READING: WItches Of The East End by Melissa De La Cruz

WItches Of The East End by Melissa De La Cruz

Publication date: June 21st, 2011
Published by: Disney-Hyperion
Genre: Adult Paranormal, Witches
Rating: 3/5

The three Beauchamp women--Joanna and her daughters Freya and Ingrid--live in North Hampton, out on the tip of Long Island. Their beautiful, mist-shrouded town seems almost stuck in time, and all three women lead seemingly quiet, uneventful existences. But they are harboring a mighty secret--they are powerful witches banned from using their magic. Joanna can resurrect people from the dead and heal the most serious of injuries. Ingrid, her bookish daughter, has the ability to predict the future and weave knots that can solve anything from infertility to infidelity. And finally, there's Freya, the wild child, who has a charm or a potion that can cure most any heartache.

For centuries, all three women have been forced to suppress their abilities. But then Freya, who is about to get married to the wealthy and mysterious Bran Gardiner, finds that her increasingly complicated romantic life makes it more difficult than ever to hide her secret. Soon Ingrid and Joanna confront similar dilemmas, and the Beauchamp women realize they can no longer conceal their true selves. They unearth their wands from the attic, dust off their broomsticks, and begin casting spells on the townspeople. It all seems like a bit of good-natured, innocent magic, but then mysterious, violent attacks begin to plague the town. When a young girl disappears over the Fourth of July weekend, they realize it's time to uncover who and what dark forces are working against them.

Witches Of The East End was neither here nor there for me. It was good, but nothing special. Potential was all there, but it was a short book and kinda sloppy too, I think.

The story I liked a lot, I think it was very interesting and very clever of De La Cruz to mix deities from different mythologies, Norse and Greek for example. Although I was not clear on the fact of how daughters of a god are witches and not semi or full on goddesses themselves. 

In general, though the thought behind the story and the world building was genuinely good, I felt that De La Cruz kinda rushed it a little bit. So many things were explained very hastily and therefore were difficult to believe. We get a vague warning that the girls(Freya and Ingrid) and their mother (Joanna) should never under any circumstances use magic, a restriction that binds them since the Salem trials. But when they started breaking the rules they did it with unparalleled ease and not thinking about the consequences. The no-punishment kinda negates the whole idea of restriction. 

As for the characters, well yeah they were OK I guess. Kinda bland, not really memorable. Freya's and Killian's romance was awkward and just not believable. I liked her better with Bran. Don't you hate when a female character has an affair and she says "My lover is good and the sex is good but I love my husband and I know my place and I'm doing a mistake by having an affair", only to say in the end "I knew it!I knew my husband was not the guy for me" What???You knew?Really?Girl, please!

I liked Ingrid's character more than Freya's. Although she too had a quality I despise in a woman-not interested in a man but when he goes out with another woman then they think he's hot. Grow up!

Joanna, the mother, I think will play a bigger part in the next book, considering she played none in this one. Those of you who've read the book: don't you think she was kinda creepy with the little boy? I thought she was gonna steal him or something at some point.

What I really liked about WOTEE though was the ending, really makes you want to read the next book, and the little Blue Bloods crossover was really unexpected! 

So, De La Cruz's first attempt with adult literature was not very successful in my opinion. The one sex scene it had which would put WOTEE under the adult category, was very very short and more of a sensual scene rather than a hot sexy one.

However, beginning was also rocky for her Blue Bloods series but later and they got better and better. So I think I'll give book #2 a try.