Black Candle Women is a creative multi-generational drama with a bit of fantasy of thrown in. Cursed for generations, the Montrose women are finally ready to break free. The setting is vivid with dynamic characters who move the plot forward. This books is primarily about the interpersonal relationships between the women and less about the magic, so if you are not a fan of magical realism don't let this deter you!

In this book, we follow the Montrose Women who are a family living in California with New Orleans roots. Augusta is the matriarch and she lives with her granddaughters Victoria and Willow and her great-granddaughter Nikkie. We follow each of these women on their journey through life and love over the course of a few months, and the kicker is all the women are cursed and whoever falls in love with them will die.

***The breaking of generational curses, finding ones voice and not being afraid to do the unexpected truly carried this story. I hope there is a series with this family, I truly look forward to reading more. I feel like there were a few things that were left opened ended and has potential for another story. All in all I give this story a 4

The Montrose women’s magic powers come with a cost, dating back to a New Orleans voodoo shop in the 1950s. Anyone who falls in love with a Montrose woman dies. But this curse has been kept a secret from the youngest of them, 17-year-old Nickie, who brings home a boyfriend and throws the whole family into chaos.

This multi-generational family saga has some major Practical Magic vibes, and I'm so into it. It's funny and surprising and touching, and I can totally picture a fabulous TV series adaptation. Just the right amount of witchy magic, but mainly driven by its layered characters and family secrets. I fell completely in love with the Montrose women.

In this book, we follow the Montrose Women who are a family living in California with New Orleans roots. Augusta is the matriarch and she lives with her granddaughters Victoria and Willow and her great-granddaughter Nikkie. We follow each of these women on their journey through life and love over the course of a few months, and the kicker is all the women are cursed and whoever falls in love with them will die.

This book took me on a journey, it alternates between present-day California and the past in New Orleans and all women are keeping secrets in some way. At times I feel like I wanted more development from this book but overall i enjoyed the story as a whole.

I enjoyed this book. It was a little slow in the beginning but easy to get into. The characters were very believable and easy to relate to. This is not my preferred genre but I would enjoy reading more books about the subject matter and more books by this author.

3 Stars
One Liner: Interesting premise but lacking in execution

Montrose women like in a two-storied house in California. They have their pasts, secrets, and burdens, unspoken and unshared with others, even in the same household. When the youngest, Nickie, brings home a guest on her birthday, she disrupts the house in more ways than intended.
After all, the past has its roots in a voodoo shop in New Orleans’s French Quarter from the 1950s. And now, the time has come for each of them to face the truth of their lives, acknowledge their mistakes, and find a way to move on toward a better future.
Can they finally reveal their secrets and turn their house into a happy home?
The story comes in the limited third-person POV of the central characters (Augusta, Victoria, Willow, & Nickie).

What I Like:
The cover is gorgeous. I love the color scheme and the candles at the bottom.
The main characters are distinct personalities (even if their voices were hard to distinguish at times). They are flawed, make mistakes, keep secrets, and try to work things out somehow.
Augusta’s (Nana) backstory was quite interesting with good shades of grey. She also gets more space in the book (though it’s not enough).
The concept of Lanora and hoodoo magic is intriguing. I wish it was explored in detail. However, the book nails the atmosphere of the house. It is heavy, stressful, suffocating, and oppressive even when the family appears happy.
The ending is hopeful and positive. It doesn’t tie up everything but gives enough satisfaction to the readers.

What Didn’t Work for Me:
The first quarter is very slow. Though we are thrown into the action right away (after a short prologue), the story goes around in circles. It’s only after the 30% that things start to move forward.
While I don’t mind the miscommunication trope, I don’t want it all over the plot. In a way, this book wouldn’t have existed if the characters simply spoke to each other and had some sort of healthy communication. Things change around 75%.
This should have been the story of Augusta, Victoria, and Willow. Nickie would have worked better as a catalyst rather than having a complete track of her own. The additional track cut into the space required to establish the other three stories, which further diluted the plot. Nickie acting like a petulant 17-year-old doesn’t help much.
The book does have some bits of voodoo and spells, but most of them are to further the plot. I wanted more of that stuff as it forms the core of the book. There really isn’t any magical or paranormal element. Just some spells are mentioned here and there. A couple of drawings of the insides of the cookbook would have enhanced the reading experience.
The climax wasn’t as effective as it should have been. When the entire plot is so focused on that curse part, the solution almost feels anticlimactic. An attempt to make it impactful doesn’t really deliver.

To summarize, Black Candle Women has a solid foundation to build a generational drama but falls short of expectations. It has some good points though the overall impact is underwhelming.
The premise has great potential, but the book doesn’t do justice to it. This should have been a duology or trilogy where the main characters would be explored in depth to create an emotional tale of love, loss, secrets, and voodoo magic.
Thank you, NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Graydon House, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This was an entertaining intergenerational family story featuring four Black women living in New Orleans. Full of family secrets, forbidden romance, curses, magic and tons of heart. I really enjoyed this on audio narrated by Bahni Turpin too! Recommended for fans of Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman or Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review! (This cover is stunning too!!)

This story follows 4 women in the Montrose family and the secrets they are keeping from each other. I loved the spiritual voodoo/hoodoo magic elements that laid the foundation for the story. I though I was going to get more of a New Orleans feel but that was missing, except in the flashbacks and even then, it didn't feel like New Orleans. This story is told from each of the women's POV. Usually I don't care for anything more than 2 POVs but I thought it was well done here. I do wish we got more of Victoria's and Willow's story. This story does have the pesky miscommunication trope, which I loathe. I liked the elements of the flashbacks but sometimes I was confused about if I was reading a flashback or present day, it just didn't seem to flow. The story is also slow paced with the ending feeling a bit rushed with drastic character development. I can absolutely see this book being adapted for a limited series and would tune in! Overall, I enjoyed it but sometimes the story felt disjointed, which is why I gave it 3 stars.

An adventure to say the least! Black Candle Women involves legacy, heartbreak, spells, and family secrets that have the power to make or break the Montrose women. It is written from the perspective of four women- Victoria, Willow, Augusta, and Nickie. The writing is captivating and sparks interest for people who are not familiar with hoodoo! I love that this book touches on deep Louisiana culture while showcasing the complexities of generational bonds between women. The playlist at the end is such a phenomenal touch alon with the reading guide!

Thank you to NetGalley and Graydon House Books for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy of ‘Black Candle Women’ in exchange for my honest review.

The foundation for a good story is there…Lanora ascended to becoming a loa and to her daughters she passed on her gift of helping others. This book is about 4 generations of her daughters- The Montrose women and they are conjuring women who practice hoodoo. August is the first daughter of Lanora. August has one child, a daughter named Madelyn. Madelyn has 2 daughters, Victoria and Willow. And Victoria has a daughter, Nickie.
All of these women have their own unique gifts, even if they don’t realize it.

A story passed down from Augusta, known as Nanaugusta to her family, is that there is a curse that all of the daughters must carry. In this curse, anyone that any of the daughter’s love romantically will die a horrible death. As the details of the curse is passed down from mother to daughter and grandmother to grand daughters certain things are left out. Things that shouldn’t be left out.
Some of the women take the curse more seriously than others and this opens the door to confusion and also secrets that can have dire consequences.

In addition to the curse, there is also a spell book. This spell book once belonged to Augusta’s mentor, but has been in her possession for decades. I’m not really clear on where the spell book originated, but throughout its history, everyone who has studied it, has added her own magic to it- whether it be a tweak to a potion or a recipe for pralines. Even though Victoria was the next chosen daughter, she did not use the book as a tool, which struck me as odd. Instead, Willow was the one who had the book and used the spells the most.

I kept questioning how I was supposed to feel about Victoria and Willow. Victoria seemed to be made into a kind of villain and throughout a lot of the book it felt like she was constantly being gas lit.

Everyone lived in Victoria’s home, including their estranged mother that abandoned them when they were younger. Victoria was the chosen daughter which meant that she had Lanora’s gift. As far as their grandmother, NanAugust knew, Willow did not have any gifts, but she did study spells and potions. Victoria completely immersed herself into her role as A Daughter of Lanora and pledged her life to helping others. She became a therapist and practiced out of her home. She believed and prayed to the loa, giving thanks and offers accordingly. Knowing what she was told about the curse and knowing the consequences, she was over protective of her child. She did what she thought she must do based on what was passed down to her. The same information that was passed down to her sister.
Willow, unbeknownst to anyone, thought that she was the gifted one and spent a lot of time trying to prove to herself and others that she was, even if that meant undermining her sister. She also lived a more carefree life than her sister and often seemed to be the family favorite.

Each character had the potential to have their own story arc because they all had their own sets of issues and dimensions. I think the author tried to put too many plot lines into 1 book and the story just kept getting muddled. I think the structure of the novel would have been better if each one of the Montrose women had their own books or if sections of the book just told their stories separately and then came together at the end.

A curse placed upon a woman in 1950s New Orleans echoes down the generations to present day California in this tale of women, voodoo, and love. The atmospherics are good when in New Orleans, less so in California. The plot was vaguely familiar but freshened by the voodoo and the characters. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'd like to see more from Brown.

Several generations of Montrose women are suffering from a curse that prevents them from living their lives to the fullest.

I loved this book! A family with four generations of women living together, with an age old curse?? Yes please! If you fall I love, your lover dies 😱 This book was fun, full of adventure and secrets. I hate the miscommunication trope though, and this one had a lot! But overall I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and I really liked the ending. This would make a great movie!!

Read if you enjoy:
• strong women
• magic / voodoo
• generational curse
• multiple timelines
• adventure
• family drama
• New Orleans
• secrets / lies

It was fitting Ava Duvernay blurred this book because it feels like something she would adapt. It has the makings of a series with just the right sized cast of characters with varying ages. And a series would be able to expand of the plots that were introduced by not fully fleshed out. I feel like there wasn't enough balance between all the ladies. We got what we needed in Augusta's story but Victoria, Willow, and Nickie had things happen off page that weren't addressed enough on page. I just wanted it to be a little more then the author gave.

A book about four generations of women living in one house and there’s magical elements and Hoodoo?! There’s just one problem, all the women are cursed and whoever falls in love with them will die. When I first read the blurb about this book I knew I wanted to read it and have you seen the cover?! It being set in New Orleans was just bonus points lol Black Candle Women took me on a journey and it was definitely stressful at times. It alternates between present day California and the past in New Orleans. All of the women kept secrets, lied, snuck around and I feel like all of that could’ve been avoided with a simple conversation. However, uncovering all of the secrets is an integral part of the book. Did the women finally come together to undo the hex or was there even a hex to begin with? Read it and find out!!

Shoutout to the author for thoroughly researching New Orleans! I read in her acknowledgements that she spent summers in New Orleans and that really made my heart smile lol The last names, street names, places, food, the fact that the women were Catholic (the city has a very large Black Catholic population) were all spot on! I really enjoyed reading this book and I’m sure you will too ✨

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and hopes that it will get adapted to screen in a limited series.

Initially, I was unsure of whether I would like this book because it was starting off somewhat slow. I also had my own personal issues with these women having the ability to play with hoodoo and everything was centered around a man. However, in the end, I enjoyed what the author did with the story. Additionally, I think there is a metanarrative here that I will discuss more in my Youtube (@kandace.withak) video that I will upload this week.

I will recommend this story to others!

The premise of this book hooked me. A family of Black Women with spiritual powers, drama, and secrets? Sign me right up. The book was well written with good pacing, effective flashbacks and lots surprises when secrets are revealed, but I didn't love it until the final act. Up until that point, I wasn't really fond of any of the characters. The last act surprised me in a really good way and I'll be on the lookout for more books from this author.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

The author captures family love and discord within this telling of the Montrose's family history. One can't go wrong with setting a book in New Orleans and exploring the relationships of generations of the women. There are parts that will remind you of Eve's Bayou and even Angel Heart. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

I came into this one wanting to love the history, magic, and complicate family ties that span multiple generations, but I was oddly disappointed. The basis was the idea that great power comes with great responsibility (in this case, great sacrifice - I mean every man they fall in love with is bound to die), and of course, this dictates quite a bit of their personal lives over 4 generations. That being said, I think I expected the Montrose women to be more understanding of each other, but instead they almost avoided communicating with each other sometimes, leading to not as much character growth as I originally hoped for.

I will say the flashbacks, timeline, and the way magic was so embedded in setting the scene were were of the most enjoyable parts for me. Between all the parts, I think the overall point of the novel fell short of where it was supposed to land, and the lack of strong familial ties despite this curse that leaves them bound for pain (which should arguably draw them closer) left me wanting for more.

Four generations of Montrose women live in seclusion in a California bungalow. It’s a quiet life, where everyone follows a rhythm guided by voodoo. When the youngest Montrose, Nickie, brings a boy home, her family reveals that they are cursed to lose the men they love. When Nickie resolves to break the curse, she resurfaces a cascade of buried memories and discovers shocking secrets along the way. “Black Candle Women” is a magical read about family, love and hope for the future.