• About

By Hook Or By Book

~ Book Reviews, News, and Other Stuff

By Hook Or By Book

Daily Archives: March 1, 2021

Happy Women’s History Month ~ 2021

01 Monday Mar 2021

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 27 Comments

Tags

Women’s History Month

0AEA7345-763E-4ED9-BDA5-046A0F90D9BD

B7FC45D2-55DD-43C2-BB6A-72E4D31103CD

A6F9644C-1C24-4023-9655-28A9E56E3578

45746510-B242-46ED-80BD-DCFEEAD12523

157F2EDE-E32E-4F09-93CC-C66CDA28C93E

87215825-A5C6-41A7-884B-C4FAE9578121

CB57A75C-4C74-4FE6-BB84-D2A24900C435

Bad Witch Burning, By Jessica Lewis ~ 5.0 Stars

01 Monday Mar 2021

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

#ownvoices, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Drug Dealing, Poverty, Supernatural, Suspense, YA Fiction

91AC7173-0AF8-49D9-851C-C9EBBEA3AC8B

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s/Delacorte Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: August 24th, 2021

336 Pages

Synopsis: For fans of “Us” and “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” comes a witchy story full of black girl magic as one girl’s dark ability to summon the dead offers her a chance at a new life, while revealing to her and even darker future.

Katrell doesn’t mind talking to the dead; she just wishes it made more money. Clients pay her to talk to their deceased loved ones, but it isn’t enough to support her unemployed mother and Mom’s deadbeat boyfriend of-the-week. Things get worse when a ghost warns her to stop the summonings or she’ll “burn everything down.” Katrell is willing to call them on their bluff, though. She has no choice. What do ghosts know about eating peanut butter for dinner?

However, when her next summoning accidentally raises someone from the dead, Katrell realizes that a live body is worth a lot more than a dead apparition. And, warning or not, she has no intention of letting this new lucrative business go.

But magic doesn’t come for free, and soon dark forces are closing in on Katrell. The further she goes, the more she risks the lives of not only herself, but those she loves. Katrell faces a dark choice: resign herself to poverty, or confront the darkness before it’s too late. (Goodreads)

For me personally, Bad Witch Burning was a difficult read. As you can tell from the 5 stars I’ve given it, it’s not because I think it’s a badly written story. No, it’s because it’s so on point in regards to living with a toxic parent, something author, Jessica Lewis sadly experienced herself. Without going into details, I too am a survivor of a childhood filled with abuse, although my background was white and middle class, rather than black and poverty stricken. Despite the differences in race and socioeconomic background, I strongly connected with Katrell and her complicated feelings toward her mother. She makes many terrible decisions, but every one of them can be laid at the feet of her horrendous home life and her desperation to escape. Her anger, bitterness, loneliness, and anguish are so intense they pulsate off the pages, and what she goes through is utterly heart wrenching. I confess to tearing up more then once. Mixed in with the darker real life themes of child abuse and neglect, is this incredible supernatural mythology which reminded me at first a little of The Monkey’s Paw, before taking a truly unique turn which had me worrying how Katrell was going to survive. Lest you think it is all doom and gloom, it’s not. There are moments of bright spots in the forms of Katrell’s loyal best friend Will and her adoptive parents who do their best to help, and Katrell’s caring guidance counselor, Mike. And without giving any spoilers, the book ends on a hopeful note. Because of the graphic abuse scenes, certain readers may have a tough time reading Bad Witch Burning, but if you’re looking for a vulnerable yet fiercely courageous protagonist to root for in a story that will suck you in from the first page, I highly recommend you give this a try. I guarantee it’s a book you won’t soon forget.

  • By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff

Archives

March 2021
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Feb   Apr »

Blog Stats

  • 308,004 hits
Follow By Hook Or By Book on WordPress.com

Blogs I Follow

  • Bonkers For The Books
  • Bite Eat Swallow!
  • Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
  • Stuart France
  • Tallis Steelyard
  • Jim Webster
  • The Rantings of a Book Addict
  • Books Teacup and Reviews
  • Gulf South Free Press
  • Bantering Books
  • Barb Taub
  • The Introverted Reader 📚
  • Odd Bits About Books
  • Between Pages
  • The Suspected Bibliophile
  • Now If You Want My Opinion ...
  • Beach Walk Reflections: Thoughts from thinking while walking
  • The Silent Eye
  • France & Vincent
  • The Novel: UnHoly Pursuit: Devil on my Trail
  • Carrot Ranch Literary Community
  • Sue Vincent's Daily Echo
  • Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News
  • View from the Back
  • Fictionspawn
  • Books & Bonsai
  • BOOKSNMUSES
  • Blaisdell Literary Enterprises
  • Word by Word
  • slicethelife
  • Books With Raven
  • johnrieber
  • Book Coffee Happy
  • Susanlovesbooks
  • River Writes
  • heavenlybookish
  • Ana Bookshelves blog
  • For The Literature
  • On The Subject of Horror
  • Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies
  • Writergurlny
  • Sarah Collins Bookworm
  • The Inglorius Padre Steve's World
  • Chocoviv’s Lifestyle Blog
  • Mary Smith's Place
  • the novel gnome
  • Broken Tune's Blog
  • Mark Bierman
  • In Saner Thought
  • PA Reads

Member of The Internet Defense League

Follow By Hook Or By Book on WordPress.com

Blogs I Follow

  • Bonkers For The Books
  • Bite Eat Swallow!
  • Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
  • Stuart France
  • Tallis Steelyard
  • Jim Webster
  • The Rantings of a Book Addict
  • Books Teacup and Reviews
  • Gulf South Free Press
  • Bantering Books
  • Barb Taub
  • The Introverted Reader 📚
  • Odd Bits About Books
  • Between Pages
  • The Suspected Bibliophile
  • Now If You Want My Opinion ...
  • Beach Walk Reflections: Thoughts from thinking while walking
  • The Silent Eye
  • France & Vincent
  • The Novel: UnHoly Pursuit: Devil on my Trail
March 2021
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Feb   Apr »

Blog at WordPress.com.

Bonkers For The Books

Book reviews and more by Michael David

Bite Eat Swallow!

It's Food! Bite. Eat. Swallow. Repeat!

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

READER - WRITER - CURATED RESOURCES - & MORE

Stuart France

Writer

Tallis Steelyard

The jumbled musings of Tallis Steelyard

Jim Webster

Books and Stuff

The Rantings of a Book Addict

Books Teacup and Reviews

Eclectic Mix Book Blog

Gulf South Free Press

Opinion Is The Medium Between Knowledge And Igonrance

Bantering Books

Book Reviews

Barb Taub

Writing & Coffee. Especially coffee.

The Introverted Reader 📚

Forever lost in literature

Odd Bits About Books

Between Pages

Documenting the inspiration I find, Between Pages

The Suspected Bibliophile

rambling book reviews and queer SFF writing

Now If You Want My Opinion ...

John Liming Is An Eccentric Opinion Writer At Large And An Often Fairly Offensive Shock Jock In Heart. You Have Been Warned!

Beach Walk Reflections: Thoughts from thinking while walking

The Silent Eye

A Modern Mystery School

France & Vincent

Writing Magic, Myth and Mystery

The Novel: UnHoly Pursuit: Devil on my Trail

If you love mythology? You'll love this series. The UnHoly Pursuit Saga and related series. Paranormal romance, demons, saints, angels, Azazael, witches, warlords, fiction, fantasy, antichrist, harassment, devils, hell, spirituality!,

Carrot Ranch Literary Community

Making literary art accessible 99 words at a time!

Sue Vincent's Daily Echo

Echoes of Life, Love and Laughter

Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

Second Look Behind the Headlines - News you can use...

View from the Back

Ramblings of a retiree in France

Fictionspawn

Illustrations and Short Stories

Books & Bonsai

Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie

BOOKSNMUSES

Spilling thoughts out, letting words heal me ! 🕊️

Blaisdell Literary Enterprises

Word by Word

Women in Writing sharing Encouragement One Word at a Time

slicethelife

hold a mirror up to life.....are there layers you can see?

Books With Raven

Book reviews from a bookworm

johnrieber

Burgers, Books, Music, Movies, Offbeat Adventures & Pop Culture!

Book Coffee Happy

Let's discuss books!

Susanlovesbooks

River Writes

Here you get writing tips, facts, and updates by the Author in process, River Angel Bee

heavenlybookish

bibliophile

Ana Bookshelves blog

Hi! My name is Ana. I’m a pharmacist & part time blogger! Book addict!

For The Literature

Reviewing the art of literature.

On The Subject of Horror

All things horror movie related!

Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies

Writergurlny

A Ginger's Point Of View

Sarah Collins Bookworm

Journalist, traveller, collector of hats, bookworm

The Inglorius Padre Steve's World

Musings of a Progressive Realist in Wonderland

Chocoviv’s Lifestyle Blog

Mommy blogger, who loves to share what she loves!

Mary Smith's Place

the novel gnome

Reading and Reviewing for You!

Broken Tune's Blog

Mark Bierman

Adventures in Writing

In Saner Thought

"It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error"..Thomas Paine

PA Reads

Reading and reviewing books all day long.

Bonkers For The Books

Book reviews and more by Michael David

Bite Eat Swallow!

It's Food! Bite. Eat. Swallow. Repeat!

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

READER - WRITER - CURATED RESOURCES - & MORE

Stuart France

Writer

Tallis Steelyard

The jumbled musings of Tallis Steelyard

Jim Webster

Books and Stuff

The Rantings of a Book Addict

Books Teacup and Reviews

Eclectic Mix Book Blog

Gulf South Free Press

Opinion Is The Medium Between Knowledge And Igonrance

Bantering Books

Book Reviews

Barb Taub

Writing & Coffee. Especially coffee.

The Introverted Reader 📚

Forever lost in literature

Odd Bits About Books

Between Pages

Documenting the inspiration I find, Between Pages

The Suspected Bibliophile

rambling book reviews and queer SFF writing

Now If You Want My Opinion ...

John Liming Is An Eccentric Opinion Writer At Large And An Often Fairly Offensive Shock Jock In Heart. You Have Been Warned!

Beach Walk Reflections: Thoughts from thinking while walking

The Silent Eye

A Modern Mystery School

France & Vincent

Writing Magic, Myth and Mystery

The Novel: UnHoly Pursuit: Devil on my Trail

If you love mythology? You'll love this series. The UnHoly Pursuit Saga and related series. Paranormal romance, demons, saints, angels, Azazael, witches, warlords, fiction, fantasy, antichrist, harassment, devils, hell, spirituality!,

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy