I love a good story that involves witches but I didn’t love this one and I didn’t hate it either. This is like the third or fourth book I’ve read in the Gothic fiction genre and every time it’s always a weird reading experience. Maybe that’s the purpose because the writing wasn’t bad just the way the story is told and its delivery was rather strange. 

Tansy and Guy move to Bellinas a coastal town in California to follow a cult like community created by Manny who’s basically a billionaire married to Guy’s cousin Mia. Tansy never really wanted to move to Bellinas it was Guy’s idea after they took a trip to visit. It seems as though during that visit Guy was immediately under their spell which forced Tansy to follow suit. I really hated them together Guy was never for Tansy. She knew in her gut something was wrong with that town it gave eerie vibes from the jump but she ignored her intuition. As Guy embraces their new home cause he was a fucking airhead Tansy struggles to fit in. The town of Bellinas wasn’t the problem it was the community that was rather odd. Portraying themselves as a spiritual community when they were nothing but that. After being told never to enter the woods alone Tansy does anyway and discovers the truth of their Bellinas ways. 

The beginning started with Tansy being locked in the school writing a letter about what’s transpired in case she doesn’t live to tell anyone what happened. What I didn’t like is that it took soooooooo long to get anywhere in the book after that. The first half was the author describing the town of Bellinas and the things they were doing. We never get to the core of the story until 75% of the book is finished. There was also a lack of complexity of the characters aside from Manny and Tansy. 

Overall, I don’t know how I feel about this book. It’s taken forever to write a review cause I’m still at a loss for words. The pacing was beyond slow for a 200 something page book. It had potential but didn’t hit the mark because it was overly detailed in the wrong places. We needed a little more action, thrill, or something. Special thanks to the author and @catapult for my gifted copy‼️