Walton's first book is a beautiful oddball in that not every reader will love and appreciate it, but those that do are over the moon about it (me). This second one (we've been waiting) is still an acquired taste, but not as specific and with the fusion of witchcraft, atmosphere, and family dynamics (along with a more contemporary romance and a quirky friendship-- Savvy, how I adore you) this does open up her audience to more readers than the niche of those from Ava Lavender.

It's her creation of generational stories with heavy atmosphere and feeling. Not everyone is comfortable with the emotions Walton presents nor do some readers have the family network to understand her generational dynamics but Walton does it so well.

In her story about the founding of an archipelago of islands by eight settlers and one witch, Rona Blackburn as the matriarch of a line of female Blackburn's with different but significant powers who are swept up in three-day romances with men that leave them to carry on the next generation (reminds me a bit of Impossible by Werlin). The contemporary story of Nor, the teenage Blackburn who hasn't finished high school, lives with the older generation of Blackburn's, and has suffered greatly (physically and emotionally) at the hands of her mother, Fern Blackburn, who is making a living dealing in the black arts of casting spells using "The Price Guide to the Occult" and making herself a household name... until she comes back to descend on their island and Nor must harness her own power, weakened by the abuse her mother has meted out, with the help of other islanders and understanding the power dynamic, loyalty, and friendship.

It's another moody book with moments of levity with the setting an additional delightful character. I can imagine walking through the streets of the town, being in the woods, in the houses and when the action really picks up, all of these other locations. Plus... when Nor meets someone very specific in the basement as the water builds... oh! The beauty and suspense and loveliness!

I really enjoyed this book, but I would give a warning to those who aren't comfortable with reading about self harm or scars etc. as it does describe this and other topics in great detail. The book itself had a great story, of a witch finding a home on an island and being hunted by men as they feared her. It stems from there and how the witches descendants have powers and what they do and do not have. I can see this book becoming a sequel and I definitely shall read it.

Walton’s new novel is an interesting tale about a local witch who after arriving in a small community is burned at the stake and curses those and generations to come. Even though the premise is very promising, I did find the writing very flowery for my own tastes. This basically comes down to personal preference and not about the writing style of the authors.

She paints an ideological sense in the environment and setting and she has a keen sense with characters and their relations with each other. The plot flows at a good pace and there is lot to really relish with the pages. It felt like a teenage novel written for the female sensibilities.

The story is very richly written and although the writing style is not my regular reading, I found Walton to have an interest grasp and handling of her subject material. Although I struggled through the first few chapters, eventually I was wrapped up and involved in the tale.

The book is not necessarily something that I would recommend for everyone but for the right audience, they will dive into and it will be on many people’s favourite reads list. Unfortunately, due to my own preferences, I will mark this down slightly. Overall, this is a solid involving novel and very impressive. For a general audience, I would definitely rate this four stars but for my own personal tastes, it unfortunately gets marked down to a three.

3.5

Generations ago, Rona Blackburn landed on Anathema Island and was henceforth shunned by the original eight settlers. When Rona finds herself pregnant, the settlers’ aggressively turn on her for being a witch. Being every part the powerful witch they think she is, Rona doesn’t let the settlers’ violent actions go unpunished, unfortunately in Rona’s rage she also unwittingly curses future generations of Blackburn women: Each woman will be doomed to carry out a brief, illicit affair with a descendant of the original eight. From this affair the next generation of Blackburn witches will be born, but this also dilutes their magic until each woman is only gifted with one “Burden”. To cast magic outside of one’s Burden is considered to be black magic.

Nor Blackburn, the ninth Blackburn witch, is happy with her less-than-extraordinary gift of being able to communicate with nature. She’s ok with a non-existent love life, and she’s hoping the curse has just run its course. After suffering years ago at the hands of her power-hungry mother, Nor would almost prefer to just disappear completely. But when a book shows up, written by Nor’s mother no less, offering to cast spells for anyone who can pay the right price, Nor sees the glaring red flag, and as the threat of her mother’s reappearance in her life looms large, like it or not, she’ll have to embrace the gifts she was given if she even wants a chance to save those she’s cares about.

A little background: Leslye Walton’s debut book The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is a book that I hold very near and dear to my heart. We’re talking desert island type book. So while I went into Price Guide not exactly wanting Ava Lavender 2.0, I would be lying to say that it had no bearing whatsoever on my expectations. Keeping that in mind:

With Leslye Walton’s writing style I wouldn’t be surprised if Price Guide is truly infused with some kind of magic. The descriptions of the manifestation of the Blackburn’s magics and the images they conjure simply fly off the page with such uniqueness and beauty, yet it never overpowers the narrative. As with her previous work, Walton doesn’t shy away from the grotesque or difficult subject matter as shown by Nor’s struggle with self-harm, but these topics feel like they’re handled with such care in the way they’re conveyed on the page.

Nor has survived a lot in her sixteen, going on seventeen, years of life, and for much of that survival she’s still struggling. We see her contemplate the ease in which she could hurt herself pretty consistently throughout the book, but each time she keeps from going back over that threshold. This speaks to a great strength in character, and shows her strong will. I do wish that Nor had confided more in regards to her power, especially to her grandmother. I also thought it felt a little off center that Nor was surprised that people (namely her best friend) knew about her family being witches. I mean pretty much the whole town is an homage to the mystical and magical. This should be no surprise.

Where the book lost a little for me was the incongruity between this being a story about generations of a family of witches overcoming a curse, and battling a power-hungry bad seed in the family. This book could clearly lead into a series if the author so chooses which makes me think that’s the reason the latter is the main conflict of the book.

Overall, Leslye Walton is definitely an author who needs to be on your To Read list no matter what. While Price Guide was a bit unexpected for me, I was drawn into the story, and the writing is spectacular. I look forward to whatever Leslye Walton writes next

The Price Guide to the Occult by Leslye Walton

4.25 stars

“The link between the Blackburn daughters and the island was so strong Nor often imagined that the veins that ran underneath her skin and the tree roots that ran under her feet were one and the same.”

The Blackburn women have lived on Anathema Island for nine generations and are plagued by a curse. Rona Blackburn was scorned and left abandoned by a lover who felt guilt over having affair. To assuage his guilt, he decided to take it out on Rona, but she fought back. In retaliation, she put a curse on the Original Eight founders of the island who helped participate in the crimes against her. However, the curse had effects on the Blackburn women. There powers are not once they once were and are now focused to only magical talent instead of the multitudes that they once were. Nor Blackburn is the ninth generation on Anathema Island and is content with her ability to her animals and the earth. Her past is clouded in blood— forced from her body at the hands of her mother obsessed with power and from herself by cutting herself. Things on the island are calm, that is until her mother, Fern, releases the novel The Price Guide to the Occult and it quickly becomes a bestselling sensation. Nor knows her mother is uses magic at a price—the blood and pain of others. Things of Anathema Island are shifting and things are ramping up to magical heights. I greatly enjoyed Leslye Walton’s debut novel, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender. Since reading an ARC of that novel, I’ve been anxiously awaiting another novel by Walton. Imagine how excited I was when I received an ARC for her sophomore novel. Walton uses her lyrical prose to create a magnificent story seeped in magic and dealing with pain. It is quite different from Ava Lavender, but it sticks to the same dark themes of abandoned love, pain, women in families, and interconnected histories. I do wish that Walton had used her talents for genealogical storytelling to paint each Blackburn woman and give further context into the story (and it would have been incredibly interesting so that the reader would have a full understanding of all of Nor’s powers). This is not a perfect novel, but it is a wonderful story that is full of heartbreak, sorrow, and overcoming the past and oneself.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 4.75

“Some pain did not want to be healed: it had to be convinced, compelled, coerced into submission. No pain was alike.”

The main female character is Nor. I greatly appreciated how delicately Walton tackled a heroine who has suffered with self-mutilation. As someone who has also been there and done harm to myself, my heart broke for Nor and I greatly wanted her to see her worth and break free from her fear. When she does become fearless, it is a moment of victory. Nor is a character I easily rooted for and she has a quiet strength and desire to survive. She is an admirable character and I greatly appreciated seeing her narrative come to life.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 4.5

The Villain- Fern Blackburn is scary. She starts a cult through chain letters and preying on peoples’ emotions. She knows that people will flock to a poor pregnant girl without “love” and trapped on an island. Her cult starts before Nor enters this world, but her thirst for power grows greater after her novel becomes instantly popular through a YouTube video. She is horrifyingly manipulative, sadistic, and will stop at nothing to gain ultimate control. It is incredibly interesting how Walton interweaves Nor’s nightmares into the reality of Fern’s monstrous murder sprees. It’s scary and heart-stopping.


Villain Scale: 5

There is some romance in this novel, but it is not the focus and I greatly appreciated that. I felt that if Nor had become hopelessly in love with someone then it would have ruined her own journey of strength and overcoming her fears. Reed seems very sweet, but I wasn’t really all that in to him and Nor. There was also a trope that I greatly despise: the let’s make out/kiss before I go into battle trope. I hate this trope with a fiery passion, but surprisingly it occurred with a character that Nor had a lot of tension with and I thought from the beginning that they would wind up together.


Swoon Worthy Scale: 3.25

My favorite character is hands down, Savvy. She is an enduringly fun character with a fro that always changes colors and is not afraid to speak her truth. She is light and a nice contrast to Nor’s darkness for the majority of the novel. They contrast each other’s as best friends so nicely. I was also a fan of Judd and Apothia, Nor’s great-grandmother and grandmother. I just wish that there was more development and conversations between all of them.


Character Scale: 4

Overall, I highly recommend this novel to fans of witches and Walton’s prose style. I think that this will be popular with a lot of readers and I’m so glad that I enjoyed it. Also, I want a sequel because that epilogue left so much to be desired for the world and the aftermath of the havoc Fern wreaked upon humanity.


Plotastic Scale: 5

Cover Thoughts: I love this cover! I love it even more after knowing how evil Fern is and the use of the fern plants. *shivers*

Thank you, Netgalley and Candlewick, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book overall. The atmosphere was great and the overall setting was magical. However, I don't know if it was quite what I was expecting. The cutting imagery was hard to read, but if that does not bother you, then it is worth a read.

Thank you to netgally and Candlewick Press for the e-arc

TW: self-harm (mentioned frequently), suicide

I requested this from netgally for two reasons, I loved Walton's previous novel: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, and the premise had promise. This started well, reminding me of her previous novel while starting its own path. However, as the story went on it started to feel repetitive, slow-paced, and without characters I cared enough about to keep me going. It felt like the main characters self-harm was mentioned every second page to the point that it grew viciously tiresome. I will own up and say around the halfway mark I started to skim read, only pausing to take in some of the more important moments.

I do think this novel will hit the right spot for some people. They'll connect to the characters more and enjoy the writing. It was just a shame that this wasn't for me.


Characters

At first, I liked Savvy, but as the book went on it became harder to grasp what her character was really about. I knew Gage to be the bad-boy-good-at-heart stereotype. The rest was a wash (which was maybe because I skimmed the second half of the book, and maybe because they just didn't click with me).
The main villain felt too mustache-twirling, evil for the sake of it. Despite all the build up, I wasn't really interested in any of the encounters with her.


Plot

It really felt like not a lot was happening throughout. For such a short book, there's a lot of characters, and it took a while for me to understand who was who.


One of my biggest problems with the plot was what was set up in the prologue. I was behind that set up, and it left me with expectations of what at least some of the plot would deal with, and other than a few mentions, it wasn't answered or dealt with at all in the actual plot, and left the book, as a standalone, not feel rounded and cohesive.

I thought a reason this hadn't been dealt with the plot it set up was for the potential of a sequel. The ending very much leaves off with a sense that there's more to come. If it had been advertised as a start to a series, some of my issues with the plot and ending may have been eased, but I went into this thinking it was a standalone, and it left me feeling like the novel as it stood on its own was unfulfilled.

Overall

This was a disappointing read for me. I'm always grateful to receive advanced reader copies of novels, and I was really hoping to click with this, but in the end it wasn't for me. It was around halfway that it dropped from 3 to 2 stars, purely because I lost any enjoyment in the story and became unengaged. As an escapist reader, this was an issue for me.

If a sequel does comes out, I don't think I'll be picking it up, but I would possibly be interested in another standalone.

Also- this comes out in the 13th of March 2018, and I wrote this review 12th of March 2018.

I am a huge fan of witch novels, particularly those from Salem or reminiscent of that type of witchcraft. I was extremely excited to find this on Netgalley, and found most of the book enjoyable.

Nor is a descendant of a long line of witches, cursed to have a brief affair culminating in the next generation of witches, and confined to only one talent. Nor wishes she didn’t have to deal with any of this, however: her childhood was unstable until moving in with her grandmother, and Nor is just getting over PTSD and an inclination to self harm. But something wicked is coming to her tiny island, and Nor is their only line of defense.

I liked most of this book. Nor is my perfect brooding, reluctant heroine, and I enjoyed the atmosphere of her witchy town complete with an occult shop. About 3/4ths of the way through, however, the action ratcheted up and the writing got a little choppy. The ending didn’t work for me either, unfortunately.

Thank you to Candlewick and Netgalley for an ARC.

This was a tough book for me, and even tougher to review. I love the premise of following a female line of witches, and the characters, especially Nor, were multi-dimensional. But this novel was very slow-moving, and often felt like we were just treading water instead of actively moving forward. I have heard a lot about Leslye Walton's previous novel, and might seek it out because her prose work is so strong.
I received this novel through NetGalley, from Candlewick Press, in exchange for an honest review.

Leslye Waltons’s The Price Guide to the Occult is a captivating fantasy that pits its heroine against her own mother in a novel full of magic and pain. Nor is part of a long line of Blackburn women whose magical abilities have both beguiled folk on Anathema Island and caused them to regard these women with suspicion. Nor would like nothing more than to have everyone forget the notoriety of her family name even as the magic that courses through her veins grows harder and harder to ignore. When the book, The Price Guide to the Occult, makes its way to the island, Nor can’t help but notice its contents bare a striking resemblance to spells cast long ago by her ancestor Rona Blackburn. Something grows amiss with the people on the island who once pledged their allegiance to Nor’s mother and she can’t shake the feeling that something is coming. As much as Nor would like to fade into the background, the danger heading her way will force her to confront her past and embrace the magic inside her she has tried so hard to deny.

When one loves a book like I have loved Walton’s first novel, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, it’s inevitable that I will compare this second to the first. While Ava Lavender was steeped in magical realism, The Price Guide to the Occult reads more like a fantasy novel. Curses, witches, and spells fill this new world. While I found lots of charm in the idea of people like Nor’s grandmother using her Blackburn gift to heal ailments that may not be treated with modern medicine, I really wanted the author to delve more into this world. But the novel is limited to Nor’s perspective and she would rather distance herself from any kind of magic and so we as readers miss out on exploring this kind of magic more in depth. The island felt like a distinct character itself. Being isolated from the mainland, it felt like a place where magic could be whispered about, but go largely unnoticed to the rest of the world. Nor’s world is small, but also full of people who have taken part in her upbringing, who have occupied that space once reserved for her mother who abandoned her long ago.

Nor’s avoidance of magic is tied specifically to her relationship with her mother. Next to Nor, Fern Blackburn is the most clearly defined of the characters. Fern was never a nurturing mother. Her obsession with Nor’s father overrode any love she may have once felt for her daughter. Willing to do anything to get what she wanted, Fern didn’t bat an eyelash when it came to harming her own daughter in order to do so. Able to manipulate others, Fern has made a living off of other people’s pain. Nor lives in fear of becoming her mother, of being the kind of person that uses others without a second thought. But the people in Nor’s life, from her best friend Savvy to her grandmother Judd, are evidence that Nor is not like her mother at all. I do want to mention that the novel does deal with self-harm. Nor has hurt herself in the past and struggles with overcoming the urge to do so again throughout the story.

The Price Guide to the Occult is a short novel and in many places this shows. The development of certain relationships suffer from lack of page time. While there’s a budding romance between Nor and a boy she thought she would never see again, I found myself more invested in her relationship with the prickly Gage Coldwater. He and his family play a vital role in the island’s history and while this explains the animosity he feels toward Nor, I really wanted to see more about how this relationship shifts. There is a time-jump later on in the novel where this development takes place and so wish I could have witnessed more of their interactions. The novel also comes to a close rather quickly. There is a lot of build-up where Nor’s mother is concerned and I expected the battle to be a bit longer.

Overall, The Price Guide to the Occult is a wonderful example of Walton’s storytelling ability. Nor is a memorable character and the world Walton has built is filled with both beauty and horror.

I read this author's first book, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, and found, while the plot was pretty unmemorable, the writing was hauntingly beautiful and carried me through the book absorbing each and every word. So I was excited to be lucky enough to read this book. What I found was a completely opposite experience. This book had a pretty decent and memorable plot but the beautiful writing was gone. What happened?? My first experience with this author led me to believe each word of the book had been sat over and contemplated until just the exact meaning and emotion were expressed. So much so that the plot was secondary. On the other hand, this book felt like a good bit of time went into the plot but then was hastily hashed out as a means to an end without much, if any, care and thought of how it was conveyed to the reader. I am left disappointed but mildly entertained.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this novel, but I’m very happy I gave it a try. I got sucked into the story and devoured it in a single evening, it was so good!

The book takes place in a magical version of our world. Nor Blackburn is the descendant of a powerful witch who cursed the inhabitants of the island where she lived when they tried to murder her. However, the curse also affected the witch’s family; in each generation since, the Blackburn daughter has only one strong magical talent rather than a range of powers. That doesn’t mean that they can’t do other kinds of magic, however, as Nor’s narcissistic and cruel mother Fern demonstrates when she uses the power of human blood sacrifice to achieve national fame. All Nor wants is to live a quiet life on her island home, enjoying her simple magic of understanding the language of plants and animals and trying to avoid other aspects of her ancestor’s curse. However, as a child, Nor was her mother’s first victim, and she watches in horror as Fern’s power begins to taint life on the island. As the darkness grows, Nor has to try to find the strength to stand against Fern, even though her mother has always terrified her.

At the beginning, it seemed like the story was going to be about unusual people living in a quirky little town and about Nor’s fledgling romance with a very nice guy. And that’s how it starts, yes, but then the story goes dark. Fern’s madness is displayed pretty horrifically, and people die rather gruesome deaths. Some of the lighter elements from the beginning remain in play as the narrative darkens, which made for what I thought was an odd juxtaposition at times. Overall, though, the book’s mixture of light and dark moments and beautiful writing really worked for me, and I just couldn’t stop reading.

One thing that might bother some people even more than the darkness of the storyline is the book’s discussion of self-harm. Fern’s early attempt to perform magic using Nor’s blood caused Nor to turn to cutting to relieve her anxiety. By the time the book begins, Nor has been in treatment and has largely learned to cope, but she does experience the temptation to injure herself at some points in the story, which might be triggering for some people.

Nor’s story clearly isn’t over at the end of the novel. Not only are there still elements of her ancestor’s curse that haven’t played out, but now everyone from the president on down knows that magic and witches exist. That’s obviously going to create problems for Nor in the future, and I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

Highly recommended for anyone who loves dark fantasy.

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

It had an interesting premise, but I was very disappointed when I finished it, because not only it didn't fulfill my expectations, but I wasn't the biggest fan of the novel at all. I couldn't help but compare it with her previous book. I tried not to, but there were times where something that I adored about her debut novel was lacking in this one.

I didn't like the writing in The Price Guide to the Occult as much. It was much simpler, and not as whimsical as I expected to be. Maybe it had to do a bit with the story that she was narrating, but it wasn't as amazing. I noticed as well that nothing really interesting happened at all. It started really good and mysterious, and I enjoyed the path it was supposed to take, but it turned out to be a very plain story about witches.

The main character Nor, had no development at all. She was exactly the same at the very beginning and at the end of the novel, and having in mind everything that she went through in the book, I was expecting a much more complex main character. The side characters were thrown there just so Nor could sometimes interact with them, and nothing else. I didn't care about any of them, and that was a major let down for me.

The romance was very weird and happened a bit fast. I didn't like how it was done, because I feel it didn't add anything to the story. It came basically out of nowhere, and there weren't enough interactions between both characters for a relationship to start.

The ending was anticlimactic and quite simple. It didn't have much to be with the prologue where we were told about the curse, how it worked and how it affected the two families. In some way, it did have a bit to do with that, but it all happened so fast and it was very convenient that I didn't like it.

Like I mentioned above, nothing happened throughout the entire novel. I know that magical realism stories tend to be a bit slow when it comes to the pacing, but thinking about it now, there was nothing interesting that was added to the book. It was so slow and then the end happened so suddenly that it made the whole story a bit unrealistic.

Overall, I think this novel had a very interesting premise, but apart from that, nothing was remarkable. Neither the characters nor the plot were intriguing, and it wasn't the story I was hoping to read.

*Actual rating is a 3.5*

The extra half star is for the delightful strangeness of this book. When you read a ton of YA, it can start to feel like everything has been done before. The world of <i>The Price Guide to the Occult</i> is a peculiar one, filled with purple puffs of lies, plant life with a mind of its own, and unusual family lore is wonderfully done. This was by far my favorite element of <i>Price</i> and it's wonderfully done.

While the book claims to be about a spell book, it's actually about so much more than that. Walton does a lovely job using magic to reveal truths about human nature. Nor's conflict with her mother may involve Burdens and blood magic but through it Nor grapples with how she makes sense of herself and her past.

I wish I had felt more an emotional attachment to the characters. I was intrigued by Nor and the strange people who live on Anathema Island but I never felt very invested in any of them.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the kind of book to have with a nice cup of decaf tea. It's evenly paced with wonderful descriptive writing. I love the honest witchy traits given to these characters. But honestly I like caffeine in my tea and would love to have seen a faster pace and more action in this story.

4.5 stars

The Blackburn women are cursed after the extraordinary witch Rona Blackburn landed on Anathema Island centuries ago and was shunned by the eight “original” settlers. Her ancestors have been doomed to carry on a three day romance that results in pregnancy with one of the Original Eight, and their powers have also been diluted from the curse.

Nor Blackburn just wants a quiet unremarkable life with her unexceptional powers and non-existent love life. She hopes, as the ninth, that she’ll be spared the drama. But when a mysterious book–The Price Guide to the Occult–comes out and promises to cast any spell for the right price, darkness is heading Nor’s way both in the form of her mother and the curse.

TW: Self-harm

When this says “Price Guide,” it literally means “price guide.”

Shocker, right?

I may have been a little misled because I was under the suggestion that the Prices could have been some witchy family & they wrote some book about the occult? How did I get so misled? What happened?

But, I was so pleased with the results, and even though it really was a literal price guide (like $10 for a healing spell!) I had a lot of fun with this novel.

This had all sorts of witchy goodness that was so badass, while also just having a narrative structure that was very enjoyable to me.

Unlike The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender which I found to be too tangential and too flowery, this has a much better balance in my opinion. The storyline is much more linear and it has a short prologue with the ancestor & the curse, and then the rest of it is about Nor and her adventures.

The writing style is also a lot less flowery and lyrical and a little edgier. It’s still very beautiful, but a different sort of beautiful that I really enjoyed.

I really liked Nor and although I couldn’t connect too much with her, she was enjoyable to read about and didn’t cause unnecessary drama, although she did come off as a little too martyr-like at times (throwing herself into action to save someone). This didn’t end up bothering me though, and I liked how she fit into the novel.

The plot was also really exciting and I felt really proud of myself for catching some subtle hints beforehand and it all pieced together very nicely. As a whole, this novel came off as very cohesive and its plot structure had a nice buildup, climax, and conclusion. It felt like it worked, which was really nice for me.

The self-harm aspect of the novel was very strong and very important to it, but it didn’t end up being super graphic (I personally get very uncomfortable when authors describe every detail of someone self-harming). There’s also some themes of child abuse etc. with Nor’s mother.

The romance definitely is not a huge part of this novel, but I liked seeing how Nor explored this from time to time in a sensible, non-irrational manner. With the whole “curse” idea, there was potential for all of this to go downhill, but fortunately it did not.

The one thing I wasn’t too big of a fan of was just the side characters. They ended up being very confusing for me and all the names ended up kind of blurring together. One of the things Ava Lavender did well was making all the characters very distinct, but besides Nor and her very, very close inner circle, some of the side characters got muddled for me.

Overall, this was a very fun novel to read and I definitely got more and more sucked into it as the book progressed. If you loved Ava Lavender, then I think you should definitely give it a shot. And if you didn’t love Ava Lavender, still try again because I think that this has a much better execution than Walton’s debut.

The links will go live on Saturday, 10 March 2018 & will also be shared on Twitter.

Leslye's Strange and Beautiful Sorrows book was beautiful and haunting, dark but hopeful, and oh so lovely. I had such high hopes for this novel. I mean, Greek ancestral witches throughout generations? Yes, please! An island with plant and animal life that go hostile and people start acting strange? I'm in.

Unfortunately, the writing in this book was different, and not in a good way. This didn't feel like a follow up to her debut Ava Lavender novel, this felt like a debut that needed much more polishing.

Nor is the daughter of Fern, a power-hungry witch who practices black magic, blood magic, at other people's expense. When her book The Price Guide to the Occult hits the best-seller list and people start sending away for her spells there is a price to be paid, and it's paid in blood.

Nor's mother is cruel, harsh, and dark and she's coming for Nor. Sounds great, right? I wish it had lived up to my expectations. The pacing of this book was so off. It was drawn out and then hyper rushed. The build-up was exhausting and the climax over before it began. The groundwork for the ancestry was cool but in general, the character building was lacking, severely. The love interest was underdeveloped, the best friend was cool but again it was a relationship that needed more building, and yet we didn't get it.

Fern, Nor's mother slices at Nor to use her blood to add to her own in a spell to bring back a lost love (Nor's father). This is not the first or last time that Nor is cut or exposed to pain, though. While the back of the book does offer thanks to people who shared their stories of self-harm as well as a ton of resources for those seeking help from self-harm and cutting, this book has a LOT of it.

There is not a Trigger Warning large enough for how prevalent cutting and self-harm is in this book. It's a theme in the book, not something that is an undercurrent, but rather a living breathing part of the book. Nor's desire to cut, her affinity for the pain, and the simultaneous hiding and coveting of her scars. If this is in any way triggering for you, I seriously recommend you not read this book. Also, at the end, there is mention of mass suicides, in some detail.

I don't shy away from dark books or topics but this lacks the beauty of Strange and Beautiful to offset the depressing and dark. None of these things are triggering for me and even still, it felt like too much to me. The outside of this book is stunning but sadly the inside doesn't match it.

Nor comes from a long line of Blackburns, woman who can do unexplainable things. She lives on a small island with her grandmother. When her mother begins selling a price catalogue of magical spells, it is only a matter of time before she returns to the island to torment her family once again. Nor knows these spells her mother is attempting come with a price, a sacrifice. With newfound power, Nor decides to defeat her mother once and for all, to prevent anyone else getting hurt.

The prologue is absolutely gorgeous! It opens this unique story in such a mysterious way. The introduction easily takes your breath away. Walton explains the island and some backstory before leading readers into the meat of the story. From the prologue, I came to realize two things. (1) The writing was incredibly gorgeous, almost whimsical. Having never read The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, I was pleasantly surprised to find such an enchanting story. (2) This is no cute, little witch story—no sitcom-happy Sabrina the Teenage Witch vibes. The Price Guide to the Occult is a darker witch story than I’ve ever read before.

It was such an unique story, almost bordering on strange.

Despite being such a short book, it does pack a punch. The book dives deep into the backgrounds of the witches’ family, the Blackburns. Though there is a protagonist, Nor, I didn't feel like we got to know her at all. The focus seemed to be much more on the family as a whole than the feelings of Nor Blackburn. Since there is no warming up to Nor, the sense of community—of witches and friends—are profoundly more evident. This could have been the author’s intent. However, I would have loved to gotten more juice on Nor’s romance with Reed. Since we were given so little by way of feelings, instead we guess emotions through dialogue which leaves most of Walton’s characters rather flat.

The structure of the book is rather disruptive with a lot of dream sequences interrupting the flow of the novel. Also, the passage of time is used so randomly. Walton mentions the time in passing, making readers easily miss it. One minute, it will be three days passed, and the next, five months passed. This creates, not only, confusion to how long it's been but what have the characters been doing in that length of time. Passing so much time in an only 288-page novel does nothing to help the lack of depth in any of the characters.

With such superb writing, Walton’s action is high-strung by the end of the novel. Readers will certainly be on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what the ending will bring. Walton built readers up for the war to begin and when it finally did, it was like a dam breaking. The Price Guide to the Occult leaves the ending rather open. There may be a sequel to come.

Also, there is a trigger warning for self-harm.

Overall, The Price Guide to the Occult started on such a high note but fell flat with lack of depth and character complexity. The writing was incredibly gorgeous, which makes me want to check out her other novel, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender.

*An advanced reader ebook copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

*Please note: This novel addresses abuse and self-harm issues. Be kind to yourself if you need to skip this

After an intriguing historical prologue about the protagonist's ancestor, Rona Blackburn, the story quickly creates a sleepy modern day fictional Pacific Northwest island, Anathema Island, with a community of hippies and sustainable homesteads. Nor Blackburn only wants to live an ordinary life and pass unnoticed through the world. As the 9th decedent of a witch, and a cursed magical family, Nor attempts to suppress her magical abilities. Besides her abilities, Nor deals with things that many teenagers deal with: first love, parental abandonment, and self-harm. Nor is comfortable with hum-drum life on the island until her vindictive and manipulative mother, Fern, reappears as a cultic miracle worker. Fern Blacburn sells her magic via The Price Guide to the Occult and amasses fervent followers. The story slowly builds a foreboding tone and at the climax of the book Nor confronts her viciously charismatic mother.

Reading a few Goodreads reviews, I thought this book was going to be a fantasy romance à la Caraval (which I was not a fan of). And while there is a budding romance with a local boy, Reed, I personally didn't think it overpowered the story. There's a hint of a love triangle; however, it wasn't developed so I'm not mad at it. A few things that did irk me were: every character seemed to have to have an unusual name, the island is almost fantastically diverse for a smallish Pacific Northwest town but the main character is white and heterosexual, and we never really learn about why Fern is so evil.

While Nor is almost a stereotypical angst-ridden teenager, I appreciated that Walton attempts to explain why by describing Nor's abusive childhood with Fern and intimating Nor's fear that she's like her mother. I have not read many books that feature self-harm and I appreciated how Walton dealt with it. In my opinion she didn't glorify it and she didn't gloss over it. Rather it was a part of the story and we see Nor struggle with the urge to harm herself after difficult parts of the book. Since I haven't dealt with this mental health issue in my own life I can't presume to know if this is portrayed accurately but it seems from the writing and the author's acknowledgements she researched it and provided resources for anyone dealing with thoughts and/or actions of self-harm.

I found Fern Blackburn to be completely abhorrent. I loved how Fern is portrayed as an insidious charismatic leader. If an evil witch was going to sell spells and do speaker circuits I would think they would behave just like Fern. I actually chuckled that Fern's book exploded in popularity after a YouTuber vouched for it. As a blogger and consumer of Instagram and YouTube it honestly added a touch of authenticity to me, thinking "yep, that would totally happen" (lol). Despite, Fern being a great villain she did feel a bit flat because I could quite wrap my head around why she was evil or what caused her to be so vicious.

The first half of the book is a tad slow but the pace quickly picks up during the second half. Additionally, the epilogue leaves room for a sequel so we'll see if that manifests! The conclusion of the action clearly leads to ominous consequences that leave you with a cliffhanger. I would definitely continue reading this series if more books are announced.