While I had fun with this read, it isn't anything to special. I love witchy stories and this book did a good job with that topic. The characters were all interesting and had me rooting for them. There were some loose ends that weren't really tied up in the end that I didn't really like. And in some places the writing was a little choppy. Overall I thought this was a enjoyable read and I'd be happy to recommend it to my fellow witch/supernatural lovers.

This YA book has everything a magical, witchy book should have--magic (duh), strong female characters, female friendships, generational lines and support, healers, herbs and plants and spells, some questionable characters and a perfect setting (PNW) for it all to take place. I'm always intrigued by a story line where generations of strong females hold each other up from generation to generation (think Practical Magic) and this book did not disappoint.

Overall, I enjoyed The Price Guide to the Occult and the plot moved along nicely. Although it is clearly a YA novel, there were times that I forgot and was just engrossed in the plot, characters and what is going to happen next. If you're into magic and witches-you're going to love this book! Thank you for the opportunity to review this book!

Despite not having read The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, I had heard so much praise for the author's masterful, whimsical, atmospheric prose that I was greatly looking forward to this read. I've been on the lookout for good witch stories, but it was the "occult" which really hooked me. Unfortunately, this book just didn't captivate me the way I had hoped it would. I found the writing clumsy, the dialogue awkward, the character development abrupt and nonsensical, and the book so overwritten it was hard to follow. I thought there were some great, really great, moments, and the concept was fantastic, but I just didn't feel for this novel what I wanted to.

My first problem, and my biggest problem, was the use of Nor's self-harm as a plot device. It came off as disrespectful and ignorant due to the obvious lack of research and development. done. When handling a topic so serious and one potentially triggering for your readers, it needs to be done with deftness and maturity - it needs to be well understood. Instead, it was handled in a melodramatic and unrealistic fashion. Furthermore, it was clearly intended to be a major part of Nor's character development - but that "development" was more an abrupt change than anything else, and therefore struck me as disingenuous. In part, this was due to the time jump - one I found completely unnecessary. It interrupted the flow of the writing for no apparent reason, and changed nothing about the unraveling of the plot. It was more of a detriment than anything else, and the awkward attempts at integration disrupted the flow of the writing immensely. 

I was also greatly disappointed and underwhelmed by the romance. It was not developed at all, and I would have much preferred to see an enemies-to-lovers situation going on with Gage than anything else. And even when she did make a move on Gage, it made no sense! Really, it was Gage (and Savvy, whom I adored) who I would've liked to see explored and developed further. They were by far the most interesting and intriguing characters, and deserved way more time than they got.

Overall, this book was wildly underdeveloped. Despite loving the ending and the fantastic use of imagery on display, the narrative seemed to lack clear direction. I never felt fully engaged until the last 50 pages or so, but it did hold my attention and my thoughts despite not being a really great read for me. When it was good, it was great. But ultimately, it's weaknesses outnumbered its strengths.

Off the coast of Washington there is an small island and witches live there. A small town's worth of other people also live there but the witches are really the important bit. Well, semi-witches is probably the more accurate descriptor for the last 8 generations of Blackburn women. For hundreds of years this family of witches were powerful but good peeps overall. Unfortunately humans beings aren't known for their high tolerance for magical entities real or imagined. This lead to a many generations of witches being forced to constantly move when their neighbors tolerance levels peaked. So eventually one of these witches, Rona Blackburn, decides she's going to set up a life on a little remote Island where there's not even a dozen other inhabitants. Remote locale hermit lifestyle , all should be good and safe for Rona the witch. Yeah, not so much. Some 18th century drama goes down, there's fires set, babies are born, it's not good. So Rona, sick of all the problems her magic has brought to her life decides she's going to try and bind her powers and keep all the future generations of her family safe from what she's suffered. What results is more like a cruse than a protection and it is passed along to each generations Blackburn woman and then on to her one daughter and so on. Eight generations later our story begins with, Nor, who's chillin, living her life, when one a book arrives at the town psychic shop where she works. A book of available spells, incantation pricing, and an order form. A book of Blackburns spells that have been and should still be unusable due to the Blackburn biding curse. Only it appears Blackburn #8, Nor's mother, has found a way to achieve what ought not be achieved. Also, she's like a supermodel channeling her inner Charles Manson. This is not the best combo and pretty much all hell starts breaking loose from this point on. Good times!


I honestly enjoyed this read. It was a quick fun read that I devoured in pretty much one sitting and that says a lot for a book. I'm ADD to the extreme and this a chronic book jumper. This novel kept my attention firmly in place. It brought to mind books like L.J. Smith's Secret Circle trilogy, and Lana Popovic's Wicked like a Wildfire. I think this book be a pretty good matchup for anyone who has read and enjoyed those stories. I believe this book should be available to the public on March 13, 2018.

When the original eight began to colonize Anathema Island, they were not prepared for Rona Blackburn, an eccentric healer and witch, to claim her stake in the land. An injury brings one of the men to Rona's door resulting in a brief but passionate affair. Rona becomes pregnant but the man's fear and guilt leads to the men burning her out of her home in hopes of her leaving the island. Rona places a curse on the settlers, inadvertently afflicting the lineage of all of the families on the island.
Present day- Nor Blackburn is the ninth witch in the Blackburn line but all she wants is to be a typical teenager living an uneventful and ordinary life. Nor tries to not use her powers, stay away from love, and remain as invisible as possible in hopes of avoiding the curse. Unfortunately, fate has other plans when a mysterious book titled "The Price Guide to the Occult" appears on the island. Nor will have to face her fears and learn to accept herself to prepare for the evil that is coming for her.

I'm giving all the stars to this novel...and would give it more if it were an option. As much as I enjoyed The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, this is definitely my new favorite. I loved everything about this story and the charming and eccentric characters that are introduced. I devoured this novel and did not want it to end. I really hope that the author plans to write more books about the Blackburn women and the residents of Anathema Island. I finished this novel and immediately pre-ordered a copy for my library...that's how much I loved it. I will say that there is some material including self-harm that readers may want to be aware of prior to reading. The author provides several links to websites and resources in the back for anyone who needs them. Overall this novel was beautifully written and is already on my list of favorite reads for 2018.

I loved The Price Guide to the Occult because it had everything I wanted in a book about witches; strong female friendships and support networks, characters that felt detailed and fully fledged, witches that were more than just their powers, and a beautifully written setting. I wanted to lose myself in the island and it's community. Anathema was the best part of the book.

I loved Nor and her best friend Savvy and how supportive she was, though she did fall prey to being 'the best friend' that didn't really have much of a storyline beyond supporting Nor. Nor's family and the details about all the Blackburn daughters and the residents on the island really made the book for me too and gave it a sense of reality and community.

The magical element of the book was really interesting and while a bit vague it was understandable given the plot. There was a hint of magic in the wider world but I would have liked more of a sense of whether there were other witches out there, and given the ending I would think that there's scope for more in this regard. I also would have liked to find out about how the island and the community recovered after the ending of the book.

One negative about the book however was how triggering it was and I think it's important to mention for the benefit of other readers that self harm is mentioned a lot in this book. I appreciated it's inclusion in the book as it felt like a natural reaction for Nor to have given what she went through, and I don't often come across it in novels so it was good to see it represented with a focus on recovery. I liked the addition of helplines and contact numbers at the back of the book but felt that was a bit late as if somebody was triggered they may not get to the end of the book.

Additionally, the plot had a lot of time skips and I sometimes found it difficult to follow because of this. I felt the romance was sidelined by the plot - which is what I prefer - but that because of this some elements of the romance felt unnecessary.

However I was really drawn in by the characters, the setting and the story. Overall, I give The Price Guide to the Occult 4.5 stars. I immediately wanted to reread it as soon as I finished because I wanted to immerse myself in the world again, and while I don't know if a sequel would work I want one nonetheless.

A few years ago, a read a very strange and very beautiful book aptly-named The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender. It took me completely by surprise and stole my heart with its gorgeous writing, memorable characters, and rich atmosphere that made everything so damn emotional even when nothing much was happening. I have long awaited another book by the author but - and I feel so sad about this - The Price Guide to the Occult just didn't get to me in the same way. Or at all.

It is difficult to explain what was so great about Ava Lavendar, which is why my review is basically a rambling, incoherent stream of emotion. With gifs. But I do think it gets the amount of weirdness just right, and the prose is beautiful without being too purple.

The Price Guide to the Occult was just strange where Ava Lavendar was beautifully strange. This book is so overwritten in parts that I struggled to follow what was going on, which made for an incredibly boring read. Despite being harder to follow, it actually lacked the character complexity, and overall maturity of the author's first book. Not to mention the charm.

Ava Lavendar was unlike anything I'd ever read before, whereas this book feels more like a standard YA paranormal romance with witches. The protagonist, Nor, is obsessed with a boy called Reed, and the book's ending feels like a set up for possible sequels, as well as a possible love triangle.

The prologue is by far the book's strongest moment. In fact, it gave me a lot of hope that this could be a book I would love as much as the author's first. It feels more true to the author's style, or what I perceive to be the author's style based on her previous work: dramatic, whimsical, atmospheric and with a touch of non-graphic sex. And then - speculating here - it feels like an editing team swooped in and was like "nuh-uh, we need to be able to market this; more crushes and spells, please".

Then it becomes boring. After the dramatic backdrop has been put into place, we find ourselves inside the head of Nor Blackburn, the latest in a long line of cursed Blackburn women. She wants to keep to herself, hang with her friends, crush on Reed, and be as inconspicuous as possible, but her mother, Fern, is making that difficult. Fern publishes "The Price Guide to the Occult" - a literal price guide for spells - and starts selling said spells and causing havoc. Looks like Nor's going to have to get her hands dirty.

There's still many examples of beautiful writing here, but I was bored out of my mind in parts. It takes a hell of a long time to work its way up to the Fern drama, and Nor is not interesting or exciting enough a protagonist to hold the story up in the meantime. For at least half the book, it is hard to make sense of what we’re supposed to care about. The romance? Sorry, wasn't enough for me.

I'm sure I will still be tempted to try out future books by Walton, but I'll pass on the likely sequels to this one.

First off: TRIGGER WARNING for self-harm.

This young adult novel built a great world with magical realism in the Pacific Northwest. Mother/teen daughter turmoil wrapped up in a family curse? Sign me up. Unfortunately, this novel is quite slow to begin, but is well-paced after the initial hump. Add a little romantic drama and you have a solid read.

I received an ARC from NetGalley - Thank you!

I loved this book. I read it so quickly I really hope that it is the beginning of another story. As another reviewer stated - it would like to read more about the Blackburn women.

Although this does NOT read like an Alice Hoffman, as another reviewer pointed out - it is reminiscent of Hoffman's stories of American witchcraft and history. I think it also reminded me of a Hoffman book because the Blackburns were strong women with intricate family bonds.

The atmosphere and weather were almost characters in the book as well, giving me as the reader a strong sense of place and time.

I would love to see more of this series.

I loved this book! It had all the familiar elements of the genre but it was written in such a way that I didn’t get bored or impatient. I eagerly await book 2.

*I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
Walton's first novel is one of my favorite young adult novels, so I eagerly awaited this release.
I enjoyed the atmosphere of a foggy island in the Pacific Northwest. I felt like the setting had the perfect small town feel. I loved all of the witchy vibes in the book, from spells to healers to animal communication. Nor Blackburn was an excellent protagonist, with her own self-doubts and secrets. There are several mentions of self-harm as well as parental abuse, which I felt made her character more realistic. Her mother Fern was definitely a force to be reckoned with, and the way her power affected her personality was very interesting.
While I enjoyed the book, it seemed to have more of a series debut than a standalone novel. While Ava Lavender stood firmly on its own, this one has more unfinished plot lines. After reading the epilogue, I honestly thought a sequel was in the works.
While this isn't my favorite of her novels, Walton's whimsical prose tells an excellent tale of a girl trying to discover herself amidst the shadow of her family.

* 3.5 stars *

Books like this are always hard to write reviews for because it sort of hovered around the midpoint between really good and not so great for most of my read so I’m going to make a sort of pro and con list in a way to balance out those feelings.

What I enjoyed was the subtle nods to classic witch stories as featured in novels like ‘Practical Magic’, there’s nothing more interesting to read than a long line of strong women taking care of each new generation under the looming threat of a curse placed on them by their matriarch and this book tackled that trope beautifully.

The main character Nor was also unlike most characters I’ve read about whereas she didn’t go to high school, sought out social invisibility because she preferred to be alone or with the comfort of animals more and struggled with self harm. This made me more excited to see just how she would deal with the past and the present obstacles and rise to the challenges that were soon to greet her and I was not disappointed.

What I didn’t enjoy, though it was mentioned in the acknowledgments at the end with resources for those who are struggling with similar issues, was the lack of reference to self harm. With the amount of blood and depiction of the act itself in some scenes might be difficult for some readers and a little more in the beginning giving fair warning would have been nice. Although I will say I liked that that aspect of her character wasn’t fixed with magic and instead was something continuously worked through with professional methods.

I don’t know if this was supposed to be a love triangle, and for a moment I thought it was leaning that way in a sort of tug and pull between what one wants and what has been cursed upon them but at the end of the day I was underwhelmed with the entirety of the romance subplot. It didn’t help that almost all of the side characters, and there were quite a few more than once I had to go back and check because I was confusing them, lacked development to the point that it was easy to mix them up or forget them completely unless it became plot relevant.

All in all it’s an okay book. I’m guessing there’s going to be a sequel and maybe that will work out the few issues I had with the characters and romance element but it plays well with the witch mythology and as long as that holds up most people should enjoy it!

**thank you to netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review*

To backtrack a bit, I've been a huge fan of Leslye Walton's writing ever since I finished reading The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender back in January 2016. I think about that book more often than I think about any other. It holds such a special place in my heart because it introduced me to two of my favorite aspects in books: family-driven drama & magical realism.

Though I was caught up quickly in the storyline, as I mentioned above, it still took a bit of time to fully settle into the world of The Price Guide to the Occult... And then. Then we get some character dynamics introduced, from Nor's sweet and lasting encounter with a certain boy to the story of her mother's "formidable ability to manipulate the minds of those around her." And it wasn't long before I was lost in their world, repeating the same old mantra of "just one more page." Once again, Leslye Walton excels at weaving together an intricately compelling family narrative.

Full review can be found:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2116915216
Blog: https://bookspoils.wordpress.com/2018/01/09/review-the-price-guide-to-the-occult-by-leslye-walton/