I'll Sleep When I've Read... The Raven Song by Luanne G Smith

  

Title: The Raven Song

Author: Luanne G Smith

Publication: 11 October 2022

Format: Kindle eArc via 47North & NetGalley

Amazon Description

Fleeing Victorian London, a witch finds her newfound independence comes with all-new perils—both mortal and immortal.

Forever untangling the branches of her strange family tree, Edwina Blackwood is at a turning point. Her parents’ disappearances still strike her as unaccountably odd. Her sister’s questionable life and untimely death have left her shaken. Spellfire has transformed her home and livelihood to ash. And now a devious stalker is on her trail. With supernatural detective Ian Cameron by her side, Edwina can’t get out of London fast enough.

Gaining safe passage, she finds refuge with Sir Henry Elvanfoot, famed wizard of the north, and is promised protection from ill-aimed curses. But in this unfamiliar city of fair folk and witches, where the veil between Earth and the Otherworld is about to be lifted, something is amiss. How else to explain Edwina’s sudden prophetic visions? Or the fear that surviving whoever pursues her will require the powers of an ancient bloodline she’s only beginning to comprehend?

Whatever destiny awaits, it’s Edwina’s to finally control. Where will it lead? Only time, cunning, and magic—in this world or the Other—will tell.

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

I have been looking forward to The Raven Song since before I even finished the first in the series, The Raven Spell, back in March. There were so many questions left unanswered ... and so much more swooning to be done over Ian Cameron ... and now that I've finished The Raven Song I anxiously await announcement for a third installment. I just know that the new twists and turns (and Smith is great at twists and turns) will be niggling at the back of my brain for quite some time.

And, of course, there's Ian....

I know that some have said that you can read the second without having read the first. I suppose that you could, but you will be missing out on so much if you do. Besides, this isn't due to release for over a week so that gives you plenty of time to get the first ... especially if you stay up late and/or wake up early to finish reading.

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If you want to share whatever has kept you up past your bedtime because you just needed one more chapter ... or the entire book ... please comment! My TBR pile is already toppling, but I can always add more.

The Vine Witch by Luanne G Smith (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

 

Title: The Vine Witch

Author: Luanne G Smith

Publication: 1 October 2019

Format: paperback

Amazon Description

For centuries, the vineyards at Château Renard have depended on the talent of their vine witches, whose spells help create the world-renowned wine of the Chanceaux Valley. Then the skill of divining harvests fell into ruin when sorcière Elena Boureanu was blindsided by a curse. Now, after breaking the spell that confined her to the shallows of a marshland and weakened her magic, Elena is struggling to return to her former life. And the vineyard she was destined to inherit is now in the possession of a handsome stranger.

Vigneron Jean-Paul Martel naively favors science over superstition, and he certainly doesn’t endorse the locals’ belief in witches. But Elena knows a hex when she sees one, and the vineyard is covered in them. To stay on and help the vines recover, she’ll have to hide her true identity, along with her plans for revenge against whoever stole seven winters of her life. And she won’t rest until she can defy the evil powers that are still a threat to herself, Jean-Paul, and the ancient vine-witch legacy in the rolling hills of the Chanceaux Valley.

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

Thank you life upheaval for once again making reading not a thing that happens easily or often. I feel like I've been reading this book -- or trying to -- for ages or at least several weeks. 

Change of job, routine, exhaustion level, blah blah blah. 

It's a good book from what I've read so far. I'm determined to get it done this weekend.

 

[Edited on 5/19 to add : and it's still not done .... but it is still excellent!]

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Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader

The Raven Spell by Luanne G Smith (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

 

Title: The Raven Spell

Author: Luanne G Smith

Publication: 1 February 2022

Format: Kindle ebook

Amazon Description

In Victorian England a witch and a detective are on the hunt for a serial killer in an enthralling novel of magic and murder by the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of The Vine Witch.

After a nearly fatal blow to the skull, traumatized private detective Ian Cameron is found dazed and confused on a muddy riverbank in Victorian London. Among his effects: a bloodstained business card bearing the name of a master wizard and a curious pocket watch that doesn’t seem to tell time. To retrieve his lost memories, Ian demands answers from Edwina and Mary Blackwood, sister witches with a murky past. But as their secret is slowly unveiled, a dangerous mystery emerges on the darkened streets of London.

To help piece together Ian’s lost time, he and Edwina embark on a journey that will take them from the river foreshore to an East End music hall, and on to a safe house for witches in need of sanctuary from angry mortals. The clues they find suggest a link between a series of gruesome murders, a missing person’s case, and a dreadful suspicion that threatens to tear apart the bonds of sisterhood. As the investigation deepens, could Ian and Edwina be the next to die?

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

Victorian serial killers, detectives and witches. What's not to love, right? 

I read most of the book in the airports and on the plane Wednesday starting around 6:30am (hence the no WWW Wednesday this week). I have since arrived at my hotel, obtained libations, and continued to read. The book was finished by 5pm.

When this autoposts early Friday morning I will be fully on vacation and hopefully I will be sleeping... or at least happily distracted from little things like phones and blogs and life. Speaking of being distracted, I was quite thankful that everyone else near me on the trip was too distracted with their own stuff to notice my audible swoons and sighs. I would have happily told them all about how wonderful the book was -- wherever I was in it at the time. I was hooked from the beginning and stayed entranced until the end.

I can't wait to see what happens next in the series and by the time I return home Smith's Vine Witch series should be waiting for me in the mail.

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As always, Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader