Title: The Witch
Within
Author: Jacqueline
Paige
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Reviewer: Aly
Book Description:
Magic locked up long ago for the safety
of all awakens in modern society where bad intentions are on every street
corner.
Three women unaware of the power their
ancestors passed onto them is the only thing that stands between the dark magic
that lays in wait.
Reviewer:
This book honestly fascinated me. Witchcraft, especially when at least part of it is set during the persecution in the past, as this book did. Although fear not, it is not all in the past. Most of The Witch Within is set in a more recent familiar time for those of you who aren’t a big fan of historic novels. But it does involve characters who are alive during witchcraft persecutions and fear for their lives.
Fast forward to the present and meet Teegan, sort of your average, everyday female. Or maybe not so much. But still Teegan is amazingly relatable to. Except for the magic thing of course. Teegan is honestly an interesting, well written character. And she’s not one to stand down when someone threatens those she loves. It’s amazing to see her grow into her powers and learn how to control them as well as deal with a shocking attraction to Leland. I do enjoy the fact that there is romance and you see the relationship grow between the two as well. I didn’t feel as attached or that Leland had as much growth as Teegan did.
It was an interesting plot if a little slow at times. I mean sometimes it was more about the dialogue and interaction between characters that are meant to familiarize yourself with the characters as well as getting some information across. And that was great! But there were times that you just wished the action would hurry up but that could just be slight impatience to find out what would happen with the showdown.
The strange things were a bit odd but not necessarily something that is noticeable until it’s happened twice. I mean okay some of the incidents were strange enough to stand out but there was one or two that could just have happened on its own. And maybe that’s some of the fun. Trying to make sure that something that seems to be witchcraft was actually so.
Overall, The Witch Within was solid and was well-written.
Available at Amazon
About the Author
Jacqueline Paige lives in Ontario in a
small town that's part of the popular Georgian Triangle area. No one has ever heard of Stayner, so she
usually tells people she lives near Collingwood and no, she doesn't ski at Blue
Mountain or at all, in fact she's not even fond of snow.
She began her writing career in 2006 and
since her first published works in 2009 she hasn't stopped. Jacqueline describes her writing as all
things paranormal, which she has proven is her niche with stories of witches,
ghosts, physics and shifters now on the shelves.
When Jacqueline isn't working at her
reality job or lost in her writing she spends time with her five children, most
of whom are finally able to look after her instead of the other way
around. Together they do random road
trips, that usually end up with them lost,
shopping trips where they push every button in the toy aisle, hiking
when there's enough time to escape and bizarre things like creating new daring
recipes in the kitchen. She's a grandmother to five (so far) and looks forward
to corrupting many more in the years to come.
@JacqPaige
Author Interview
The Book Landers: I know you’re probably used to being asked this
question, but I’m going to ask it anyways: What inspired you to begin writing?
Jacqueline Paige: I wanted to write before but with five young children life
took over for years. I guess you could say I seriously started in 2006 though –
but not in the way most start. I sat
down and wrote an entire novel (From Beltane Magic) as a joke to have the last word
with a friend of mine. She went away for
a month and I jokingly asked her what I was going to do with her gone and her
reply was “write a book”. So I did.
Actually by the time she got home I was in the middle of book 2 in the
Magic Seasons series. Both of us were
shocked that I was good at this writing thing.
TTBL: What is your favorite aspect of writing?
JP: I get to do all the “what ifs” I think
about when I’m reading another book … and I get to make my own rules and
ending J
TTBL: What piece of writing are you most proud of?
JP: That’s a hard one to answer, obviously I
like all of my writing or it would never reach publishing. I would have to say two of my most recent are
ones that hold a special thrill for me.
The Huntress is one , it’s the first NA genre I’ve tackled and I’m so
happy with where it went and look forward to writing the rest of the
series. After the Silence would be the
second one. This series was huge to
tackle and it was hard to not go where all other post-apocalyptic books go so
I’m very proud of where I was able to take it.
TTBL: What are some of your hobbies?
JP: Reading – obviously. Lol I don’t have a lot of time for hobbies
anymore, but something I do enjoy is playing online MMO games just to step out
of my head and be someone else for a few – in these I’m just a nobody enjoying
the game along with all the other anonymous players.
TTBL: What are some of your favorite books?
JP: Another hard one … I can do authors and
we’ll just say “all of their books” – Christine Feehan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena
Showalter are my top three favorites – followed by about 20 others.
TTBL: Which character do you enjoy writing about the
most?
JP: I enjoy all of them while I’m writing –
it’s easy to see the ones I don’t they end up dead or otherwise “gone”. In The Witch Within I really enjoyed the
parts with the ancestors. It was a challenge to go back in time that far and
try to get in their head … even if it was brief.
TTBL: Which fictional character is most like you?
JP: Any sarcastic one would fit me to a
tee. Although my family say I’m a
mythical-all-knowing creature with infinite powers … so we’ll go with that one.
Lol
TTBL: Are there any fictional characters that
influence you?
JP: Honestly I couldn’t narrow that one down if
I tried – it changes with each book I read or movie I see. – plus I have all
the ones from past books I’ve written and those to be written living inside my
head. Some days I’m not even sure if I’m
still in there.
TTBL: Chocolate or vanilla?
JP: Chocolate … unless it’s ice cream then it’s
vanilla. (I’m complicated)
TTBL: Any
fun facts you want readers to know about you?
JP: I never wear matching socks – ever. (it’s boring and predicatble)
Thanks so much for having me here today!!
J
Read an Excerpt!
The sun was long past
setting as the six gathered deep in the darkness and began moving through the
trees. Their only light was that of the
luminescent moon at its fullest. The
youngest of the six led the way, she may have been the least in years, yet the
others knew she was the one that held all the strength.
In her wake, each would
turn and check their trail to be certain no one followed. If their parents were ever to know, it would
be the end of them all. The power and
gifts they held secret had been discovered quite by accident a few years before,
since that time they had honed their great skills of true magic.
Eden quickly caught up
to her sister at the front, a sister of choice and not from blood. Ducking her head, she whispered as close to
Alana’s ear as she possibly could. “Do
you know of the reason for the summoning?”
Alana shook her pitch
black hair back from her face. “I do
not.” She turned towards the lake and
increased the pace of her step. Peering
back over her shoulder, she gauged the others closeness and then spoke as soft
as a breeze. “A dark feeling has filled
me for many days past, I fear it is not for good reasons we gather on this
autumnal night.” She patted the bundle
she carried from cord at her side. “We
must be wary and prepared.”
Eden inhaled sharply and
dropped back a pace. “I shall caution
Bridget.” Alana only lifted her face to
the moons rays and continued on. Turning
to look quickly at the three that walked a ways behind, heads close together,
she turned and gave Bridget a stare to bring her to hasten her movement
forward. As soon as she was within
hearing, she whispered to the ground. “Alana
has dark feelings – yet again.”
Bridget sighed quite
loudly. “I have been a feared of such
since two days past, she walks about with that crease on her brow and my guts
supposed it were to be brusquely that our scheme was at hand.”
Eden nodded, but daren’t
say more for fear of the others overhearing.
Once reaching the lake,
the six spread out the distance between their bodies, in habit a circle was
formed. Alana set her bundle upon the
ground at her feet and turned to the eldest among them. “Having done as you stated, not one of us
have uttered a query for this assembly you have called, Ella.” She looked around at her sisters of her
choosing to see their rapt attention on the one she spoke to. “Do end our curiosity, sister and share the
meaning if you please.” She kept her
focus on the crimson haired sister, watching for a sign she prayed would not be
revealed. Ella flipped her long locks back as she let her eyes move over each
girl present. The last she looked upon
was Alana, as she knew to be common with her.
“It is my right to call
each of you – as only sisters of our circle apt to do.” Lenora and Jane were the only of the five
that agreed readily. “The year is now
one thousand, six hundred eighty- five. It has been five years past, since the
night we found our way to one another, as we are. I have a wish to ensure the threats to our
very lives are secure and to behold a power that we six are deserving of.”
Alana shook her head
when Eden inhaled raggedly. “Sister,
Ella, have we not spoke of this to the point of tiring? The hunts have ceased,
no more shall be accused nor sought. We
are here, each one of us safe.” She
chanced a glance at the others and found the group was as she knew it to be,
split in two groups of three. “Not once
during the trials and fearsome times did even one come to think of us as a sort
of betrayer to the word...”
“Alana, child, you are
what now? Ten and three years?” Ella
smiled in that maddening way she had.
“I, having five further years on yours can feel it in my bones, these
outrageous happenings are not at a cease and we are very much in need of
ensuring it does not come to pass again.”
Alana dropped her head
down and let her black hair cover her face whilst she sought out the vibrations
of the others dear to her heart. Lifting
her face she beheld the moon hanging over the lake. “We are but children, Ella. As god fearing as any that step in the arch
of our church, we have nothing to fear.”
“We have everything to
fear!” Ella’s voice rose through the
silence of the night. “I shall be a
betrothed woman in short time and then what will become of me when my husband
discovers what I am?”
Eden replied before
Alana had the chance. “I am certain
William will be ignorant in your habits, sister. How would he ever find a clue unless you told
him you are a witch of magicks.”
Lenora stepped forward
and shook her head. “In less than the
years we have been together, each of us shall be wives – then what shall we
ever do?”
“I agree.” Jane said quietly. “In one year’s time I too will be set to
marry.”
Bridget lifted her head
and glared at Jane. “Whoever shall marry
you shall get what he has coming to him.”
Tiring from the words
they had all said to her many times before, Alana raised her hands in the air
and sent a gust of wind through the circle.
“I cannot bear to hear this again, sisters.” She turned and watched as Ella and Jane
nodded to one another. “I am not taking
part in your scheme of evil darkness.”
Ella snorted in an
unpleasant manner. “You would break your
word to each present here?”
Alana took a step back,
bringing her close to the water’s edge.
“I would not.” Her eyes quickly
met that of Eden and Bridget before she finished. “I would choose to revoke all I that I have
been given than do unjust things to others that cannot defend themselves from
your dark ways.”
Lenora gasped. “You would not...”
Alana raised her
hands. “I would exactly.”
Jane stepped in front of
Ella. “For you to revoke your gifts,
would you not be obliged to take all of ours?”
Alana shrugged. “Mayhap it will take all no one can be
certain.”
Ella shoved Jane out of
her way. “You would not dare to try,
young sister...”
Eden bent down at
Alana’s feet and opened the bundle.
Alana opened her hands in front of her and bit her lip to stop from
hissing as her sister placed a small score on each of her palms. Keeping her focus on the three opposed, she
prayed they could not see. When Eden
straightened and walked past Bridget, she knew the task was complete.
Alana clasped a hand
each of Eden and Bridget and raised their arms; the blood from the shallow
scores upon their hands mixed and brought to her a heat of power that only she
could have born.
“Sister, Eden, stop
them!” Lenora cried.
Alana closed her eyes
and felt the winds circle her with recognition.
Beneath her feet the ground quivered, waiting for her to speak to
it. As she opened her eyes and focused
on the three sisters she did not now touch, she felt the spray from the water
at her back cover her in small droplets.
“I cannot be part of something that goes against all that I feel to be
right, sisters.” Tilting her head she
looked at Jane. “Join us in protecting
what is just.”
Jane’s eyes widened and
for the briefness of a heartbeat, Alana thought there was a small chance she
might agree, but she shook her head and stepped beside Ella. Woefulness filled her insides, even though
she knew the outcome days before, her heart begged her to attempt.
“Lenora?” Once more she waited even
though she knew another sister was lost to her.
Lenora backed further away and looked at the sand under her feet. “So
shall it be,” Alana whispered.
Inhaling slowly she
raised her eyes to the moon whose rays bound her to the sky above. “I call ...”
“Wait!” Ella’s voice was filled with panic. “We can speak more of this and draw an end
that pleases each one of us together.”
The fear jolted into her
from the hands she held. Without looking
at Ella, she sought to feel what was in her soul. Pain enveloped her heart as the truth coursed
into her. “Why speak of falseness,
eldest sister? I know what lurks in your
heart and I must protect the innocent you wish to cause sufferance to.”
Raising her hands higher
she spoke to the night. “I call upon the night and all of her energy, come to
me and abet me with this, my last task.”
The winds swirled coloured leaves around her, she smiled and let the
magic wash over, feeling the warm welcome of it just once more. Lightening streaked through the clear sky
above, she inhaled the power. “I seek to bind this three and three from doing
any harm.” A circle of flames burst
around them, flicking as long tongues of three feet high, blocking the outside
from entering and the six from leaving.
“I send for safe keeping all that we have, the gifts that you gave, to
our furthest ancestors to keep within until there is a dire need of them.”
A stinging traveled
along her flesh as the energies gathered, waiting for her leave go of. “When a time comes that this three and three
be together once more, awaken and come again...” So much power was collecting inside her she
had no choice but to cry a single tear, knowing that this was the last time she
would feel it in this body. “Collect
inside the generations and carry us forward to a time long from now.” She could hear crying, but was not to take a
chance to see which sister or sisters it came from. “Select the one that bear
good will and hold an honest heart and make her remember. Remember the times of this six and behold the
gifts we pass to her.” A clap of thunder
sounded across the sky, its cry echoing over the lake until it faded back into
the night. “I thank you from deep within
and now set you free...”
A strong tunnel of wind
gust through the circle, stealing any more she had to speak. Opening her eyes wider she watched as each
sister dropped to the ground, leaving her the last one standing. A burning washed over her, pulling at her
until she thought she could bear it no longer, and then it was gone. Emptiness
filled her as the flames swallowed into the ground. Behind her the water was now lying calmly as
it had been when they had arrived. The earth was now silent, as it had been.
The rays of the moon seemed no more than a light in the darkness, without power
and purpose.
A draining feeling
passed through her, causing her legs to weaken under her until she dropped onto
the sand and panted to seek to breathe once again. Looking around, the others didn’t move, they
just lay where they had fallen without a word.
When she glanced upon Ella, the hatred was clearly on her face.
“I will have
vengeance.” Ella hissed at her.
Alana rolled onto her
back and looked at the sky, feeling like nothing more than a child again. “You may seek to strive for such.” She answered softly. “My will shall fall to my kin far from now
and we shall see if you find triumph.”
To feel nothing but commonness once more—it was wondrous to feel.
Was she floating? See seemed weightless enough to be. Squeezing her eyes shut, she counted to ten
before opening them again.
Hovering above a lake,
she could see her own shadow cast on the water from the moon above her.
A dream, it had to be a
dream. The last time she checked none of
her life skills involved floating.
Glancing around, she
didn’t recognize the area below her. People were walking through trees, or
maybe those were just children...
Where was she?
A void feeling came over
her, like she was fading...
What was that ringing
noise?
Bolting up, Teegan
looked around to realize she was in her own living room.
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