Review: The Witch of Bourbon Street by Suzanne Palmieri

The Witch of Bourbon Street

by Suzanne Palmieri

Publisher: St Martin's Griffin

Pages: 336

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Set amidst the charming chaos of The French Quarter and remote bayous of Tivoli Parish, Louisiana, Suzanne Palmieri’s The Witch of Bourbon Street weaves an unforgettable tale of mystery and magic.

Situated deep in the bayou is the formerly opulent Sorrow Estate. Once home to a magical family, the Sorrows, it now lays in ruins, uninhabited since a series of murders in 1902 shocked the entire community. When Frances Green Sorrow is born, the family is on the brink of obscurity and the last remaining Sorrows cling to the hope that she is the one who will finally resurrect the glory of what once was.

However, Frances has no wish to be the family’s savior. Disillusioned, she marries young, attempting an "ordinary life," and has a son, Jack. When her marriage fails and she loses custody of her boy, she runs away to live a quiet life on the dilapidated Sorrow Estate, where she practices solitary magic amid ghosts and gardens. But when Jack disappears, she is forced to rejoin the world she left behind and solve the century-old murder that casts a long shadow over Tivoli Parish and its inhabitants in order to find her son.

Kritters Thoughts:  Witches and magic and the modern day.  This book was an interesting take on the modern day witch with a family history.  Although I am not always the fan of the witch books, I wanted to read this one to see a modern take on it.  Frances ran away from her past and denied her abilities, but in this book she comes back into the fold of the family and finds her place.

This book is more than a dual narrative, almost everyone involved gets their own chapter or a part of a chapter to help move the story along and tell from their point of view.  I loved that all the characters shared the responsibility of telling the story.  I also loved that this book was more than the abilities that the members of this family can do, but really about the family as a whole and their relationships.  

The book was definitely wordie and although I never do this I read a few reviews when I was at the halfway point and agree that it was very slow to start and most to all of the action was saved to the bitter end which I didn't love.  If you like a slow build you would enjoy this aspect much more than I did.

If you are a witch skeptic like me, you may like this one with the intense focus on family instead of all the witchery!

Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Booksparks PR.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.