Category 10: A romance novel by or about a person of color
Winds of Salem
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Publisher: Hachette Books
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: April 15 2014 (first published August 13 2013)
Page count: 336
Genres: fantasy, mythology, paranormal, historical, romance
Page count: 336
Genres: fantasy, mythology, paranormal, historical, romance
Date read: December 11, 2018
Number of times read: 1
Format: paperbackSource: Chapters/Indigo
Summary
Freya Beauchamp is trapped in 1692, in Salem of all places, with no recollection of her past. A powerful enemy spell has sent her spiraling away so that she is separated by centuries from her mother, Joanna, and sister, Ingrid. This is not good news for a twenty-first-century witch. Not to mention the immediate threat she faces from the wealthy and influential Putnam family. When little Annie Putnam is one of the first to make accusations of witchcraft, her landowner father jumps at the opportunity to consolidate his power and expand his holdings in Puritan Salem Town. If Freya is caught using magic, she will be forced to relive the witch trials, and this time, even her immortality is in question.
Meanwhile, twenty-first-century North Hampton has its own snares. Joanna and Norm consult the Oracle for advice, and Freddie and his pixie allies search for a missing totem that could reopen the passages of time and help bring his sister home. When Ingrid bumps into an old flame, she finds that her new love for Detective Matt Noble is in doubt.
Moving between past and present, with dizzying plot twists and page-turning suspense, Winds of Salem is sure to bewitch fans old and new. -- via Goodreads
Freya Beauchamp is trapped in 1692, in Salem of all places, with no recollection of her past. A powerful enemy spell has sent her spiraling away so that she is separated by centuries from her mother, Joanna, and sister, Ingrid. This is not good news for a twenty-first-century witch. Not to mention the immediate threat she faces from the wealthy and influential Putnam family. When little Annie Putnam is one of the first to make accusations of witchcraft, her landowner father jumps at the opportunity to consolidate his power and expand his holdings in Puritan Salem Town. If Freya is caught using magic, she will be forced to relive the witch trials, and this time, even her immortality is in question.
Meanwhile, twenty-first-century North Hampton has its own snares. Joanna and Norm consult the Oracle for advice, and Freddie and his pixie allies search for a missing totem that could reopen the passages of time and help bring his sister home. When Ingrid bumps into an old flame, she finds that her new love for Detective Matt Noble is in doubt.
Moving between past and present, with dizzying plot twists and page-turning suspense, Winds of Salem is sure to bewitch fans old and new. -- via Goodreads
Review
I almost don't want to admit how long it took me to remember/realise that this book would actually work for this category...This is the final book in Melissa de la Cruz's Beauchamp Family saga. Beauchamp is just the modern day moniker of the Vanir, a branch of gods from Norse Mythology. I was expecting that when I started reading the series, I was just there for the witches, which I also love. But when I found out that the witches were actually Norse gods and goddesses? Oh hell yeah, I was all over that! So quick backgrounder, I gave the first book 4 bolts and the second book only got 3. Because I hate love triangle drama and the second book had a lot of love triangle drama. I discussed my re-read of the first book in a Musing Monday post last year. And in a coincidence of the highest order, the question of the week that week was about writing book reviews right after finishing the book, which is exactly what I am doing now. I finished the book at 9:55pm and at the time of writing this sentence it's 10:13pm. You, of course, will be reading this after 2pm ET on December 12th ;).
Without further ado, let's get into the meat of the review. As the final book in a series, I will try my very best not to include spoilers for anyone out there interested in reading it. We'll start with the things I liked about this book, and there are quite a few. I have to first mention that my favourite part of the second book, Serpent's Kiss, was at the end when Freya got yanked back in time to Salem because I knew that meant I was going to get some Salem Witch Trials fiction. I have been fascinated by that period of history for years, so that got me super hyped for Winds of Salem, while at the same time making me leery. I knew it was either going to be really well handled, or really horrible, and I was worried about being disappointed if it were the latter. I'm very pleased to say that de la Cruz did not let me down. I thought she did a fantastic job fictionalising the story of Salem and weaving in her characters. She gave knew motivations to the situation that I've never seen presented in Salem stories before, very modern-seeming ones, namely greed on the part of Thomas Putnam. Her characterisation of Abby Williams was fantastic, I've always hated Abby, she reminds me so much of every girl who was ever mean to me growing up and de la Cruz hits that on the head with her.
The other part of the book that I really liked was Freddie's growth and his whole arc. We only met Freya's twin brother in the second book but he quickly established himself as a presence. He started off very annoying and entitled, which I mean, he spent like 5000 years in Limbo I think he was allowed. But he really matured and evened out as a character over the course of Winds of Salem. The only part of his story that I found confusing is the break down of his relationship with Gert - I am still not 100% certain what happened there so I feel like some important parts may have ended up cut by an editor's pen.
Now, speaking of things that feel like they were cut with an editor's pen, this leads into one of the parts I had a problem with. The climax. It was WAY too rushed. We've spent 3 books hearing about the bofrir bridge being destroyed and trying to figure out who did it and why. We finally on page 275 of this book, and then by 279 the entire confrontation with the culprit is over and done with. The fighters barely said anything to one another nevermind actually you know....fighting? The villain didn't even get to attack. I just feel she wrapped up that portion of the storyline in a really poor way.
The other thing I was going to say I didn't like I'm kind of waffling about now, because there are actually a lot of ways to interpret it. I was going to be upset about the love triangle and the way it ended. But upon further reflection, I am thinking that I might be thinking about it wrong. Freya is the goddess of love, why shouldn't she be polyamorous? And if both of her lovers are okay with that then it works, there's nothing that says that all parties in a polyamorous relationship have to be mutually involved with one another, it's perfectly fine for A to have relationships with both B and C without B and C having to be involved with one another. So long as all parties are cool with and into the arrangement. So that's what I have decided right at this moment that it's not and never was a love triangle, Freya came to that same realisation towards the end of the book.
If you're into witches and Norse mythology then give this whole series a try. Definitely don't start with this book though, start with Witches of East End, it's book #1.
I almost don't want to admit how long it took me to remember/realise that this book would actually work for this category...This is the final book in Melissa de la Cruz's Beauchamp Family saga. Beauchamp is just the modern day moniker of the Vanir, a branch of gods from Norse Mythology. I was expecting that when I started reading the series, I was just there for the witches, which I also love. But when I found out that the witches were actually Norse gods and goddesses? Oh hell yeah, I was all over that! So quick backgrounder, I gave the first book 4 bolts and the second book only got 3. Because I hate love triangle drama and the second book had a lot of love triangle drama. I discussed my re-read of the first book in a Musing Monday post last year. And in a coincidence of the highest order, the question of the week that week was about writing book reviews right after finishing the book, which is exactly what I am doing now. I finished the book at 9:55pm and at the time of writing this sentence it's 10:13pm. You, of course, will be reading this after 2pm ET on December 12th ;).
Without further ado, let's get into the meat of the review. As the final book in a series, I will try my very best not to include spoilers for anyone out there interested in reading it. We'll start with the things I liked about this book, and there are quite a few. I have to first mention that my favourite part of the second book, Serpent's Kiss, was at the end when Freya got yanked back in time to Salem because I knew that meant I was going to get some Salem Witch Trials fiction. I have been fascinated by that period of history for years, so that got me super hyped for Winds of Salem, while at the same time making me leery. I knew it was either going to be really well handled, or really horrible, and I was worried about being disappointed if it were the latter. I'm very pleased to say that de la Cruz did not let me down. I thought she did a fantastic job fictionalising the story of Salem and weaving in her characters. She gave knew motivations to the situation that I've never seen presented in Salem stories before, very modern-seeming ones, namely greed on the part of Thomas Putnam. Her characterisation of Abby Williams was fantastic, I've always hated Abby, she reminds me so much of every girl who was ever mean to me growing up and de la Cruz hits that on the head with her.
The other part of the book that I really liked was Freddie's growth and his whole arc. We only met Freya's twin brother in the second book but he quickly established himself as a presence. He started off very annoying and entitled, which I mean, he spent like 5000 years in Limbo I think he was allowed. But he really matured and evened out as a character over the course of Winds of Salem. The only part of his story that I found confusing is the break down of his relationship with Gert - I am still not 100% certain what happened there so I feel like some important parts may have ended up cut by an editor's pen.
Now, speaking of things that feel like they were cut with an editor's pen, this leads into one of the parts I had a problem with. The climax. It was WAY too rushed. We've spent 3 books hearing about the bofrir bridge being destroyed and trying to figure out who did it and why. We finally on page 275 of this book, and then by 279 the entire confrontation with the culprit is over and done with. The fighters barely said anything to one another nevermind actually you know....fighting? The villain didn't even get to attack. I just feel she wrapped up that portion of the storyline in a really poor way.
The other thing I was going to say I didn't like I'm kind of waffling about now, because there are actually a lot of ways to interpret it. I was going to be upset about the love triangle and the way it ended. But upon further reflection, I am thinking that I might be thinking about it wrong. Freya is the goddess of love, why shouldn't she be polyamorous? And if both of her lovers are okay with that then it works, there's nothing that says that all parties in a polyamorous relationship have to be mutually involved with one another, it's perfectly fine for A to have relationships with both B and C without B and C having to be involved with one another. So long as all parties are cool with and into the arrangement. So that's what I have decided right at this moment that it's not and never was a love triangle, Freya came to that same realisation towards the end of the book.
If you're into witches and Norse mythology then give this whole series a try. Definitely don't start with this book though, start with Witches of East End, it's book #1.
Overall Rating
 |
| 5 bolts! |
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