Name: The Price Guide to the Occult
ISBN: 9780763691103

Leslye Walton

Sixteen-year-old Nor, who comes from a long line of witches, prefers to hide her ability to communicate with nature and lives in constant fear of the return of her abusive mother.

The Price Guide to the Occult

Margarida 

Leslye J. Walton

Alice Myles

2.5 This wasn't bad I just had no clue what was going on and which character was who the whole way through and the climax just didn't excite me

Elisa Bieg

This is such an odd book.
Aside from a bit of misinformation at the beginning which rubbed me the wrong way, I was thoroughly enjoying it, getting a sort of YA Practical Magic vibe, with mystery, darkness, weirdness, some charming moments, a hint of romance, and just generally an enjoyable read.

Then about 3/4 in, the story goes all weird and disjointed and the rest is just... I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s weird, and unstructured, and nonsensical, and just... a mess. 

It’s the weirdest thing.
It’s like the story doesn’t know where to go, so it just kind of goes off in all directions at once and there is no thread at all. 
It doesn’t feel purposeful, or planned. It feels haphazardly pasted together at the last minute, like the author either didn’t know how to end it or changed the ending suddenly. Like she couldn’t make up her mind of how she wanted the story to end, how she wanted to get there, who should die and who should live, who the romantic interest should be. 
It’s just... so puzzling, it honestly left me wondering if the last version of the manuscript was lost and the ending was still in its draft form when the book when to print. 

There is also an epilogue that takes the story in a completely different direction, and it feels so forced, I can’t help but think that there was an eleventh-hour decision to set up for a possible series rather than a stand-alone. That was a BAD call. Consistency, people! 

In the end, I am giving it 3 STARS, largely because of the rest of the book, but I am not keeping this around. I am not going to want to revisit this.

Megan Paterson

Beautifully written story about being a young adult who just happens to be a witch. Truly wonderful.

Ingrid 

** An ARC is generously provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review **

**Major trigger warning for self harm and suicide. If this is triggering to you, I would highly recommend to not read this book.** 

I finished this book about a week ago, and I have already forgotten most of it. Unfortunately this book fell flat for me, in almost every aspect of the book. It did not live up to its potential, in my opinion.

The plot of this book sounds amazing. It's about this girl with powers and an evil mum, basically something I would usually enjoy very much. To me the pacing felt very off, it would switch from slow to quick and back very fast. The plot itself was very predictable, and there wasn't a "twist" that made it feel worth it at the end. 

The part that bothered me most was the love interest. The main character would think of him only if he was right in front of her, but never when she was by herself. He would also conveniently show up basically whenever she left the house. It felt very forced and not natural at all.

In the end I was let down by this book, but I have heard amazing tings about her other book, so maybe I will check that one out.

The best part of this book is the cover 🤷‍♀️

Kaia Mann

Grace O'Callaghan

Trigger warning: self harm, child abuse

After Walton’s debut, which I adored, I was sure that this book would be perfect for me. It had a recipe for success. Witches? Check. Magical island? Check. Evil mother? Check. So how could something that sounded so great go so wrong? 

Nor is an unremarkable teen, just trying to live a normal life, but that’s kind of hard when you’re a Blackburn witch. Strange things start to happen on the island of Anathema, and it all started when a mysterious book was published, promising to cast any spell for a certain price. The author? Nor’s mother. How far will her mother go to ruin the happiness of everyone on the island, including her own daughter?

I actually like the island of Anathema, I just wish we got to see more of it, but the book was pretty short and we had to spend most of the time on the boring characters and plot. I had hoped that I’d love it as I really enjoyed the prologue about when Rona Blackburn, Nor’s ancestor first arrived on the island. 

This is just a very minor gripe, but they mentioned YouTubers in the book and it immediately pulled me out of the story. If I’m honest, there’s nothing more unmagical than YouTubers and it kind of ruined the atmosphere of the book for me.

Was Nor an interesting protagonist I hear you ask? To some degree, yes she was. However there was a large portion of the book where not much was happening at all and Nor had to hold the story up, but she just wasn’t compelling enough to do so. 
As I mentioned at the top of my review, I’d give it a huge trigger warning for self harm. Nor talks a lot about it and her pain. I was honestly shocked that I was unaware of this going into the book, there was nothing in the synopsis that mentioned it. I was a little triggered myself, so please give this book a miss if it triggers you.

As for the rest of the characters, they were cardboard cut outs and extremely underdeveloped. Savvy was Nor’s best friend, but I honestly couldn’t tell you why that is. They are nothing like each other and have such a superficial relationship.
The love interest was just bland and forgettable, I’m pretty sure Walton was also setting up a love triangle of some sort, at least that’s what it felt like.

Fern, Nor’s mother was also very boring. As the ‘villain’ of the story she was again a cardboard cut out. She was evil for no reason, absolutely no motives whatsoever.

There was some beautiful prose at times, but it was unable to distract from the absolute mess that was the plot. I honestly couldn’t tell you what the last half of this book was about. It was so disjointed and focused on Nor’s romance, whilst also trying to make Fern scary, whilst strange things were happening on the island. Without going into spoilers, I was not satisfied with the ending either.

Overall, boring plot, boring characters, with so much missed potential. I don’t know if I will ever want to read anymore of Walton’s work.

Elizabeth Garza

A wonderfully witchy book written in a such a way that makes it feel real and makes me think ... "This is how storytellers of the past used to tell stories."

Rachel Rozdzial

Anastaciya

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows... was so much more.

Amanda Furlan

From the author of The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender comes a haunting maelstrom of magic and murder in the lush, moody Pacific Northwest. When Rona Blackburn landed on Anathema Island more than a century ago, her otherworldly skills might have benefited friendlier neighbors. Guilt and fear instead led the island's original eight settlers to burn "the witch" out of her home. So Rona cursed them. Fast-forward one hundred-some years: All Nor Blackburn wants is to live an unremarkable teenage life. She has reason to hope: First, her supernatural powers, if they can be called that, are unexceptional. Second, her love life is nonexistent, which means she might escape the other perverse side effect of the matriarch's backfiring curse, too. But then a mysterious book comes out, promising to cast any spell for the right price. Nor senses a storm coming and is pretty sure she'll be smack in the eye of it. In her second novel, Leslye Walton spins a dark, mesmerizing tale of a girl stumbling along the path toward self-acceptance and first love, even as the Price Guide's malevolent author -- Nor's own mother -- looms and threatens to strangle any hope for happiness.

Diana

I was expecting this to be a beautifully written tale of witchcraft set by the seaside. Unfortunately, it was light on the beautiful imagery and magic and heavier on the teen drama and romance than I would have liked.

The Price Guide to the Occult

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