The Price Guide to the Occult by Leslye Walton

Author: Leslye Walton

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Date: March 13, 2018

Pages: 288

Format: Hardcover

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Purchase Links: [Chapters/Indigo ] [Amazon ]

Goodreads Synopsis:

The Blackburn women are cursed. Ever since the extraordinary witch Rona Blackburn landed on Anathema Island centuries ago and was shunned by the eight "original" settlers, Blackburn witches have been doomed to carry out a brief whirlwind affair with a descendant of the Original Eight. The vengeful curse, however, had unintended side effects: it diluted the Blackburns' supernatural powers. That's perfectly all right with seventeen-year-old Nor Blackburn. All she wants is a quiet, unremarkable life—her powers are blissfully unexceptional, her love life pretty much nonexistent. Nor hopes the curse has played itself out through enough generations that she'll finally be spared the drama. But when a mysterious book comes out promising to cast any spell for the right price, Nor senses a dark storm headed straight for Anathema—and straight for her.

My Review:

* I received a copy of the book from Penguin Random House for an honest review *

I loved the way Leslye Walton described the landscape of the island. The story takes place on a cloudy and rainy island in the Pacific Northwest. Even though there was a lot of detail it didn't feel dense and still I got a vivid picture of the setting. The writing was light and easy but I felt the transition scenes were choppy and sudden. I loved Nor's character and how she developed. Nor was abused when she was younger by her mother and that resulted in her causing harm to herself. The book starts off when Nor has already been to therapy but she is still struggling from harming herself when things get rough. Nor is scared from the stuff her mother did to her and it causes her to not want to be anything like her mother. She oppresses her true self, because she's scared what others will think if they ever found out. Throughout the book Nor is facing both her inner and outer demons. Though I loved Nor's personality I found the other characters to be underdeveloped. I did enjoy reading about some, like Savvy (Nor's best friend) but I was pretty much disinterested in the others. I found it difficult to remember who each character was, and forgot most of their names. I really liked the villain, Fern Blackburn, who is Nor's mother. Fern wants to be loved by everyone. She is obsessed with having everything, and wont stop until she gets what she wants. As a result Fern is power hungry and won't stop until she has the whole world in the palm of her hand. I would have loved to learn more about Fern. More importantly was her personality changed because of her magical powers? Or was it her magically powers that affected her personality? I thought this book was a standalone but the ending kind of leaves you hanging.