The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown - Reshelved Books

Hello everyone!  

In honor of the spooky pumpkin spice latte season, I bring you a review that's rather witchy, at least in the historical sense.  When we think of historical witches, we often think of Salem, Massachusetts and the Salem Witch Trials that took place in the 1690's.  Beth Underdown's The Witchfinder's Sister takes us to pre-Salem overseas in England in 1645 where like in Salem, women were hunted, tried, and murdered for being a suspected "witch." 

This novel follows the story of Alice Hopkins, who after becoming a recent widow when her husband dies in an accident, is forced to return to her childhood home, which is now owned by her brother Matthew Hopkins.  Alice, after miscarrying and losing many children while her husband was alive, is pregnant once again.  This is both a blessing and a curse.  It is a blessing because it is something that she has yearned for, for so many years and because it is the last physical tie she has to her deceased husband, but it is also a curse because now it will be so much harder for her to remarry.  It appears as though her future lies with being a single mother under the rule of her brother's home.  But then Alice loses this baby as well.    

One night, Matthew comes home late and terribly frightened.  He saw something, but when questioned by Alice he will not speak of it.  Alice herself had felt something... animal and dog-like come inside with Matthew that night but she cannot explain the phenomena and wishes to forget it.  It is after this, that Matthew begins to hunt women, especially those without family, children, or who have had children recently  pass, as well as those who may be suffering from mental distress and tries and kills them for being witches.  According to this Wikipedia article, the real life Matthew Hopkins is believed to have murdered 300 women for suspected witchcraft.  Isn't that crazy?

I always had a fascination with the witch trials, which I why I decided to pick up this book.  That being said, historical fiction isn't always my thing.  While I found this book interesting, I wasn't overly blown away with it, especially towards the end.  So dear Dewey Readers, I leave you with a rating of 3 out of 5 Coffee Beans.  

Until the next read!

~Jessica 

  

How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather - Reshelved Books

Witches, ghosts, Salem, and pumpkin lattes...No, it's not October, but how could I pass up a book that takes a modern look into the Salem Witch Trials by placing Samantha Mather, a descendent of Cotton Mather, inside this spooky town?

I found How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather (yes, the author is a decedent of Cotton Mather as well) at Target. I walked around the store with it in my arms 3 times until I decided that yes, I needed to buy this book.  For those of you who aren't up to snuff on your witchy history, the Salem Witch Trials occurred in the 1690's in Salem, MA with the killing of 20 people who were accused of witchcraft.  Cotton Mather was a minister who, as according to Wikipedia, tried to prove that demons were alive and real in Salem (Wikipedia, 2017).  

Reviews of this book as found on it's Google Books page claim it to be a mixture of the Salem Witch Trials and Mean Girls.  I guess I can see how this is kind of true.  In this book, Samantha's father goes into a coma, resulting in Samantha and her step-mother returning to her father's hometown of Salem.  Once in Salem, Samantha learns about her heritage and how it makes her disliked by the kids in her school who are descendants of the people murdered during the witch trials.  The descendants take on the role of the "popular" crowd, targeting Samantha and making her feel uncomfortable and bullied.  Hence, Mean Girls.  

I enjoyed this book up until the point where the book began to take a dive away from the witchy history of Salem and Samantha, and shift towards a supernatural Casper-like ghost story that was too flamboyant to be believable.  This is seen where Samantha makes friends and falls in love with a ghost, as well as by how the person who her step-mother is quickly changes....almost too fast.  

For this reason, I am going to give this novel 3 out of 5 coffee beans.  I didn't like the ghost friendship or the elements at the end, but I did enjoy the novel overall.  

For readers who are looking for a historical novel with a modern twist, this probably isn't the book for you.  However, for reader's who enjoy ya paranormal reads,  even if elements may not be too believable, then give this book a try! 

~Jessica 

P.S.  According to a little stalking I did on Adriana Mather's GoodReads and Instagram accounts, not only is this novel going to become a movie BUT Mather is also coming out with a second book that takes Samantha and places her on the Titanic.  Apparently, Adirana Mather's ancestors were also on the Titanic.  How crazy is that?.... And, she's an actress? (Not the actress in the book trailer though!)  

Take a look at the book trailer. This might be one of those rare instances where the movie is slightly better than the book...What do you think?