Review: Witchstruck

Witchstruck
by Victoria Lamb
Pages: 368
Series: Witchstruck #1
Format: ARC
Release Date: July 5, 2012
by Corgi

Meg Lytton has always known of her dark and powerful gift. Raised a student of the old magick by her Aunt Jane, casting the circle to see visions of the future and concocting spells from herbs and bones has always been as natural to Meg as breathing. But there has never been a more dangerous time to practise the craft, for it is 1554, and the sentence for any woman branded a witch is hanging, or burning at the stake.

Sent to the ruined, isolated palace of Woodstock to serve the disgraced Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and half-sister of Queen Mary, Meg discovers her skills are of interest to the outcast princess, who is desperate to know if she will ever claim the throne. But Meg's existence becomes more dangerous every day, with the constant threat of exposure by the ruthless witchfinder Marcus Dent, and the arrival of a young Spanish priest, Alejandro de Castillo, to whom Meg is irresistibly drawn - despite their very different attitudes to her secret.

Thrilling and fast-paced, this is the first unputdownable story in a bewitching new series

*A copy was provided by Corgi for review purposes*

"Twilight meets The Other Boleyn Girl in this first unputdownable story in a bewitching new series."

"Smoldering sexual tension, a darkly supernatural undercurrent and all the danger, plotting and passion of Tudor history"

~Blurb on ARC idition

I always love it when authors combine supernatural with history.  They change the events in their favor, but don't change history.  One of my favorite historical figures is Queen Elizabeth I, so I was super excited to read this book.

This idea was amazing.  Witchcraft, romance and history.  I haven't read many witch books (this might be my first, actually) and it isn't my favorite subject ever, but this book was a good introduction to the genre.  Lamb wrote this book very well.  It had a very good story line, great staging of events, and, even though it was boring at times, it was a pretty decent book.  Like I said before, I loved how Lamb altered history to fit with the witch genre, but still made the outcome of the events historically correct.  While it is a factor in this book, I'm glad the romance wasn't the whole focus of this story.  It is there, and it does make it more interesting, but it doesn't overshadow all the other aspects of the book, which is good.  The ending was superb as well, lasting just long enough, thrilling, and beautifuly written.

I've never read about a witch as the main character in a book before, so I'm glad Meg was my first because I really liked her.  She's strong, powerful, smart and feist, and I love that.  She was an excellent character and I can't wait to read more about her in the next book.
I also really like Alejandro (even though everytime I read his name I think of the Lady Gaga song :P).  He was strong, caring and cute.  One of the things I didn't like was when in the end of the book he does an extremely selfish thing.  But that's my only problem with him.

One thing that I would like to mention before I sign off is the quotes on the back of the book.  I featured them in the beginning of this review.  My problem with them is that they are extremely overexagerated.  This book is not a mix of Twilight and The Other Boleyn Girl (I've read them both), there isn't a "darkly supernatural undercurrent", but I will admit there is some sexual tension.  But my point is, I hate it when the summeries overexagerate what actually happens in the book.  I know it's a totally random thing to say, but I'm sure there's at least one of you that will agree with me.

3 pink flowers