Book Review - The Witch's Tears

My plan was to read The Witch's Tears and the third/final book in the trilogy, The Witch's Blood, before March hit. But, sadly, I failed. Mainly because I overwhelmed myself with reading/audiobooks this past month and I have kinda hit a wall with reading fantasy. It's hard to read Witch's Tears when you are listening to Shadow of Night (review here) and Book of Life by Deborah Harkness while trying to find a work/home balance and other things have gone all in the air and unsettled me (I am like a cat. I like things a certain way and if anything messes that up...!). Because of all this, I have kinda hit a wall with reading fantasy so I need a mini-break from magic for a book or two (though I have shot myself in the foot a little due to timing - you'll find out on the 1st March)...

Getting back on track, The Witch's Tears. This is the second book in the Witch's Kiss trilogy and takes place several months after the events of Witch's Kiss. Merry is struggling. Struggling with being a teenage witch, struggling with all the textbooks and rules the coven are setting for her, struggling with her grief over Jack's death, and struggling over what to do with her older brother Leo. Leo is falling apart and every time Merry tries, it pushes him further and further away. She doesn't know what to do anymore...

Then two strangers arrive in town, both getting involved in Merry and Leo's lives. Then Leo and Merry's grandmother vanishes and the rules of the coven no longer seem important. Rules are made to be broken... right?

Like I said earlier, I have hit a wall with fantasy because I overloaded myself, but I must say I do like this series. I like that while this does feel dark, it reads quite light and fluffy. This is a series I would happily read on the beach. I like the characters (even when I wanted to shake them and shout "FOR THE LOVE OF -! USE YOUR WORDS AND OPEN YOUR EYES!") and whenever I read this for ten/fifteen minutes, it felt easy and fun, even when the book was dark.

Now, if you have read my review of Witch's Kiss last year (review here), you know I said that it had faults. While some of the faults were addressed, some are still there. It did still feel a bit skeletal at times and I saw things coming miles away (I do this all the time). Plus, there were one or two moments while reading, I kinda wish it was pushed a little further, give us a bit of grit and darkness. This book does touch on some dark magic and dark issues that could have been good place to go darker, but I get why the authors's decided not to do that.

Plus, the pacing might annoy you guys. It's a little slower than Witch's Kiss, if my memory serves me right. It's more pin-pricks of "Something wicked this way comes", but the last 100 or so pages, the book picks the pace and I fly through the book.

This trilogy does have faults and it's more preteen/clean teen compared to most YA I need, but I do enjoy reading this trilogy, and once I get out of my fantasy funk, I will be diving straight into Witch's Blood.