Something Witchy This Way Comes

Very seldom is a book so good that I wouldn’t mind if it was somehow made into a series. Characters I like so much that I would love to explore their world some more.

Something Witchy This Way Comes was exactly that! I’d love to have more time with Tessa and Hayden. Discovering more about the covens and their powers would be awesome.

This book had three of my favorite things:
One, it had a paring of two people with very different personalities. (Good girl, bad boy.)
Two, it had alternating POV’s! (I love getting inside peoples heads.)
Three, the supernatural witch stuff. (My favorite).

And that’s what I loved the most. I’m really interested in paranormal/supernatural stuff, so this book was right up my alley. All the practicing and fighting and action was elating to read about. Especially between Hayden and Chait! ;)

Putting Hayden and Tessa together was so sweet! I love how he slowly changes. Though Tessa pissed me off with her back and forth emotions!

Great story. Great characters. (Tessa’s grandma!!) Great twists.

Something Witchy This Way Comes is a story of budding young sorcerers discovering their supernatural talents and finding love. Author Veronica Blade has created a world of battling witches, each campaigning for new recruits with gentle encouragement, promises of protection, and intimidating threats. The lead characters’ back stories add texture and weight to this tale of otherworldly powers.

When Hayden is recruited by his new high school principal to guard a fellow classmate, Tessa, he is openly resistant to the assignment. His reputation for being a bad boy complete with a history of bullying, fighting and horrible grades makes Hayden suspicious of the principal’s decision to choose him as Tessa’s in-school bodyguard. Tessa is equally puzzled by the principal’s choice of a protector for her. She is also confused about why she needs protection at all. Tessa learns from the principal and his side-kick that she is a sorcerer with many untapped powers. This knowledge changes Tessa’s entire life.

As Tessa learns more about who she really is and opens up to parts of her family history that have been hidden from her, a spark develops between her and Hayden as they spend more and more time together. The pair has several titillating encounters, but Tessa works overtime to keep their relationship from falling into the realm of romance. And much like her initial attempts at sorcery, she fails. But the closeness and trust that develops between the two lead Tessa to an unexpected discovery about her once reluctant protector.

The compelling elements of this book are the author’s ability to entertain while also examining the issues that young adults are faced with every day: family problems, bullying, intimate relationships, and their future adult lives. Both Tessa and Hayden cope with heavy family issues of neglect and abuse and find themselves in the position of having to make very grown-up decisions with little or no adult guidance. By allowing the reader access to Tessa and Hayden’s inner thoughts, Blade encourages a connection between the reader and the lead characters that makes the story even more interesting and adds substance to the plot.

Something Witchy This Way Comes is an exciting, action-filled read with smart, complicated characters. The book offers readers a balance of the supernatural and real-life hardships that a young adult audience will find familiar. The author’s skill at storytelling will make this book a draw for more seasoned adults as well. I highly recommended it.

Melissa Brown Levine
for
Independent Professional Book Reviewers

First Impressions: Every once in a while, I like to take on a book that seems to be a bit of an underdog. Usually it’s something that catches my attention, but flies under most people’s radar. Something Witchy This Way Comes had a neat cover and once I read the synopsis, it seemed like it would be something I would enjoy.

My Review: I ended up really enjoying this book. It was a nice and easy read and it seemed to just fly on by. The writer has a way of moving the plot along at a laid-back speed that I thought made this book stand out. I also liked the alternating first- person POV’s between the main characters, Hayden and Tessa. I’m not a huge fan of first-person perspectives, so that is saying something since I actually enjoyed them in this title.

While I did like the character Tessa, Hayden was my favorite! He changes so much throughout the course of the story and it was fun to see him grow as a character. He starts out as the ultimate bad-boy, but once you dig a little deeper, you find out that he might not be so bad after all. His character was really fun. Oh, and super hot!

The romance between these two characters was super entertaining and fun to read about. I liked being able to tell what each character was thinking and how they felt towards one another. Usually, we only get to see one person’s perspective, especially when it comes to romance. The author creates a ton of tension and suspense even though as the reader, we know what each character is thinking and feeling. It takes a very creative person to accomplish something like that.

I will say that I do have a couple small disappointments. When I had read the book synopsis, I thought that the main plot line would be about the paranormal aspect of witches and covens and such, with a romantic sub-plot. It ended up, in my opinion, the other way around. I think the romance most definitely took precedence over the paranormal and that was semi-disappointing. Usually if the actual book is nothing like the book’s synopsis I wouldn’t give this good of a review or recommend it. In this case, I did really enjoy the romantic plot of the book even though it wasn’t what I was suspected. Just be warned that if you aren’t into a lot of romance, you might not care too much for this book, but I hope you will give it a try.

Final Thoughts: Altogether, I think that author did a pretty good job with this book. I think it will appeal to an older teen and while I wasn’t prepared for that much romance, I did really like the book. I think that the author could have added in some more action and made the book a little darker, but if you like nice and easy reads, this one would be a good choice!