Sara’s Review: Audrey’s Guide to Witchcraft by Jody Gehrman

Audrey’s Guide to Witchcraft
written by Jody Gehrman
published by Magic Genie Books, 2012

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Goodreads

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange  for an honest review.

Did I enjoy this book: Sure! This was a fun book and it’s right up my alley! The characters were a little flat and the major plot twist/reveal was incredibly obvious, but I still enjoyed the book!

I do, as always, have a few critical comments, the first being the title and its relevance. Audrey is a chef, so the shtick is that she writes recipes in her notebook for not only food but important things in life. It’s kind of cheesy but OK, I can roll with it. But. The book isn’t called Audrey’s Recipe Book to Witchcraft . . . where did the guide book come in? She doesn’t write guides, she writes recipes. WTF. Further, I believe that there are (maybe) 5 recipes written by Audrey in the whole book. It is hardly a main theme and it confused me as why this would be considered important enough to name the book after. Anyhoo.

I get that this book is the first in a series and that such books often end with a cliff-hanger to get you to read the rest of the books. However, usually a book will tie off at least one or two of the plot lines before ending the story. When I was about 3/4 of the way through, I kept looking at how many pages were left and kept thinking, “There is no way I’m getting any closure with so few pages left.” Not a single plot line was resolved. Not one. (OK one was sorta resolved . . . and then promptly unresolved again) Our spunky, though annoyingly self-esteem-less, heroine confronted the mysterious necromancer and then he just let them leave. Uhm. Big baddies don’t just let you walk out–it wasn’t even like she tricked him. It was a little hard to believe.

I very much enjoyed the “electric” love story with Julian, however, I feel like the romance would be a little more interesting and believable if Julian wasn’t quite so piney and Audrey was a little more confident. In the absence of confidence, perhaps we could have a few more descriptions of Audrey’s positive physical qualities. Aside from the mysterious magical “something,” I can’t come up with a single reason that Julian is all goo goo over Audrey. Especially when we hear again and again about how beautiful and talented her sister Meg is. Maybe we will learn more about this in the next book . . . who knows.

 

Would I recommend it: It was a fun and easy read, and I always enjoy discovering new magical worlds. So I would say yes, if this genre is your thing go ahead and pick this one up. It’s not perfect but it is entertaining. If I get around to it, I would like to read the second book. (I would even be willing to review it!) I want to find out what happens with Julian and I REALLY want to learn more about the Clan!

About the book – from Goodreads: Falling in Love, baking a magical cake, fighting an evil necromancer—it’s all in a day’s work for Audrey Oliver, seventeen-year-old witch-in-training.

When her mother goes missing and her twenty-one-year-old witchy cousin shows up out of the blue, Audrey knows something’s gone horribly, dangerously wrong. Now it’s up to her to get her own magical powers up to speed before everyone she loves is destroyed by the sorcerer intricately connected to her mother’s secret past.