I received an e-ARC of American Witch by Thea Harrison from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is the first book in a new trilogy and it’s set in the Elder Races universe. I loved Dragon Bound so much so I was glad to be in that world again. However, this was in an entirely different part of the country and I didn’t see any characters I recognized from the three Elder Races books I’ve read, but I think there were mentions of some characters from her other books.
Molly Sullivan is in an unhappy marriage to an asshole lawyer. She discovers he’s cheating on her and she leaves him in spectacular fashion. She also discovers she has awakening Powers. She meets Josiah, a very old witch, and he gives her some training. Molly is extremely powerful and learns quickly. There is a mystery involving some shady business dealings of her ex-husband’s and a centuries-old feud between Josiah and an ancient witch. Molly and Josiah don’t hit it off right away but there’s an attraction and they develop a relationship. Magical and mundane stuff happens. It’s all very enjoyable and drove me to devour the book in one day.
I enjoyed Molly’s journey of self-discovery. She is a strong woman who had let herself be beaten down by a bad relationship and getting free from her husband opens her up to explore a positive future for herself. Josiah is controlling and overbearing, but somehow still likable to me. I think what I appreciated the most was that Molly stood up to him and he respected her for it. He acknowledged when he was being a jerk, and he really grew to care for her. When he drops the first “I love you,” I believed it. And I liked that he was willing to (mostly) abandon his quest for revenge to be the guy that Molly deserved.
I give this book Five Big Magical Stars, and I can’t wait for the next one in the trilogy. This book reminded me how much I enjoy Thea Harrison’s world building and characterization and just her writing in general. I wonder which of the secondary characters will be featured. This book introduced lots of people but didn’t give a strong hint to any other relationships. Which I appreciated. I hate it when there’s a big neon sign pointing to the next book. It feels like an advertisement.
HEA or GTFO 