Maine – Karen Creamer Author, Coach, Speaker

I just finished reading The Alchemist’s Daughter by Mary Lawrence. All I can say is, YAY!

Mary’s book is a work of historical fiction, so if you’re into that, you’ll love it. Not a historical fiction fan? Don’t limit yourself! Read it anyway. You’ll still love it! Right from the beginning, you will feel like you’re in London in the 1500’s. The language itself helps to immerse you in the story.

One thing I love is when I’m reading a book and I have to–no, wait; I get to–go grab a dictionary because I’ve stumbled upon an unfamiliar word. Wherry? Kirtle? Bring it! I know these words now!

Bianca, the main character, is fascinated by the metaphysical, and so am I, so I fell in love with her right away. She is also brave, which is something I aspire to be in my own life, and this kept me rooting for her in her bleaker moments. Bianca always wants to know the truth in any situation, even it if will make her own life more difficult.

My favorite part of the book (page 123): I love when Bianca is in her rent (another cool word!) by the fire, reviewing and assimilating all her thoughts, feelings, and impressions from recent events, allowing her intuition to fuse them all together and distill them into an explanation for what has happened.

Best quote from the book (page 126): “The only thing that could possess such a man to be out on a night like this was money. Though sometimes love could. But mostly money.”

If you are squeamish like me, and rats are the stuff your nightmares are made of, here’s a helpful hint: read the rat parts quickly.

Fun fact: one of the characters in the book, Meddybemps, is named after a town in Maine! See what you can learn at an author talk?
If you are local: Mary Lawrence will be signing her books at Books-a-Million in South Portland, Maine tomorrow at 2pm. Maybe you should go!

Capturing the Last Welsh Witch is the story of Ella and Marcus, a story that spans time and space. Ella is not who she seems to be. Ella is from the clan of Ariana, and is a being that has lived before. She has always had flashbacks from her prior lives. She is well aware of her incarnations prior to this one.

The book opens with Ella in the thick of it with a very bad man. She comes to battered and bruised, aware of having had an altercation, much of which she can’t recall right away. Vampires and Soul-Shifters and Witches, oh my!

Her memory comes back to her in bits and frightening pieces, as she tries to figure out how she got to where she was and hey, what the hell happened, anyway?

She is soon joined by Marcus, the FBI agent assigned to bring her in. There are multiple layers to his being as well, of which, unlike Ella, he is only just becoming aware.

Their lives intertwine and are underwritten by a tumultuous love story, as they both try to figure out who they are to each other, and what to do with that knowledge once they have it. At the same time that Ella is running from The Elusti, Marcus in running toward them, adding to the tension in the story.

Ella’s sad story is that all of the men in her prior lives have betrayed her, leading to disastrous outcomes. Now she has to decide if past history will predict the present situation, or if she can risk trusting a man.

Marcus is faced with a moral dilemma that many of us have also faced on the job. Should he follow the orders from his supervisor that make no sense, or follow his gut? And just like in real life, when he follows his gut, his true path emerges.

Full disclosure: there is a little more violence in this book than I usually let into my comfort zone, but the nice love story made it worthwhile.

The best quote in the book is this one, said to Marcus by his mother Josephine (p. 84):

“Listen with your heart, not your mind.”

Side note: The references to Wells (my town!), Maine definitely made me happy. YAY! WELLS! The friendliest town in Maine!

You can buy Capturing the Last Welsh Witch by J.M. Davies on Amazon.com. Check out her Facebook page!