Blog Tour and Giveaway: Blackheath by Gabrielle Lepore

18:00 Cilla 2 Comments

Follow the Blackheath tour! Find the tour schedule here.

Title: Blackheath

Author: Gabriella Lepore
Publication date: 12th December, 2015 ll Amazon
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Maggie Ellmes is dogged by a case of chronic bad luck. She figures that’s just her lot in life—that is, until the psychic at Blackheath’s annual carnival reveals that Maggie’s problems are caused by more than just ordinary misfortune; she’s actually been cursed.

Desperate to shake the hex, Maggie has no choice but to seek out the help of Joel Tomlins, a rebellious classmate who’s descended from Blackheath’s most powerful line of witches. After breaking all of his coven’s conventions to help her, Joel discovers that the curse isn’t as bad as Maggie fears. In fact, it’s much, much worse.

Review:

It was the mention of coven of witches that first caught my interest. It has been some time since my last Paranormal YA, and so I was looking forward to reading about how magic works in the Blackheath universe. From the synopsis, I got some insta-love vibe (girl in distress + rebellious boy seems to be a recipe for it to me) and was a little wary of that aspect. In the end, the magic remains my favourite part about this story.

The Tomlins' world of magic is fascinating not necessarily in the power that they can wield, but in the tension and connections it creates. Joel and his brothers have been abandoned repeatedly by both parents, and magic continues to drive a wedge in the family. My favourite relationship in the book is that of Joel and Evan. Communication problems (they are teenage boys) and parental issues occasionally makes their relationship a difficult one, but it's clear that they care deeply about each other. I'm so curious about their mother too! Overall, the family mystery makes a more appealing story to me than Joel and Maggie's relationship.

For the first few chapters, I loved the chemistry between Joel and Maggie. She is cheeky and talkative where he's more likely to keep to himself, and it makes for a good match. I liked the history of friendship between them and enjoyed the level of comfort (which was exactly like that of estranged occasional friends). It's this history that stops me from calling what happens in the rest of the book insta-love. Still, the progression from that estrangement to Joel's willingness to pull out all the stops for Maggie felt very quick to me. I wish they had remained platonic for longer, or that we got to see more of their previous friendship.

Overall, I found this book to be a fun read, but my reservations about the romance kept me from fully enjoying the second half of the book. I would recommend this to bookworms who enjoy their YA with a good helping of magic, brotherly love, and dysfunctional family.

Author

Gabriella Lepore lives on the coast of Wales in the United Kingdom. She began writing at an early age and grew up with a passion for all things supernatural—especially witches! She currently has six Young Adult books in print: Evanescent, The Blackheath Witches, How I Found You, Secrets In Phoenix, and The Witches of the Glass Castle books 1 & 2.

Website -- Goodreads -- Facebook -- Twitter