Beautiful, contemplative, deep and hopeful. Black Candle Women is an exceptional love story of the ties that bind us - family, acceptance, real life emotions, angst and second chances. Outstanding.

This is a multigenerational book about four women and their relationships with each other. It also involves hoodoo and a family curse. I thought there would be more use of magic in the story and it was slow for me. I would recommend the book to someone who enjoys family drama.

I LOVED IT SO SO MUCH. magic? A cursed family tree? Badass women? this was an adventure start to finish and it was my pleasure to read, honestly.
recommended<3

First off, this cover is gorgeous and I can’t stop staring at it. Second off, I love books that delve into generational things - whether that be curses or just an analysis of the family unit, and this book delivered on both accounts. I didn’t get that “unputdownable” feeling like I thought I was going to have with this story, but it was still a great read.

This multigenerational novel explores hoodoo and magic. While, in theory, I enjoy looking at the relationship between women, this book didn't do it for me. The pacing was slower and frequently relied on miscommunication for tension between the characters. While yes, keeping secrets and poor communication is typically the heart of most complicated and failing relationships, this was a little too heavy-handed. It didn't feel like there were a lot of consequences or even appealing, fun moments that would require lying, to begin with. I was a little disappointed with this one.

I suppose I expected more from this! Everyone did what they thought they needed to do was the best! It makes sense as a family but also like idk communicate! This maybe one of those books that may do well when adapted into a screenplay bc there's a lot going on! Overall a bit indifferent but intrigued.

Thank you Netgalley

QUICK TAKE: excellent multigenerational family drama with a touch of magic. I thought the author did a nice job with complex, nuanced female characters and I feel like I could read many more stories set in this world.

I enjoyed this book. A family story between four generations written from all points of view as they deal with a generational curse. The writing is good, the storylines and characters are interesting and work well together to get the story across for the reader.

Decent read. Was a little tough to follow initially as world building began. Eventually tapers off to a good pace and good story.

I really enjoyed this family orientated book. What made me request this book was the beautiful cover. The Montrose women kept their secret real good until Nickie was unaware of this secret. It was kind of funny trying to hide the curse and Nickie just wanted to be loved.

A delightful and fresh (for me) look into a quasi-bicoastal Southern CA / New Orleans experience of the Montrose women, as their multiple-generational household deals with the consequences of a dark legacy that the women of their family bear.

This book was lovely. It was a family story between four generations and it unfolded from all their points of view. This family was messy and I really appreciated that. It made everything feel fraught.

When I read the title and synopsis, I was so excited to get to it. This book has so much potential and I wanted to love it, but I found it to be just fine. I had to keep stopping and starting it because it was a slow burn. It really engrossed me in at first but after a while, I forced myself to push through because I was getting lost. The plot was unique and the women were well crafted, but after a while it started to feel flat. I still give it 3 stars because it was an enjoyable listen. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book had soooo much potential and the synopsis had my name written all over it. I gravitated to this book because it had everything I love and I wanted to love it so bad, but I think it was just fine. I can definitely see this as a show though, and would absolutely watch.

It really sucked me in at first but after a while I got a little lost. The plot was unique and the women were well crafted, but after a while it started to feel flat. There was a lot of miscommunication that irritated me and some things just never connected. I think with another edit this one could've been a 5 star, but something about it just turned me off. I still gave it 3 stars because it was an enjoyable read, but after reflecting on it, I found a few flaws.

A generational, multi-perspective story of conjure women, the Montrose women all have stories of their bouts with a deep family curse, hidden from 17 year old Nickie, and a dark cloud hovering over sisters Victoria and Willow and their mother Augusta. Augusta betrays a woman, Bella Nova, that leads to a family curse, and she keeps the circumstances secret with disastrous results. On the onset, the reader knows that sisters Victoria and Willow have a successful therapy practice in California, but they have roots in New Orleans. Their hoodoo practices shape everything in their lives, especially their relationships with men or lack thereof. As the story evolves, dark family secrets, betrayals, and jealousies come to the surface and prove to disrupt and destroy the bonds of family.

What I had trouble with in this book was how the threat of a curse that killed men that the Montrose women loved evolved into reckless uses of hoodoo among feuding sisters. Is the curse real? Is the hoodoo real? Is the gift real between the Montrose women? The writing of the story is a bit muddled with what is true and what is superstition, and while the characters are working through their jealousy and secrets, the reader is left to figure out the puzzle. As young Nickie is still trying to discover who she is as a Montrose, she is also trying to understand love and relationships, which leads her to messing around with the Montrose spell book on her crush, Felix. Revenge oils. Doctored spells. A laundry list of dead men. A lot interesting plot points, but the story looses a bit in the delivery.

Essentially, the book is really about the drama between Victoria and Willow and how Willow’s ex Jimmy dumped her for her sister and got her pregnant, with Nickie. A few spells from the book and either a conjure women killed him or the curse. Suddenly, there’s a mysterious letter from nan Augusta, and Nickie is a runaway. Nickie getting caught in between all the family secrets seems a casualty of an overly ambitious plot. The resolution of the book doesn’t quite deliver with the number of characters and twisting plot lines

I really liked this story of how a magical curse can affect generations of one family. The writing is well done and it's not difficult to follow the storylines of all four main characters. I rooted for every last one of them when I was reading from their perspective. I wished the storylines between the past and the present were incorporated a little bit easier. Otherwise, Black Candle Women was a phenomenal story of the resilience of Black women and our capacity to love our families and our lovers.

Generations of Montrose women have lived together in their bungalow in California for years. They keep to themselves, never venture far from home, and their collection of tinctures and spells is an unspoken bond between them.But when 17yrs Nickie Montrose brings home a boy for the first time, their quiet lives are thrown into disarray. For the other women have been withholding a secret from Nickie that will end her relationship before it’s even begun: the decades-old family curse that any person they fall in love with dies

Definitely a wonderful one and a great debut to read from this author. And I like the writing and the characters here for this one.

Definitely have mixed feelings about this story. The story has mad potential and would be great if adapted to TV. I loved the spells and the history of voodoo and the details that went into the curse of the women. this is where I fee like I wanted more description and fleshed out parts. the story sometimes felt disjointed

4/5
Diane Marie Brown did an amazing job with her debut novel! The writing style drew me in and kept me. The novel is told from the point of view of several Montrose women, one of which is nonverbal. Brown expertly navigated these views while cycling through past and present. Each character is loved but flawed, I found myself encouraging them to tell their truths just as I would my friend, aunt, or mother. In the settings when all women are together, I was reminded of the laughter and banter back and forth with my own family during the holidays. Included is a music playlist and book club questions that would definitely provoke good conversation. The book involves hoodoo but the storyline becomes more than that so I would not consider it Fantasy or SciFi. The major themes are actually motherhood and forgiveness.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #NetGalley #blackcandlewomen