Book: Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble (Jolie Wilkins book #1) by H.P. Mallory
Rating: 1 star (Did Not Finish)
My Review:
Turns out the cover was better than the book. I found this too awful to finish. I gave up reading during the seventh chapter where it had a witch named Bella and a warlock named Rand about to go into a magical duel over the protection of the main character Jolie.
Surprisingly, witches and warlocks have to have protectors and they can't just operate on their own or do whatever they want without checking with their protector. Why does this read like organized crime?
The main character Jolie Wilkins is supposedly a powerful witch, something she's been unaware of for all her life that is until Rand Balfour entered her life. Prior to that, her only abilities were being able to see auras and occasionally seeing visions. Jolie owns a psychic/fortune teller business and her best friend Christa is her receptionist.
Rand wanted to hire Jolie for a job but he had to see how powerful she was first so he sent a ghost to see if she could see it. Rand wanted Jolie to help him figure out who killed the ghost (his name is Jack) when he was alive. Jolie only seemed interested in the job because she found Rand attractive.
So, Jolie, Christa and Rand traveled to Chicago to try to do a sort of seance but Jolie accidentally brought the guy back to life. What annoyed me was the lack of reaction from Jolie and Christa. A ghost was just transformed into a flesh and blood person. So why didn't they freak out or something? Instead all four head out to a night club for drinks where Christa danced all night with the former ghost.
Once, Jolie said her good byes to Rand, she and Christa were back to work at her psychic shop in LA, where all Jolie did was wonder what Rand was doing. That is until Bella came into her store. Jolie could tell she was a witch as well as she seemed dangerous but that didn't stop Jolie from accepting a party invitation from her, all because Bella casually stated that Rand would be attending.
The party scene is where I had to just stop reading. As soon as Jolie entered the costume party she immediately met a vampire who was dressed as a vampire. He started trying to flirt with her. She could tell he was slime yet she was still oh so attracted to him. That is until she spotted Rand, who was dressed as a pirate from the cover of one of those romance novels, he came over to get her away from the vampire. At the party Rand told Jolie the real reason Bella is interested in her. Bella is trying to unite all the supernatural beings: witches, warlocks, werewolves, vampires, etc and since Jolie is new to the magical world she needs a protector.
Not wanting Bella to be Jolie protector, Rand informs Bella that Jolie is now under his protection. As her protector she would have to give up her present life in Los Angeles (since that was Bella's territory) and have to move to where he lives which is England. But instead of Jolie getting angry she starts crying. Seriously, why? Well, I stop reading right when all the magical beings stopped dancing to start watching the duel between Bella and Rand.
I really couldn't take reading any more of this. It was really bad, it made me wonder how this got published. The plot and the characters just didn't have anything going for it. It felt like bad fanfiction. I usually don't read fanfiction but I've come across some that was much better written than this.
Just from what I read, Jolie comes across as timid and a bit of an idiot. She lacks any real self-esteem and constantly puts herself down. She's nearly 30 but still acts immature. It's hard to imagine she's the heroine of this story.
I was so disappointed with this book and I don't think I will be reading the second book, especially if it's anything like the first.
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