Showing posts with label witches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label witches. Show all posts

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Review - Bitchcraft

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

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Bitchcraft is a supernatural & paranormal anthology with stories by J.A. Cummings, S.B. Rhodes, Lindy S. Hudis, Katie Jaarsveld, J.M. Goodrich.

A young girl accused of witchcraft in the late 1500s, a grandmother’s dying request, three girls who get more than they bargained for while seeking revenge, college students who play with forces they do not understand, and a woman’s search for her ancestor’s legacy. Take a look inside to learn more about the witches of Bitchcraft.

I think it's pretty obvious why what attracted me to Bitchcraft - it was the title! As well as the neat the cover art.

Bitchcraft is a supernatural anthology featuring the stories Phoenix Rising by S.B. Rhodes, Tabitha by J.A. Cummings, The Summoning by Lindy S. Hudis, Hidden Consequences by Katie Jaarsveld, and Dead Girls Don't Cry by J.M. Goodrich. As you can probably guess by the title, the stories all involve witches or some sort of witchcraft.

Out of the five tales, my favorite is The Summoning, which is a retelling of Bloody Mary, a legend that centers around a person looking at a mirror in the dark and repeating Bloody Mary three times. In this tale, a witch will come out of the mirror. I'm not going to give any spoilers but the author, Lindy S. Hudis, crafted a few twists that I quite enjoyed.

Dead Girls Don't Cry reminded be a bit too much of the horror movie The Craft. It's was an alright read but the "revenge" plot has been done to death.

Phoenix Rising centers around a young girl who dabbles into the world of witchcraft. While it seems harmless to her, the local villagers have a completely different opinion. The story starts off a little slow but it ended up being a good read.

Tabitha and Hidden Consequences were my least favorites. They're well-written but I just didn't care for the plots.

Overall, the Bitchcraft anthology should appeal to most supernatural and paranormal readers. Like most anthologies, some stories are better than others.



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J. A. Cummings was born in Flint, Michigan and was raised in a nearby town called Clio. Appropriately enough for someone growing up in a place named for the Muse of history, she developed a passion for reading and the past that continues to this day. Her love of poetry and storytelling quickly followed.


S.B. Rhodes — I am a writer and editor. I have known that I wanted to be a writer since I was eight years old, and I am thrilled to be able to make that dream a reality. I am working on a novel, which I hope to publish sometime in the near future. I also write articles and do some freelancing. I mostly do ghostwriting, and I have recently begun to branch out and do more of my own work as well.


Lindy S. Hudis is a graduate of New York University, where she studied drama at Tisch School of the Arts. She also performed in a number of Off-Off Broadway theater productions while living in New York City.

She is the author of several titles, including her romance suspense novel, Weekends, her "Hollywood" story City of Toys, and her crime novel, Crashers. Her latest release, "L.A. Foxx: Hollywood Underworld" is the first installment of a crime, mystery series.

She is also the author of several erotic short stories, including "The S&M Club," "The Backstage Pass," "Guitar God," "The Guitarist," and "The Mile High Club." Her short film "The Lesson," which she wrote, produced and directed, was screened at the Seattle Underground Film Festival and Cine-Nights in 2000.

She is also a former actress, having appeared in the television daytime drama "Sunset Beach," also "Married with Children," "Beverly Hills 90210" and the feature film "Indecent Proposal" . She and her husband, Hollywood stuntman Stephen Hudis, have formed their own production company called Impact Motion Pictures, and have several projects and screenplays in development. She lives in California with her husband and two children.


 
Katie Jaarsveld was born in America. She had an imagination and though she was continually writing something, she was not published until later in life.

Having the support of family members as well as her husband, she finished stories she had written years earlier and brought them to life.

Being encouraged by fellow authors gave her the courage to chase her dreams and become one of the published.


Jeanine Goodrich (Mason) is a newly self-published author, originally from Sault Ste Marie, MI. Her debut novel, Celestial Souls, was published last November and is available on Amazon in paperback, e-book, and is free in Kindle Unlimited, under her pen name J.M. Goodrich. Jeanine currently resides in Gwinn, MI with her husband, two sons, and their cat. In her spare time she enjoys reading, spending time with her family, and continues to write fantasy novels.



Thursday, February 13, 2020

Review - The Waking of Ghosts by Lilliana Rose

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

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There is an evil awakening. At the Lost Souls academy, students aren’t your typical everyday alumni.
Rejects from clans, packs, and covens walk these halls, but there’s something more sinister haunting the academy. A resident ghost has new student, Zarya, on the fight to banish it. Will her actions cause more enemies at her new school than friends?

‘I’m coming for you.’

A message from beyond has Zarya fearful. Her skills are underdeveloped, but as a ghost hunter, she must stand and fight this new evil.

Can Zarya grow to be the ghost hunter she’s destined to be or will forces overpower her and bring chaos and destruction to the Lost Souls Academy?

Once upon a time, I used to read quite a bit of paranormal and supernatural stories until I got bored with the genre. I'm not exactly sure what made me want to read The Walking of Ghosts  —  the title or the stunning the cover art.

The book centers around the Lost Souls Academy, which is a school for rejects ― witches, werewolves, ghosts, and vampires who don't fit in with other supernaturals. The main character is Zarya, who happens to be a witch and a ghost hunter.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Waking of Ghosts. I never know what to expect with a new author so my expectations were an open book, and I was pleasantly surprised with the story. Supernatural and paranormal school plots have been done to death over the years but author Lilliana Rose cleverly found new ways to make the genre fun again. The characters are well-written and the dialogue is lively. It ends in a cliffhanger so I'm wondering what happens next.


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Lilliana is an Amazon Bestselling author, who writes romance in the subgenres of contemporary, paranormal, steampunk, and rural. She enjoys helping characters overcome problems, or issues, and the misunderstandings that often plague relationships, to help them fall in love. Whether it city heels being replaced with country work boots, or some magic beyond this world, or cogs and gears and corsets, each story shows how love can prevail.

Saturday, October 10, 2015

DVD Review - Witches Of East End: The Complete Season 2




I'm sure many horror fans (me included) will be watching the season premiere of The Walking Dead this Sunday. And a few others will be patently waiting for Halloween Night for the first episode of Ash vs Evil Dead (which also includes me). I guess you can say that I like any television series that has a horror theme. Yes, that even means that I watched the short-lived Witches of East End!

I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of the series before since in it aired on Lifetime. It loosely based on the books by by Melissa de la Cruz. The series debuted in the fall in 2013 and centered on Joanna Beauchamp (played by Julia Ormond) & her two daughters, Ingrid (played by Rachel Boston) and Freya (played by Jenna Dewan Tatum). Their lives are turned upside down when Joanna's sister Wendy (played by Mädchen Amick) arrives and forces Joanna to tell the girls the truth that they're immortal witches from Asgard.

Plus, a curse was played on Joanna and Wendy years ago. Wendy was cursed with nine lives, the ability to turn into a black cat and every time that she dies, she comes back to life within hours. Joanna was cursed with seeing her daughters die in their twenties and immediately becomes pregnant with them again. This cycle is repeated over and over, to the point where she had hid the girls' heritage from them.
 
The first season was basically a cheesy soap opera with love triangles, silly plots and so-so acting, but for some strange reason I still watched it. Oh, wait, it probably has to do with the fact that the all the actresses gorgeous.

Anyway, Season two debuted in the summer of 2014 with little advertisement from Lifetime. The first episode picks up shortly after the season one's finale, which showed what happens to Killian Gardiner (played by Daniel Di Tomasso). Meanwhile, his brother Dash (played Eric Winter) is experimenting with his new-found powers. Who are these guys? Well, Dash is Freya's ex-fiance and Killan is her soul mate. Remember, I said this was like a soap opera!

Thursday, June 26, 2014

DVD Review - Witches Of East End: The Complete First Season


Witches Of East End: The Complete First Season
Starring: Julia Ormond, Mädchen Amick, Rachel Boston, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Daniel Di Tomasso, Eric Winter
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: June 24, 2014
Retail: $29.98
ASIN: B00JF5GAZA
Running Time: 431 minutes
Rating: TV-14

Review:

Arriving on DVD yesterday is the supernatural Lifetime series, Witches Of East End: The First Complete Season, based on the popular book franchise by Melissa de la Cruz. Special Features include Falling Under Their Spell, deleted scenes, gag reel and cat bloopers.

The series centers around Joanna Beauchamp (played by Julia Ormond), a single mother raising her two twenty-something daughters, Freya Beauchamp (played by Jenna Dewan Tatum) and Ingrid Beauchamp (played by Rachel Boston). Ingrid works at a library, while Freya works as a bartender at The Bent Elbow and is engaged to the handsome and wealthy Dash Gardiner (played by Eric Winter). After the surprise arrival of Joannas long-estranged sister, Wendy Beauchamp (played by Mädchen Amick), Freya and Ingrid learn a startling family secret - they are actually witches!

Joanna and Wendy were both banished by their father from the magical world of Asgard. A curse was put on Joanna, where she must watch her daughters die at a young age. After their deaths, she becomes magically pregnant again with Ingrid and later with Freya. She watches them grow up with their witchcraft heritage, which eventually leads to their deaths, over and over again. Finally, Joanna came to the decision not to tell her daughters about their witchcraft abilities, but there is an evil entity that is out for blood and she has no choice but to let the girls embrace their family's magical legacy.

The ten episodes on the 3-disc set are: