Review: Very cool concepts
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 17, 2013
The Accidental Witch  was a nice, easy read. It was fairly short, only 276 pages, and read very smoothly. I enjoyed the world that Jessica Penot created very much and would really like to see more of her work. However, it is a good thing I did not judge a book by its cover in this case. The concept for the cover was ok, but the artwork was kind of cheesy. But the cover doesn't affect the story so let's move on!Phaedra Michaels is a middle aged, divorced, psychologist with very few friends, who has made mistakes in her past but hasn't really been letting it her affect her too badly. Though she has been drinking a lot, stopped exercising, and apparently lives off of Animal Crackers and Diet Cola. Ok, maybe she's been affected just a little bit. She focuses more on her patients health and happiness than she does on her own, which I can identify with because I do that with people as well. It's a distraction from the reality that is life.Phaedra works on the psych ward at the local hospital with a staff of under qualified and under motivated people. The way they are described makes it sound like a pretty crappy place to work. The employees seem worse than the patients! Most of them are only there because a job is a job to them. There doesn't seem to be any sort of compassion for other human beings from the majority of the staff or administration.She has no real family. Her mother left when she was very young, and her father recently passed away. Her father was a very religious and abusive man and so was Phaedra's step-mother. She was not treated well growing up, and I think this caused problems for her as an adult, trying to learn how to have proper relationships. She has a few close friends, but not many, and she lives alone in the local "haunted house", which she is restoring. I think the house sounds awesome, and would be happy to live there with there. As long as she gets rid of her demon friends.The Accidental Witch  focuses on Phaedra's journey from boring, lonely, divorcee, to super powerful witch with a boyfriend, trying to free her town from the nasty demons that she has accidently summoned with her magic, who are sucking the life out of her town.I don't see how anyone could become an "accidental" witch. Generally speaking, I think you would need to intentionally start casting spells. Most of the time, a spell doesn't just pop out of nowhere unless you have done something previously to start the ball rolling. Light a candle, read something out loud from a creepy old book while you are alone instead of to yourself like a normal person, SOMETHING must happen for that first spell to be cast. So I did think it was kind of silly that the characters in this book kept claiming she had accidently done this or that, when I was under the impression that she was very intentionally trying to help her patients. I'm thinking the "Accidently" part of the title may refer more to the side effects that occur due to her untrained magic use.It is interesting to me who all in town turns out to be a witch or has a power of one sort or the other, and what the real story behind her mother is. I think you will like the storyline. I know that I did. I can't really complain about anything other than I think a character or two could be left out and no one would notice. Maybe give a little bit more details about the main characters and such, but they really do ok as they are. I think I would like to have known more about Diane, as she seems like a pretty interesting character, and I would have like to get a better developed back story for Phaedra's house.I enjoyed this book and it was fun to read. Phaedra has a witty sense of humor that kept me laughing at the appropriate times. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good witchy, magic filled book that is looking to pass a rainy (or snowy!) afternoon.I received a complimentary copy of this book for an honest review.