.  As Fern’s book becomes more popular, the island starts deteriorating.  Trouble is coming to Anathema Island and there is nothing that can be done to prevent it.  There is only one person who can defeat the evil but is she ready to face her destiny.

The Price Guide to the Occult had a captivating description, and I was eager to read it.  The prologue captured my attention, and I soon discovered it was the best part of the book.  I am not sure what happened to the author after she wrote the prologue.  Her writing became stilted and her word choices made for a slow-paced story (good for insomnia).  It seemed like Ms. Walton was overthinking her writing.  The transitions between sections were awkward and jarring.  Ms. Walt does provide some lovely descriptions that help readers imagine the island and the foliage.  The book is better at the end when the action picks up, but I feel that few readers would make it that far into the story.   There is a lack of character development and depth.  Nor was the most developed character, but she was not likeable nor is she compelling.  Nor was too busy trying to be bland and fixated on Reed (her love interest).  Of course, the author had to insert a love triangle.  The romance did not feel natural.  Fern had the potential to be a great antagonist, but she did not reach it.  She is evil, but one dimensional.  I did like Ms. Walton’s unique take on magic.  I have not encountered it before in other paranormal novels.  The Price Guide to the Occult does contain foul language, gruesome violence, and self-harm (fair warning).  The ending was lackluster, unsatisfying, rushed and predictable.  The author left the possibility of a sequel (oh dear).  The Price Guide to the Occult is geared to the New Adult audience (over sixteen).  My rating for The Price Guide to the Occult is 2 out of 5 stars.

Actual rating is 2.5 stars, but I bumped it up since half stars are not an option.

Thought and Plot

Rona was burned out of her home as a witch a century ago.  So, obviously, she cursed the Blackburn family for running her out of town and now over one hundred years later the youth of the family still suffers from the curse.

Nor Blackburn has some ‘unremarkable’ supernatural powers, which she hopes will keep her safe from the curse. Along with the fact that her love life is sadly void. She’s obsessed with a boy named Reed though so that’ll probably ruin things since the curse has her destined to fall in love with a random man from the island only to have her heart broken (seriously, what kind of curse is that, really?).

A strange book promises to cast any spell for the right price.

This book is, well…a bit boring to be honest. In places it’s a bit wordy, which makes the reader slow down and spend more time trying to figure out what is going on.  The prologue is probably the best part of this book. It paints a wonderful backdrop for the ‘present day’…and then it turns into a classic I-just-want-to-hang-with-my-friends-and-date-the-boy-I’m-crushing-on standard teen novel…with some spells from a book Nor’s mother is selling that is filled with spells that are messing up normal life. Of course, Nor sort a has to deal with her mother’s mess, but for the most part I feel like a good chunk of this book had nothing really happen in it that would hold a reader’s interest. Hence the boring comment. It was quite disappointing.

Possible sequel with love triangle?

In Conclusion

This was a very ‘meh’ book. If there is a sequel, I am 85% sure I won’t be reading it.

So I've never read Ava Lavendar by LLeslye Walton but with the way the book community was raving about it I was excited to give The Price Guide to the Occult a chance. I did enjoy the writing style and holy frak the prologue was such an amazing set up for this witchy book. I liked that the author tackled self harm and the after effects it has on a young person. But all in all this was a pretty boring read for me, nothing really interesting happens until the last few chapters, where Walton does another good job of building up to this final showdown and then NOTHING HAPPENS! All that build up and its over in less than a page and Nor doesn't do much at all. Nor was pretty bland as a protagonist and I didn't understand what was the point of the romance, like you could have taken the love interest out of the book and the sequence of events would still have unfolded the way it did. What was his purpose? I will eventually pick up Ava Lavender and see what all the hype is about but for all the build up in the prologue The Price Guide to the Occult was pretty disappointing.

Super quick and fun read. I wanted more more more and was sad when it ended.

Beautiful writing, strange, but unique atmosphere, and I liked Nor's personality/complexity.
It was a little too familiar to me - like something I've read a few times, but that's not a bad thing.
Everyone needs a comfort read or a read to visit on a magical vacation.
I would recommend to friends and family who haven't read alot of what I have.

This was a book that really stood out for me. I loved how Lesleye Walton brought all the characters alive and i loved how strong the family connection between Rona and her grandmother. The story made me fall in love with Walton as a writer even more. The way the magical elements are used was really interesting and i would love a sequel to this.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book.  Mostly it was the wonderfully witchy ambiance that was captured so well in the story and setting.  If Anathema Island was a real place, I'd definitely want to visit. Probably wouldn't like to live there, since crazy stuff happens to people who live on the island, but I'd probably want to check out the lake and shops and sweet nature trails, at least.  
The moody setting paired with the actually witchy characters was hitting all of the buttons for me.  This would be a great one to read on a crisp fall evening close to Halloween.  The Blackburn women are so compelling and I really want to know more about the women between Rona, Judd, Fern, & Nor.  I just really adore a cast of characters made up mostly of a long line of generational witches. 
Another thing I liked about this book was that it had the perfect combo of intrigue, magic, & mystery mixed with this super intense underlying feeling of foreboding and dread.  You will, when reading this book, definitely get a true bit of stomach-clenching stress while waiting for the ball to drop (and by the ball dropping, I mean Fern showing up on the island).  We keep getting snippets and bits of information both about what she's up to in the present intermingled with Nor's memories of the past, so you slowly learn how terrifying and BAD it is that she's up to her old tricks in a big way.  



I also really enjoyed that the focus in the story was on the relationships between Nor and literally everyone else on the island.  Spoiler Alert! She's related to every original settling family, which provides for a very interesting dynamic, especially considering the reason for those relationships and shared blood is caused by the curse Rona Blackburn put on them back in the day.  I loved her relationships with Judd and Madge and her grandfather, because they were so diverse and that made the story feel more realistic.  



And lest I go through this whole review without mentioning the conflict and antagonist of the story, I'm gonna talk about it: Fern.  Fern, the Blackburn daughter with a super creepy power who realizes that she can use it to gain a semblance of the full Blackburn powers she's always wanted.  Let me tell you, Fern is an awesome character, solely because she's terrifying.  I don't want to spoil a whole lot, but the way she gains her influence in the world is *so* creepy.  Like....a "the body snatchers took away my mom and dad and nobody will believe me because the cops are also body snatchers" kind of creepy, which just adds to the panic and feeling of doom that resonates throughout this story.  
So listen, if moody, witchy vibes and a great antagonist sound like your kind of read, do yourself a favor and pick this one up.  Alternately, you could pick it up then put it down until October to further immerse yourself in a spooky and thematic setting for your reading!