Terry Maggert

Carlie McEwan's life is a balance between magic and the mundane. When a blonde stranger at a diner counter calls her by name, the balance is gone and her life becomes mythical and magical as she tries to deliver justice to a murderer who hides in the cool, mysterious green of a forest gone mad with magic.

Halfway Dead

Briar's Reviews

Book Title: Halfway Dead
Book Author: Terry Maggert

Introduction: Terry Maggert asked me to review his book, so I was more than happy to give an honest review!! It's always a pleasure when authors actually ask me to read their books. It makes me feel all kinds of special, like they think I'm a good enough reviewer or reader to read it. Maybe that's just me though!

All of my thoughts/opinions are my own. I am under no obligation to write a nice or good review.

Review:
Paranormal. 
Witches.
Magic.
Monsters.
So many incredible topics and themes thrown into an incredible book.

At first glance, I wasn't sure if I'd be interested in this novel. I had been slowly moving away from YA/Fantasy fictional realms slowly and the plot synopsis seemed like my old interests. But when I actually got into reading the book, I realized it wasn't just some typical, super common fantasy novel. Was there fantasy and witches? Yes. But, was it the same old plot, the same old setting that you find in every witch novel? Nope. That was the great initial aspect of this novel. It started off in a different manner, and I loved that.

The magic in this novel is definitely interesting, and readers need to pay attention to understand what's happening. It's not some ooey gooey romance novel that requires no thought. I enjoyed this aspect of the novel, seeing as many magical novels these days require no thought or mental effort.

The book is original, and as I continue to type about how different this novel is, I want to make sure readers understand that. I love an original novel that isn't by the book. It's neat, interesting, and really cool! In my opinion, I wish more books were outside of the box like this one! 

Our main character is hilarious and reading from her point of view is excellent. I rarely like reading First Person POV but when your main character is funny and intelligent, my opinion instantly changes on this form of writing. Carlie is also a very happy person, and not depressing like some characters who have narrated other books I have read. This makes the book more interesting, to hear from a nicer, happier point of view. The background and side characters are also equally as amazing (and sassy in some situations!).

This book features a strong, independent female lead, a witty sense of humour, an intelligent choice of wording and an engaging plot. What more can a reader ask for? Reading Terry Maggert's writing was a nice change from all the cookie cutter authors out there. I really appreciate his style and how he words his thoughts and splashes them onto the page. I will definitely be continuing on with this series.

The cover (which I know we aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover), is beautiful. I find books that are well written that also have an incredible cover always seem to spike my interest more than well written books with boring covers. Superficial? Probably. But sometimes the little extra beauty makes the book one step higher than all the others!

Now for the negatives. There are always negatives in every book, but the positives outweigh these negatives. There was a slow pace, which is one of my biggest pet peeves. But, this slow pace was not constant. It happened only a few times and for short periods of time, which made this book bearable. 

Overall, this was an incredible introduction to a new series for me to sink my fangs into (haha...fangs...get it? Monsters? Vampires...ah, nevermind). This breathtaking series is a must read for fantasy readers who want an out of the box, original title!

Four out of five stars!