Rachel Madbury

In this continuing series, the search is on for Penny, Haley's sister. In his search, Colin Finch unexpectedly encounters Rose, the fire witch and love of his life he believed was dead for forty years. Still struggling with the guilt of her best friends' death and her inability to save her, Rose is to afraid to use her magic, but she decides to help Colin in his search for Penny.
I enjoyed this continuation of the Sevens story. Rose's history is just heartbreaking and I'm really glad she found her magic in the end
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.… (more)

Splintered Stars fall somewhere in the middle for me. There were a few parts I loved and a few that I didn't, but for the most part it was an okay book.

I liked the main pieces of the story. You have the Seven, and elite group that has been tasked with protecting witches, witches and demons who want to drain the power from witches. The story is set in our world, or something close to it, there isn't a lot about that except of course for the witches and demons. You also don't get a lot of motive in this book. Like why there's a war (or skirmishes) between witches and demons, or how everything is kept hidden.

I feel a little lukewarm about the plot. The plot itself moves super slow, instead most of the book is focused on Haley and Lucas. I think the book covers about a week, but it feels much longer. I also don't like how some parts were mentioned and then dropped. It felt like deliberate strings being added just so they could not be tied off, if that makes sense. I know that a story that continues over several books has to have those, these just felt too deliberate. I don't want to give too much away, but a suddenly MIA friend and a phone call that felt several days overdue are a couple of examples. I felt like they were added to pull the plot forward.

I also have mixed feelings about Haley. In the book she is almost 30, but there are times I felt like her actions and reactions were those of someone much younger. She made a lot of the book feel like a YA novel (it is NOT a YA, there are some sexy scenes) because she was really immature at times. I didn't mind the insta-love, it's not my favorite, but I can appreciate it, but Haley's reaction to everything was at times annoying and juvenile. She and Lucas spent way too much time being introspective and having the same discussions about their feelings considering everything going on.

The other characters were good, we just don't get to know a lot about them. I love the Seven, I hope we see more of their stories.

Overall, I say give it a try. If you like witches and forbidden romance, I think you'll appreciate this book. I definitely want to know what happens next...and I hope some of my questions are answered in the second book.
I received an ARC of this book from BookSirens and I am leaving this review voluntarily.… (more)