Fall by Jeff Mariotte

Series: Witch Season
Author: Jeff Mariotte
Page Count: 320
Published: October 1st, 2004
Publisher: Simon Pulse
  3 Stars ★★★

In the second book of the Witch Season series, Kerry is still mourning Daniel, and she holds a serious grudge against Season, the witch who killed him. She and her friends fear that the witch is still after them, and so their lives are tainted with an underlying anxiety and much suspicion. Kerry decides that she must take justice into her own hands, so she leaves her college and runs away, hoping to find Daniel's mother.

Mother Blessing is not what Kerry had expected. She agrees to teach Kerry witchcraft, as she also holds anger against Season, and so Kerry begins her journey, learning magic and reading Daniel's journals. But things might not be as they seem, and by the end of her time at Mother Blessing's she may come across some shocking revelations.

After enjoying Summer, the first book in this series, I had some high hopes for the second book. While this book wasn't terrible, it wasn't very satisfying, either. It left me fairly disappointed, although I did enjoy the story.

My main problem with this book was the pacing. The pacing of the writing was way too slow, it took too long to move from the beginning of the book into the main plot, and I found myself zoning out every now and then because there was too much description, and too little action. 

As with the first book, Kerry discusses her thoughts through journal entries, which continued to give me insight into her own ideas and at times almost foreshadowed some of the coming events. Daniel's journal offered more information concerning the history between his family and Season, and as with the first book, I appreciated these pieces for shedding light on parts of the story that the reader might not be able to understand without these writings. 

I really don't have much to say about Fall, because honestly, it's not an amazing book. It wasn't horrible, but it didn't really blow me away either. 

I recommend this book to those who enjoyed the first novel in this series. If you're interested in witches and romance, you might enjoy this series.

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Summer by Jeff Mariotte

 Series: Witch Season
Author: Jeff Mariotte
Page Count: 324
Published: July 6th, 2004
Publisher: Simon Pulse
  4 Stars ★★★★

Kerry is far away from home, working a summer job at a resort and staying with some new friends. One night, she returns home to find a man laying on her lawn, possibly near death. Against the wishes of her roommates, she brings him into their home for the night. 

His name is Daniel Blessing, and he explains that he is searching for a witch named Season. She's dangerous, she killed his brother, and she is now after Kerry and her friends. While Kerry starts to fall for Daniel, she realizes that they're all in danger, and she joins in on the hunt for Season. But a witch this powerful is hard to find, and even harder to kill. 

I was mostly impressed with this book, especially with it's take on witches and the conflict between Daniel and Season. Firstly, the powers that the witches had were often brutal or harmful, which is an interesting change from the generally more glamorous magic of witches in other books. For example, when Kerry finds Daniel, he's in horrible condition, with gashes and bleeding to the point that she fears that he will die. This violent style of magic added an air of horror to the novel, especially with Daniel's journals.

Daniel's journals, as mentioned, were provided to Kerry because she wanted to learn more about the whole situation. I really appreciated them, as a reader, because they filled in not only Kerry, but also myself, on the conflict between Daniel and Season. With great detail, often providing more clues to who Daniel was as a character and a person, it assisted in understanding Daniel's relationship with Season, and gave a great back story filled with death and vengeance. Several of Kerry's journal entries are also provided, which gives the reader a glance into her own mind and thoughts, which I also really enjoyed.

I had a bit of an issue with the length of the book. I feel like it was much too short for the story, and I wish that the events had taken place over a longer period of time, and that the author had devoted more effort to characterization. I say this because certain parts of the book felt way too rushed, and I didn't receive as much detail about the general happenings as I wish I had. While the journals and the third person narration went over the events adequately, I feel like something was missing. 

I also thought that the romance wasn't well thought out. Kerry seems to fall for Daniel far too quickly, and the author tries to frame her feelings for him as actual love, while they come across more as infatuation. Certainly, love can be evolved from infatuation, however the author did not convince me that Kerry's feelings for Daniel, and vice versa, were genuine as opposed to a crush.

I found this to be a very enjoyable read, and I am hoping that the issues I found within this first book will be solved in the second! I recommend this book to those who like stories about magic. If you're interested in a book including witches, vengeance, and a darker kind of sorcery, this is a great pick.

Find Summer on Goodreads