Terry Maggert

The circus came to Halfway, and they brought the weird. When clowns, vampires, and corpses start piling up in town, Carlie has to break away from her boyfriend, Wulfric, to bring her witchy skills to the table- or grill, as the case may be. When the body of a young woman washes up in the lake, it unleashes a spiral of mystery that will bring Carlie, Gran, and Wulfric into a storm of magical warfare. Spells will fly. Curses will rain. Amidst it all, Carlie will make waffles, protect her town, and find out if a man from the distant past can join her in happy ever after. With love and honor at stake, Carlie has no peer.

Halfway Bitten

Briar's Reviews

Book Title: Halfway Bitten
Book Author: Terry Maggert

Introduction: Terry Maggert gave me free copies of this series in return for an honest review. 

Review:

"Like I said, I'm an adult. And I do adulty things." 

Halfway Bitten is the second novel in the Halfway Witchy series. The first book was a home run so I wasn't sure how Terry would make a book that could outdo the first novel, but he managed it!! The second novel kept me interested right from the start, hooking me in with action and mysteries that I wanted to know more about.

The writing style improved a lot from the first book. I'm not sure what changed in Terry's head, but I really liked this novel better for the style of writing. It helped that there wasn't as much introduction as the first book (which you needed, since in the first novel we didn't know the characters), but it helped make this book move so much faster. It also made this book more interesting than the first one, and I was way more invested in finishing this book than book number one.

That doesn't mean that the first book didn't set this book up perfectly though. What lacked in the first book helped set up this novel - so you win some, you lose some.

This book starts off with a bang - dead bodies! What happened and why? Carlie has to deal with more drama and adventure in this novel, which helps develop Carlie's character. I liked seeing her slowly develop as she dealt with the cards at hand in this novel. Wulfric, Gran, Maggie - all of the characters we know and love - as well as all the new characters ignore this story into a beautiful firework of literature. It goes up and splashes a magnificent story to the reader. 

There are some beautiful metaphors that heighten this reading experience - such as using the Cheshire Cat to describe a disappearing image. These metaphors and imagery give an added bonus to this already great novel. Add in Carlie's humor - snarky, sarcastic and overall sassy - a full packed twisty, turny, surprising plot and a spark of romance and you've got the full package!


It was a very different read for me - I enjoyed reading a book that was pulling from typical story tropes (love story, vampires, drama) and twisting it around with new tropes (circus, clowns). Overall, this book was absolutely fantastic. I need to read the next book ASAP!


Vampires. Circus. Dead Bodies. Magic. Witches. Crime. Necromancy. Clowns.

This book holds a lot of potential for the continuation of this series. It breaks your heart, sews it back together, takes it on a roller coaster and then throws it around - you'll get attached and desperately want to read more by Terry!! This indie author definitely does not disappoint!! 

Four out of five stars.