If you love witches or Salem this is the book for you! I love how the story takes a well-known setting and witches in turns it into a very interesting and new story set during the same time, almost like a modern fairytale. This is one of those books that will sweep you away and make you think you’re somewhere else while you’re reading it.

I really enjoyed the book. It was so fun and entertaining and loved everything about it! The setting was great, though I am a bit biased because I adore Salem, MA. The setting adds to the atmosphere of the book and the bookshop fits in perfectly in this world the author has created. The characters are like-able and I loved the idea of traveling to different worlds via books. I think this book will appeal to YA readers and adult readers alike, and I cannot wait to read more about this world and cannot wait for more books in this series.

This is a tale of a street of shops that are cursed. If Sarah, the owner leaves the area around the street she will be whisked away to Farwin an enchanted land. Her teen nephew is going to visit for the summer and when he unleashes the curse he falls into a coma. Sarah and her friends must go to Farwin to save him. Fans of Harry Potter will enjoy and I think teen readers will especially find the story appealing. It's a fun read with no sex or murders. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you to BHC Press and NetGalley. This was an enchanting tale of modern day witches in Salem and how witchcraft is celebrated. I enjoyed the humor and the characters as well. The bookshop with the secret curse is a really cool touch to the story!

The Weeping Books Of Blinney Lane is the first book in a cross realms fantasy/cozy/light romance series by Drea Damara. Released 27th Sept 2018 by BHC, it's 400 pages and available in hardback, paperback, ebook, and audio formats.

I absolutely love the genre. The world building and setup are intriguing and this could be a solid start to a wonderful series. For me it failed to live up to the premise. The characters are two dimensional and especially in the case of Ricky (the annoyingly surly teen-aged nephew) ridiculously vexing. The characters refuse to communicate with one another in any meaningful way and just stampede from one crisis to the next.

The language is a little rough (mostly to show how nasty the curse they're living under can be). When they use bad language, the curse causes physical manifestations like burning and blistering and welts to appear on their bodies. I found myself wishing that main character Sarah was a lot less damsel in distress and didn't need to be saved by muscular attractive men quite so often. She's apparently been living under this curse for more than a decade and never questioned that her ancestors (and she herself) could literally write other realms into existence. The blacksmith can create magic swords willy-nilly. The author has a lot of fun creating fauna in the fantasy realm such as stroomphblutels, wickrits, roomples, tierumpts, and mucka amongst others. TWBoBL is written in an alternating third person omniscient point of view which works well for the constantly shifting primary PoV. The changes are clearly delineated and don't cause any confusion, however.....

There were so many instances in the book where new information was just tossed in deus-ex-machina style. There was a fair bit of narrative padding; scenes are developed without ever being mentioned again and I spent most of the book with reader's whiplash. The prose is often so very purple that it was somewhat painful to read. Happily, the later eARC and release versions of the book have apparently been well edited because my version did not contain most of the 'creepy' issues mentioned by other reviewers.

There is a lot of potential here. The author is clearly very creative and the worlds and premises in the book are imaginative and intriguing. I really wish I could've liked the characters more.

Three stars. Would probably work best for YA/NA fantasy readers. There are some potential trigger issues (wrist injuries and skin cuts/welts are one of the manifestations of the curse in the book, as well as near death experiences by drowning being the method to cross back into the 'real' world).

Couldn't get into this. No review, sorry. Couldn't get into this. No review, sorry. Couldn't get into this. No review, sorry.

The story took a bit of time to get going and it was difficult to become invested but I became more involved as it progressed.
I had some difficulty with the character perspective switches mid-scene. It became a bit confusing as to whose eyes I was seeing through.
The author’s descriptive language was rich and powerful, and the world-building grew more satisfying about 40-50% in.

A fun quick book that takes you to a place of books and mysterious happenings. I like that it would appeal to a wide range of genres.

I was fascinated with the title an description before I even read it.
After reading I got fascinated with this book even more.
I loved how the author connected the plot in a way that all completes the story well at the end.
If you like witchcraft and magic elements.
This book is for you!
I can't wait for book two published in April 2019!

This is a good book, entertaining and well written.
At the beginning i had some problems in understanding the world building as it gives you just some hints of what is going on and I was a bit slow.
Once you start to understand the plot and the world building it's a pleasant and engaging book that never bores.
i appreciated the cast of characters and the world building.
Unfortunately I wasn't in the mood to appreciate it as it is due but I will surely re-read it and look forward to reading other books by this author.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this arc, all opinions are mine.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved the world that Drea Damara built in her book "The Weeping Books of Blinney Lane". The idea and concept of being able to enter the books that we love and interact with the characters and setting within them is something that every book lover dream of. I could predict what would happen in the story based off of clues the author left and really enjoyed reading about Sarah's adventures in childhood and the growth she experiences in adulthood.

At times it felt like we were getting too many character perspectives. The narrator would jump between characters, sometimes mid-scene, in order to give the reader the full advantage of what each person was thinking and feeling but there is something to be said about being left in the dark at times. I didn't feel that we needed the perspective of anyone other than Ricky or Sarah. And while I liked the idea of the curse binding families to Blinney Lane it felt that the author left it undone. Would the characters try to break the curse? Is it possible to break in the first place? Are they just going to continue being bound to it and letting future generations stay bound to it? The ending felt incomplete without answering these questions although maybe Damara is planning a sequel that will answer these questions.

Overall 4/5 as I still had lingering questions and sometimes felt overwhelmed with both the curse and the idea of world traveling.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of The Weeping Books of Blinney Lane. I loved this book - couldn't put it down! There is so much to like on many levels. There's an ancient curse, traveling to a different fictional world through a book...This is also a gentle story about young romance giving way to a more mature love.

I can't wait to see more of Blinney Lane. And travel into more weeping books. I recommend this to everyone who loves to read!

The Weeping Books of Blinney Lane is a fun easy read. The main character owns a bookshop with a secret curse. She has to make sure the curse remains a secret. It's a charming story with a little mystery and a little romance. Overall, it's a good cozy mystery. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

In Salem, Massachusetts, magic and witchcraft are celebrated in the 21st century, and that’s a good thing for Sarah Allister, who owns a bookshop where a highly unusual phenomenon occurs every day. While Sarah looks after her shop and dreams of a romance with a local deliveryman; her nephew, Ricky, with Sarah on summer holiday, begins to look into the mysterious happenings at the shop. This is a fun little magical cozy that will appeal to adults as well as the YA set