I tried reading this when last year, but couldn’t get into it at the time. Now that I’ve had a bit more time on my hands I thought I’d give it a go again.

I enjoyed it a lot more this time around, I enjoyed the brother/sister relationship, how Leo was always there for Merry believing in her when she didn’t believe in herself.

The Witch’s Kiss - A great start to the Trilogy. Merry is a very relatable teenager. Good world building

The Witch’s Tears - I didn't find this book nearly as good as the first one, I felt it kind of fell a bit flat, the plot was slow to take off, second book syndrome?

The Witch’s Blood - A great way to end the series, this was my favourite out of the trilogy .

These books were fun to read, and it was nice to read them one after another, if I had wait for the next one I don’t know if I would of finished the series.

Throughly enjoyed this trilogy! Fab characters, fab stories. The third one confused me a tad when they're in another world but what a fabulous ending to the series. I also loved the beginning and that family and friends are always there for you.

I was initially interested in reading this book, however my tastes have shifted and I do not think I will be able to get to it now. Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a digital copy!

I was interested in the first book when it came out, but never got a chance to read it, so I was very happy when I received the whole trilogy in one go via Netgalley. I think I benefited from not having to wait between installments. I liked the mix of past and present storylines and found the plot pacey enough to keep me reading. I will definitely be recommending this in my store.

This trilogy has some great characters and an engrossing story full of fantasy, magic and witches.

★★★★☆ 4/5

The Witch's Kiss is the debut novel from Katharine and Elizabeth Corr, about sixteen year old Merry (Meredith), a witch from Tillingham.

Merry knows she's a witch, but up until recently she's stopped using her powers, she's scared to use them, scared she's bad for how she's used them to her personal gain instead of to help others.

Powers aside and there's the centuries old curse she discovers that's linked to her and her family, one only she can break. With this suddenly on her shoulders and what should happen if she fails, she has to try and get a hold on her powers, figure out what she has to do and fulfil the promise her ancestor made, all with the help of her brother, Leo.

I enjoyed the brother/sister aspect of it, how Leo was there for his sister, helping her, encouraging her and believing in her when Merry herself wanted nothing more than to give up.

I hope Leo is included even more in the next book as he's more than just a secondary character, he's Merry's cheerleader, her reassurance when she thinks she can't do something, and her much needed help and guidance. 

I'd also like to see more from her gran and the coven in the next book too, and definitely more of Merry accepting herself as a powerful witch.

The Witch's Kiss is a quick read that has a good story, a good sibling relationship with the potential to get even better.

Did I like the book? Yes.

Did I love it? Hmm, undecided.

Would I recommend it? Yes. If you're into witches, centuries old curses and sleeping beauty retellings, read it.



★★★★★ 4.5/5



The Witch's Tears picks up three months after the events of the last book, with Merry and her brother still coming to terms with their loss, and Merry still trying to learn how to control and use her magic.

With more involvement from the coven, which Merry's grandmother is head of, Merry continues to try to learn their rules and the 'right' way to do magic. She doesn't always like their methods, but Merry tries so hard to learn and help them, even when she's judged and dismissed, hurt at how they treat her when she occasionally messes up a spell she's in the middle of learning.

There's more involvement from Leo, Merry's brother, with him grieving and coming to terms with what happened. I was glad to see him more as well as more of his sibling relationship with Merry, seeing how it all feels from his non-magical side of things and how at times it must be so frustrating for him to be in a world of magic and only able to help in ways that don't involve it.

For most of the book I wanted to hug Merry and Leo and help them through their grief, but they both deal with it in their own ways and as for the ending, I seriously hope there's more. It can't end like that and leave me not knowing, I need more!

As for second book syndrome? Nope, none of it. The story is thought out and interesting, starting off a little slow but soon picking up. I had the book finished in no time and already I'm having withdrawals.





Did I like the book? Yes.

Did I love it? Also a yes.

Would I recommend it? Yes! If you've read the first one, The Witch's Kiss, and were left wanting more like I was, read it.


A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  



★★★★☆ 4/5



The Witch's Blood takes place not long after the events of The Witch's Tears, with Leo captured by Ronan and taken to another world, one where people Merry cared for are still alive, but things are different, not everything she has been through out in her world has happened there.

With friends and family Merry has to fight to get rid of Ronan once and for all, dabbling in blood magic and the consequences behind it, doing anything she can to free her brother and end this once and for all.

As the final book in the trilogy, Merry and her brother Leo have gone from strength to strength as characters, growing and learning about themselves and magic, and their bond as siblings only increases throughout all three books. With Merry willing to do whatever it takes to save her brother, and Leo's hope that she'll come for him, despite how bad it gets.

From the beginning to the end I'm glad I've gone on this magical journey with them, and I'm truly sad it's over, so until a reread, this is where I leave Merry and Leo.



Did I like the book? Yes

Did I love it? Kind of, it dragged a bit in places.

Would I recommend it? Yes. Finish the trilogy, see how it all ends.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Where to begin… okay so I was really really looking forward to reading this trilogy. I adore witches and anything related to them and when I saw that each book had pretty high ratings on Goodreads I had to request it on NetGalley! However, this didn’t really live up to my expectations at all. I did have very high expectations and expected that I would love it but it just… fell flat for me.

In the first book, The Witch’s Kiss, there were several issues which had bothered me. One being that Merry’s grandmother had a Facebook page for her coven but somehow didn’t have a mobile phone..? It just didn’t make sense to me. Small issue, but one which threw me off slightly. There was a romance issue too which I’ll address later in this review. One thing which I also thought about the first book though is that it could have easily been a standalone. There’s an obvious conclusion and the following books almost undermine the ending of the first book.

The second book essentially introduces a completely new villain. It returns to the original story for reference and for the characters’ sakes but things become almost forced to tie in with the first book by the end of the second. The third picks up from the very end of the second book and concludes with a fairly positive ending. The Rumpelstiltskin element throughout the trilogy was certainly intriguing, though by the third book it seemed a little repetitive. Another reoccurring theme is also a romance element. One of these love interests happens to be someone who threatens Merry at one point which makes it a hard to believe romance. Her next is much more real and did add to the story quite a lot also.

Characters wise, the main character of Merry is slightly grey. She struggles with magic and at first only uses it for selfish reasons. As the story progresses however she does become far more likeable. Her brother, Leo, has an interesting story arc of his own as he deals with coming out to his friends. Although he isn’t magical, he consistently proves to do his utmost to protect his sister and as such is an admirable character from the beginning. Their grandmother was another important character throughout the trilogy and was one of the most charismatic characters too.

In terms of structure, there are various points throughout the trilogy when the narrative suddenly changes to that of Leo’s, without any way of marking it as such. That made it hard to follow at times as I had to keep going back on what I’d read to work out who’s POV it was in. This made it very difficult to stay in the zone of reading and kept confusing me a little too much. If it had been a chapter each time then it would have been much easier to follow but the fact that the scene would suddenly change along with the POV (yet only for a few paragraphs) was slightly distracting.

This wasn’t a bad read by any means, it just didn’t meet my expectations and I didn’t feel compelled to finish it as soon as possible either. It was nice being able to read the whole trilogy in one, and of course in terms of value for money this is great for those with Kindles who haven’t yet read the series.

Second novels are hard, especially when you're building on quite a solid ending, by which I mean The Witch's Kiss has quite a finite ending, this could easily have been a standalone rather than a trilogy. So it takes this book a little while to build momentum, you have to re-establish what 'normal' is for Merry and Leo at this point in order to shake things up again.

Leo was always my favourite character (and I think he remains as such) so it was good to see him get a bit more page time (is that the correct term for the bookish equivalent of screen time? I'm not sure...). Anyway, I'm all for queer characters getting more representation in books and while the treatment of Leo is not always perfect I'm pleased that he was there as it elevates the story somewhat.

The plot in this book is slow going, I would almost have preferred it if this had been a duology and had books two and three merged into one. There are a lot of new characters and concepts introduced which I understand takes time, but there's also a lot of time spent dwelling on the plot of the first novel. I appreciate a lot of this plot was to do with Merry coping with the grief of losing Jack but I ended up feeling quite frustrated with her.

It does start to feel, after a time, that most of the characters in this book's lives revolve around romantic relationships in one way or another, which, given that this trilogy is called The Witch's Kiss, is unsurprising. Personally, I end up a little frustrated, especially since the other things that are happening in this book are brutal murders, but I know some people like books that have this focus so if that's you, then this might be right up your alley.

The Witch's Blood

Again, if this book had been the second half of the book before it would have been a lot more effective (in my opinion). This was the action I had been waiting for in book two. And boy is there action? There are battles galore, betrayals, plot, and plans. There is still a hefty dose of romance and angst, but people's priorities felt a little more in order in the final book than they did previously.

This book does have a few strange elements of writing in it, for instance, they seem to travel into something of a parallel universe, but the mechanics of this were never really explained? I'm not saying I wanted pages of theoretical physics, but it does feel at times like the term 'magic' is used to explain away any difficult moments in the plot.

As a conclusion to a trilogy, I would say this book is on par with the previous two titles. They are fun to read and they certainly have a lot of the things I like in YA paranormal fantasy. However, there wasn't anything that really gripped me about them? I'm sure most readers will enjoy them, but in a market crowded with a lot of similar titles this series didn't have enough bite that I would recommend it wholeheartedly.

My overall rating: 3/5 stars

I received digital advanced review copies of these books from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Witch's Kiss - It was really nice to read a distinctly British female protagonist in a YA fantasy/ paranormal novel. Merry reads like a real teenager too - making mistakes, doing the wrong thing, drinking tea! She was very relatable and a great reluctant hero. The story was just intricate enough and refreshingly drew on Anglo-Saxon history - which is often left alone or neglected, but which as a culture was light years ahead of a lot of the rest of Europe at the same time period. Nor is it merely a passing glance, actual Anglo-Saxon words are used - something which a nerd word who taught themselves to read Old English really appreciated. I can nearly always take or leave the romance aspect in a book but this was really sweet without being cloying. Thoroughly enjoyed this and will be on the look out for book two!

The Witch's Tears - I just didn't enjoy this as much as the first book. It didn't fall flat, there was no middle book syndrome or anything, I think it was just that the characters went in a direction I didn't especially enjoy. Merry seems much whinier in this book and I guess I'd like yo see a brother-sister dynamic where it didn't just basically amount to hair pulling much of the time. Still love the world. Still want to know what happens in book 3. Really enjoyed the magic system. This was just a lower note for me than the first book.

The Witch's Blood - This was a great end to a very original and imaginative series. I loved the characters and I really enjoyed the use of Anglo Saxon in this trilogy - totally stroked my inner word nerd. These books definitely stand out in a market crowded with Twilight knock-offs. Highly recommend.