I really didn't get into this. After reading other reviews I thought it would be a good book to read but most of it did nothing. I was hoping to be laughing but I didn't. I found the characters to be weird and they didn't really connect well. Although it got really interesting in the end and I couldn't put it down for the last 25%. I really wanted to like it but I just couldn't get it. I have re-read the reviews and wonder if I have read the same book. There were good parts but not enough.

Adam and Ophelia, ego driven,he with a wandering eye and she with a eye on tomorrow. Ophelia fed up with one too many dalliances leaves and advances on their daughter to take her home. A home she did not know exsisted. Here is a story that is delightful in its characters, who in turn are quirky and magical. Sandra learns that she is very like her mother who can manipulate her hidden talents to her advantage, but only on her time table. A fun read.

I love a paranormal book and this was different, in a good way. It was fun and I didn’t want it to stop. All of the eccentric characters were funny and annoying just like any family and so much yet to be understood about all of theirs different gifts and abilities and I love that only the women have the gift. I hope that Serenissima does decide to explore that part of herself and there are more books.

If I had to sum up Witch Dust by Marilyn Messick it would be, "Family drama, drama, drama with a side of paranormal." 

Serenissma aka Sandra, our MC, has always been in the shadow of her performer parents and their temperments but when things take a turn for the worst, Sandra learns there's no place like home. Never mind the fact that Sandra didn't know this home existed, far less for its occupants who call themselves "family". 

As she navigates this new challenge of adapting to her newfound family and their idiosyncrasies while trying to salvage their livelihood, Sandra learns some shocking revelations that turn her world upside down. 

Witch Dust is very "different" and as such may not be for every reader out there. The humor is witty and oozing with sarcasm that somehow works. Each kooky character possesses their own eccentricities that somehow cohesively work together without feeling disjointed. While all the characters certainly march to the beat of their own drums, they each add a certain depth and flair to the overall story that was quite enjoyable. 

Thank you to Marilyn Messick, Books Go Social, and NetGalley for providing me with an arc for this book. All views and opinions expressed above are my own.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review of the story.

This book is not what I expected.  It is full of twists with in-your-face characters you will champion, hate or wish they'd just go away - this is a family with secrets and feuds.

Think Gypsy Rose Lee as an unwilling party to magic, show business and sorting out sometimes hilarious shenanigans of family you don't really know

DNF at 30%
I absolutely love witches and a bit of the absurd so I thought I was going to love this. To be sure, I didn't hate what I've read of it, the characters were crazy but in a good sense and well rounded. However, significant editing would do this book a world of good. 
The first scene immediately gets interrupted with a flashback infodump that goes on through 6 chapters. Which is entirely bonkers and unnecessary. We basically get a rundown of the heroine's life and her relationship with her parents in minute detail. The rest doesn't show much improvement in that regard. Infodumps and long-winded descriptions fill the pages, overcrowded with adjectives. Even though I was interested in the premise, I found myself skimming the text more and more, until I eventually gave up. I'm sad because this could have been tons of fun but the writing just completely turned me off.

Book 42 of my 2020 Reading Challenge
read from May 15 - June 4

Note: I read an ARC provided by NetGalley (full disclaimer in my review)


Witch Dust
by Marilyn Messik

Summary (via Goodreads)
published 2020

For Sandra, daughter of illusionists, Adam and Ophelia, life’s never been run of the mill! But when Adam’s wandering eye lights on yet another conquest, it proves a chorus girl too far, and Sandra’s caught in the reverberations of her parents acrimonious parting. Coerced into restoring her depressed Mother to the bosom of a family Sandra never knew existed, she’s sucked into a situation that even for her is unnerving.
From being without a single relative, she suddenly acquires several she’d rather do without, and learns a few home truths she’d prefer not to know. Ophelia, it appears, has not been entirely honest about any number of things. There’s no doubt in Sandra’s mind, the sooner she puts as much distance as possible between herself, her newly discovered nearest and dearest, their peculiar tendencies and their failing hotel business, the happier she’s going to be.
Dire straits call for desperate measures and Sandra reluctantly rises to the occasion. A hanged housemaid, a fly-on-the-wall documentary, The Psychic Society and a quasi co-operative journalist all handled correctly should, she reckons, get the family business up and running, which will allow her to do the same – as fast as she can, and in the opposite direction. Things unfortunately move swiftly from bad to farce and then get a hell of a lot darker. One moment Sandra’s struggling to save the family’s income, the next, she’s battling to save their lives.

My Opinion
4 stars

**I received an electronic copy of this book via NetGalley and would like to thank the author and/or publisher for the opportunity to read and honestly review it**

There was an interesting disclaimer at the beginning of the book that I'd never seen before.  Along with the usual 'work of fiction, any resemblance to people coincidental' stuff, it said, "The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any techniques as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly."  It definitely piqued my interest to see what kind of spells I'd be reading about!

The narrator had a philosophy of not asking questions about things.  When it first started to appear as she talked about her childhood, ignoring anything that might have led her to her family discovery earlier, I questioned the lack of details and wondered if it was going to lead to half-baked storytelling.  Then as the story went on the narrator specifically addressed this characteristic of hers so it cleared it up for me that it was a choice of the author for plot and not for writing style.  I still didn't like it at times, such as when the ending was wrapped up in a description to her after the fact (the character had a reason for hazy memories but I still don't love that plot device when authors do it), but overall it worked for the story.

I would continue reading about this family, especially now that the basic secrets are out of the way and it could be more about the adventures.

Witch Dust was a light, quick read that made for a great "break" from the genres I normally stick to.  

Sandra grew up on the road with her parents' illusionist act.  Having thought she understood "weird" from her less than common upbringing, Sandra was in for even more of a surprise when her mother sprung a surprise visit to the family hotel on her.  Focused on saving the family's failing business, Sandra taps into far more than a business plan with the quirky family members her mother had kept a secret her entire life.

How fun this book was! I got into it a little apprehensively but man was I pleasantly surprised! The story starts off with the introduction of Sandra, daughter of famous illusionists Adam and Ophelia, two artists who never really were there for their daughter. Sandra therefore learned to be independent from an early age. Then Adam starts entertaining an extra-curricular romantic relationship with young Sacha and angry Ophelia walks out the door and takes her daughter for a visit to her side of the family whom Sandra did not know, let alone knew existed. That's where all the fun begins.

The book had a Addams Family feels to it. All characters were endearing despite their quirkiness, and I loved the message behind the book. Sandra said, "You choose your friends, but you're stuck with family. Well, like it or not, this was my family --mad as a box of frogs." It encapsulates the main theme: family is family; we stay together through hugs and fights, and together we are stronger. Family is part of our identity, whether we like it or not. Sandra is who she is and she will have to accept it and learn to live with it. 

My favorite characters was Etta Goodkind, the great grandmother. I loved her iciness, her smarts, her strength, and her matriarchal status. She is the kind of person who doesn't speak much, but when she does you listen. 

I will definitely be on the lookout for #2 as I cannot wait to see what is next for Sandra and Ophie.

Thank you Net Galley and Satin Publishing for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a quirky, fun read. Very original and a fast-flowing book, it was so easy to get into that I had a hard time putting it down. The characters are unique with so many eccentricities. What a fun and funny bunch.

Poor Sandra, all she's wanted for her whole life was normalcy. Alas, a zinger gets thrown in and she's left to deal with her crazy relatives on her mother's side, with a failing business to help sort out. To make matters worse, there's something going on between her parents. And that isn't even dealing with the magical things that are transpiring. To say that life is far from normal is an understatement.

Thank goodness for Murray. The one steadfast, loyal and enduring presence in her life. A no-nonsense, kind person. We all need a Murray.

What a wonderfully written book. It's so different from my norm, but brilliant just the same. I totally recommend it.

I would like to thank Marilyn Messik, BooksGoSocial and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book has beautiful prose and interesting characters. The plot, family-oriented, was not what I wanted from a book at that point in time and I find myself a little bored, but who is looking for a tale of interesting families and family dynamic, this is the book for you.

A delightful new to me author whose voice had me rolling with laughter as she introduces us to her long suffering heroine, Sandra, who is forced into a variety of roles and situations by her narcissistic parents. Falling somewhere in between paranormal and crime fiction, Sandra is a young woman whose need for normality is thwarted by her drama driven mother as she finds herself thrust into her destiny as a magical being. Add in a failing business, extremely dysfunctional relatives,  and a possible hit against her and you have a definite outlier worth checking out.

Fun, quick read full of quirky and amusing characters.  A little slow to start, probably because Messik did a lot of backfilling.  I'll certainly read the future books in the series.

Thank to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for me to review.

Sandra has parents that are magician and assistant but do they use real magic or deception? And if real which one? Or both? Sandra has been lied to and found out about a family she did not even know existed. She drives her mum there and that is when the real mysteries begin. This is a must read for anyone who likes things that go bump in the night. Recommend this book

This is a really good fun book.  I laughed out loud in places.  The magician and his wife/partner are as over the top as could be and everyone else takes their character to its extreme.

Loved it.  More please.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read an advancee review copy of the book.  This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book! I really enjoyed this story! It was a fun, light read, and also had some laughs. I enjoy anything witchy and anything paranormal so this was a great book for me. Overall, I gave it 4 stars because it was super enjoyable, I would love to read more in the future.

Everything about this book is quirky. The characters and storyline are interesting. I can actually see this as a movie. Definitely an enjoyable read.

Billed as a 'paranormal comedy thriller' I think this would work better on the screen, following a good edit. The comedy element came from the fact that Sandra is willfully ignoring the fact that her family have supernatural abilities, and this just didn't work well on the page. I'm not sure if that was because I couldn't really relate to Sandra or her family, or because there were large passages of the book that were quite slow going. Towards the end, when Sandra admitted that there is something uncanny about her family, and that it might not only be the finances she needs to save, but actual lives, the pace picks up and I enjoyed the book a lot more. 

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the copy in return for an honest review.

Witch Dust is a very fun and quick read. It’s quirky and filled with eccentric characters and happenings. Sandra, our protagonist and first person narrator, is dragged to meet a family she didn’t know existed when her mother becomes fed up with her father’s latest affair. While discovering that her new extended family is a bit more than she expected, Sandra is somehow wrangled into helping with the struggling family business. What she refuses to acknowledge is that the work she is doing is attracting the attention of something dangerous.

I thought Sandra was such a fantastic character - she’s so consistently head strong and stubborn throughout the novel. She’s also clever, impulsive, and competent. It was so fun to see her keep all these traits while working through her denial of what her family really is. The supporting cast of characters are all equally fun, and made up of unique individuals. How I’d love to be a fly on the wall in a room full of them.

The only thing I found I didn’t like about Witch Dust was the fairly long introduction to Sandra’s parents and the first few years of her life. I’m not sure how this could have been done differently, but it meant it took a bit more effort to get into. The pay-off was definitely worth it, though.

For those who like (mostly) light-hearted paranormal reading, with fun and strong characters, this is doubtless a novel to enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

There is a really long and chatty blurb – so my advice would be to skip it, as it reveals far too much that this accomplished author tells you in her own time, within the story. And that would be a real shame, because this is a little gem. I thoroughly enjoyed the first-person viewpoint of Sandra, whose odd upbringing has equipped her with superb organising skills, a hatred of muddle and a real sense of entitlement. That last one isn’t a bad thing – she has been brought up with two showbiz parents, both with egos the size of a planet, so she had two ways to go, either be cowed into permanent submission, or come back with an ego of her own. Which still is a whole lot more attractive than either of her parents, whom I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. The fact that she talks about them with exasperated affection says a lot for her inherent niceness, I think.

I very much appreciated the humorous thread running through this one – Sandra makes an amusing narrator, with her enjoyable descriptions. I also liked the fact that when it got dangerous and a whole lot darker – which it does – she neither becomes Supergirl, or collapses in a whimpering heap. In fact, she copes with discovering exactly what her family is and what they can do impressively well, and I appreciated that Messik took pains to set up a premise where it didn’t take a quarter of the book before Sandra accepted the weirdness that was unfolding around her.

And weird it certainly is… Sandra’s family is eccentric to the extent that she decides that marketing some of that oddness to build up the fortunes of the family hotel seems like the way to go. But it also draws down some seriously unwelcome interest and alongside the farcical humour, something a lot darker emerges. It’s very well done – never too much, but there were some genuinely creepy moments. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read, taking some familiar tropes and putting a pleasingly original spin on them. The ebook arc copy of Witch Dust was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest opinion of the book.
9/10