When guardian angels begin disappearing and everyone thinks she’s to blame, Lena becomes trapped in a case of mistaken identity. But when Glenn and his chaotic family offer to help her find out the truth, she’s forced to ask herself whether she’s the one who’s mistaken. In between the lies and secrets of a past life gone bad, Lena soon learns that if she’s ever going to prove they have the wrong girl, she’s going to need to find the bit of witchiness inside us all.
Danielle Fisher
*****
My Thoughts:
As anyone who often reads this blog can attest, I am not picky about what I will read and review. I've dabbled in nearly every genre and have found something to enjoy about each. In addition to that one of my absolute favorite finds come from a debut author. I love reading from a brand new author. In fact, I've been following many of my favorite authors since they themselves were debut-ers. It's a thrilling and exciting time in a young authors life to have your works read and reviewed for the very first time. Each time I read from a debut author though, there's that nagging voice in my head telling me to be careful and tread lightly. I didn't know what to expect going into this read, much like others from debut authors, but i can definitely tell you one thing, Danielle Fisher is one author to watch!
In true One Guy's Guide to Good Reads fashion, I'll go ahead and get my negative thoughts out of the way first.
First, I found the title for this one to be a bit misleading. I love witches. Witchcraft is among my favorite paranormal trope. Regardless of the title bearing 'Witchy', this novel does not feature witchcraft. Sure Lena was 'bewitching', but she certainly was not a witch, to my disappointment. Now that being said, the novel was still full of paranormal goodness, which I'll get to later.
Secondly, I won't lie to you guys, the plot for this one wasn't the easiest to follow. It took me far longer to read this novel than it should have because I found myself having to re-read several passages to understand what was happening. It eventually turned into one of those situations where I stopped asking questions and plowed through in an effort to eventually have Fisher answer all my questions in the end. Unfortunately not all of them were answered and I was still left rather confused about many things within the plot and the world Fisher created, but the main overall plot was finished and close off by the end. While the plot may have been a bit off, this may have been something that I personally found fault with and may not be the opinion of other readers. I think this may have something to do with my third fault.
Finally, I found this short novel to have a cast that was entirely too large. There were more characters and names floating around in this 200 page story that I often see in an entire series. It was a struggle placing names with faces and remembering who was who, especially when some characters were seen for only the briefest of times. Now each character was well written and I think Fisher did a great job laying out the specifics and backstory, but in the final pages I found myself asking 'is this person important? Why were they here?'
Okay enough of the negatives. You guys are going to think I didn't care for this one at all, which is totally untrue.
While I did mention I had a hard time deciphering the plot, in the end I still found it to be overall enjoyable and worth the read. It wasn't so much that I didn't understand 'what' was happening, it was more 'why' is this happening (does that make sense?). It's not uncommon to see this in the first novel of a series that will later answer some of these questions, but as of now I am unaware if this is a standalone or if there are more novels on the horizon following Lena and her adventures.
Can I also very quickly mention how much I love the cover to this novel? Seriously! How eye catching! I cannot wait to get my hands on this one!
My favorite part of this novel was the writing style. Danielle Fisher has one of the most unique styles that I have seen. She writes with massive amounts of emotions intertwined with the perfect moments of humor to give her stories the greatest impact. Each chapter packed a powerful punch. On more than one occasion I found myself laughing aloud, rather embarrassingly. Thankfully I read this one while I was alone, otherwise I'd have gotten some crazy looks. Honestly though, this did not read like the work of a debut author. The writing style and eloquently crafted words read as those of a seasoned professional, proving there are huge things on the horizon for Fisher and her career. While this one may have been a YA Paranormal, I would absolutely love to see Fisher use that same elegance and humor to craft a YA Contemporary novel, I believe she'd be the perfect fit for that genre!
I am a huge paranormal reader and while I thought I'd seen it all, nobody has brought out the uniqueness that Fisher has when it comes to guardians and fate. Fisher took the lore and completely twisted it on its' head, creating a unique and original spin on the trope. With a well-developed backstory and all the perfect flashbacks to keep the reader in the know, Fisher lured me into a world that I was more than impressed with.
Another high point for A Bit Witchy was the setting. Fisher did an incredible job with the settings in the novel. I could clearly imagine each locale, complete with the perfect word choices for setting the tone in each. I found myself completely immersed in Lena's world as though I were standing right at her side watching the drama unfold. It's a testament to the talent of Fisher and her word choices that readers have this type of reading experience.
As you can clearly see, I have quite a few thoughts on this debut novel from Danielle Fisher. While I found several faults with the novel, I still found it to be an incredible debut effort from Fisher and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next. Fisher's quick wit and beautifully crafted words will keep this reader coming back for more. With all this being said, I am granting A Bit Witchy a well earned 3.5-star review. A recommended read for all fans of Young Adult Paranormal novels! Add this one to your TBR today!
In true One Guy's Guide to Good Reads fashion, I'll go ahead and get my negative thoughts out of the way first.
First, I found the title for this one to be a bit misleading. I love witches. Witchcraft is among my favorite paranormal trope. Regardless of the title bearing 'Witchy', this novel does not feature witchcraft. Sure Lena was 'bewitching', but she certainly was not a witch, to my disappointment. Now that being said, the novel was still full of paranormal goodness, which I'll get to later.
Secondly, I won't lie to you guys, the plot for this one wasn't the easiest to follow. It took me far longer to read this novel than it should have because I found myself having to re-read several passages to understand what was happening. It eventually turned into one of those situations where I stopped asking questions and plowed through in an effort to eventually have Fisher answer all my questions in the end. Unfortunately not all of them were answered and I was still left rather confused about many things within the plot and the world Fisher created, but the main overall plot was finished and close off by the end. While the plot may have been a bit off, this may have been something that I personally found fault with and may not be the opinion of other readers. I think this may have something to do with my third fault.
Finally, I found this short novel to have a cast that was entirely too large. There were more characters and names floating around in this 200 page story that I often see in an entire series. It was a struggle placing names with faces and remembering who was who, especially when some characters were seen for only the briefest of times. Now each character was well written and I think Fisher did a great job laying out the specifics and backstory, but in the final pages I found myself asking 'is this person important? Why were they here?'
Okay enough of the negatives. You guys are going to think I didn't care for this one at all, which is totally untrue.
While I did mention I had a hard time deciphering the plot, in the end I still found it to be overall enjoyable and worth the read. It wasn't so much that I didn't understand 'what' was happening, it was more 'why' is this happening (does that make sense?). It's not uncommon to see this in the first novel of a series that will later answer some of these questions, but as of now I am unaware if this is a standalone or if there are more novels on the horizon following Lena and her adventures.
Can I also very quickly mention how much I love the cover to this novel? Seriously! How eye catching! I cannot wait to get my hands on this one!
My favorite part of this novel was the writing style. Danielle Fisher has one of the most unique styles that I have seen. She writes with massive amounts of emotions intertwined with the perfect moments of humor to give her stories the greatest impact. Each chapter packed a powerful punch. On more than one occasion I found myself laughing aloud, rather embarrassingly. Thankfully I read this one while I was alone, otherwise I'd have gotten some crazy looks. Honestly though, this did not read like the work of a debut author. The writing style and eloquently crafted words read as those of a seasoned professional, proving there are huge things on the horizon for Fisher and her career. While this one may have been a YA Paranormal, I would absolutely love to see Fisher use that same elegance and humor to craft a YA Contemporary novel, I believe she'd be the perfect fit for that genre!
I am a huge paranormal reader and while I thought I'd seen it all, nobody has brought out the uniqueness that Fisher has when it comes to guardians and fate. Fisher took the lore and completely twisted it on its' head, creating a unique and original spin on the trope. With a well-developed backstory and all the perfect flashbacks to keep the reader in the know, Fisher lured me into a world that I was more than impressed with.
Another high point for A Bit Witchy was the setting. Fisher did an incredible job with the settings in the novel. I could clearly imagine each locale, complete with the perfect word choices for setting the tone in each. I found myself completely immersed in Lena's world as though I were standing right at her side watching the drama unfold. It's a testament to the talent of Fisher and her word choices that readers have this type of reading experience.
As you can clearly see, I have quite a few thoughts on this debut novel from Danielle Fisher. While I found several faults with the novel, I still found it to be an incredible debut effort from Fisher and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next. Fisher's quick wit and beautifully crafted words will keep this reader coming back for more. With all this being said, I am granting A Bit Witchy a well earned 3.5-star review. A recommended read for all fans of Young Adult Paranormal novels! Add this one to your TBR today!
*****
Alright folks, that's all I have for you on the topic of A Bit Witchy by Danielle Fisher. While it wasn't without its' faults, I still found it to be worth the read! I cannot wait to see what Fisher does next. Be on the look out for more awesome Halloween-ish reads as the week goes on. Thanks so much for stopping by. Until next time, Happy Reading!
-Ethan
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