This was ok but I found that parts of the story dragged and I struggled to get back into it when the action picked back up.

Unable to read this proof copy as book was archived before downloading and this was impossible. Neutral rating to show this.

Good book. Good author. Loved the characters and the plot. Look forward to reading more of her work.

We've got over the potential threat of the King of Hearts and Gwydion, but what if the magic that still lurks under the Black Lake is waiting to be harnessed by someone else. What is the darkest fairy tale only had a short lived happening ending? Merry's life was never meant to go back to normal, normal is far too overrated for her these days, especially with a troubled Leo and losing the love of her life.


Merry isn't her usual self, it's like all this energy to destroy something is still swimming through her body but she's being undermined by the coven but in a way feared because Merry is unlike any witch the coven has come by. Just because she does things differently, her wires work differently, she feel she isn't being accepted no matter how much she's putting into her sessions with her Gran. Not to mentioned Leo is basically being a bum. I didn't realise understand his coldness towards her, but in a way I do, it's all focused on Merry being magical, not that fact that Leo was with her all time and everyone is forgetting that .Merry tries to help, but she pushing him away, he's locked away and the only person who seems to be helping is a new stranger, a wizard named Ronan. It isn't until Gran say that wizards are untrustworthy and dangerous that Merry becomes suspicious.



Meeting new characters, like Finn, Ronan, Flo as well as seeing more of the coven and even Merry and Leo finally being able to reconnect with their mother. Whether the new and current characters were good or bad, it built a family of characters that you couldn't pull away from, you wanted to know more and Kate and Liz did that, both through Merry's and Leo's perspective. It gave them a sense of belonging to the story.



The sequel to The Witch's Kiss is like the after story that leads to a much bigger plot - to the final battle in The Witch's Blood. When I read this book I was surprised I admit, because this could be taken a filler book and yes there were elements to it but what I loved about is that we got of what happened next. I miss that with a lot of stories, it finishes and your thinking "what happened to them?", "what happens next?" or "what sort of future did they have in-store?" It builds characters, it builds that relationship you have with the reader especially with Merry and Leo, I applaud Kate and Liz for doing that. It felt more realistic, the timing and pacing of the story-line, it builds the momentum to the final book which I loved considering I can read it straight after. I hate to imagine if I read this last year I don't think I could cope.



The Witch's Tears has more magic, mayhem, action, it's once again seamlessly well written and I just love Kate and Liz's writing regardless. The Witch's Kiss was only beginning, but as this series progresses and transforms into something powerful, Kate and Liz are putting their stamp in the world of fantasy in YA.Whatever you do, don't stop now. there is epicness to come in the final battle in The Witch's Blood.

Just amazing from the start I was enthralled by this book as much I had been with the first one. By the time I got to the end I didn’t want the story to end. Can’t wait for the next book.

The plot felt more in-depth that the first, especially when it came to Merry and Leo’s relationship, as these two seemed to be at the forefront of this book, as they both need one another to survive.

Merry is trying to learn and control her magic, even-though others don’t always believe in her. Leo is losing himself, but with newly-arrived Ronan taking an interest in him, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for him. We also get to meet another newcomer, wizard Finn.

There is more action, magic and mayhem in this book than the last, especially right at the end, leading to the cliffhanger. The story is exceptionally well-written, and has you turning the pages at lightning speed, absorbing every detail, being sucked into the characters’ lives, and the dangerous situation that they find themselves in.

If you have read book one, then you must read this one. If not, and you are a fan of magic/fantasy books, get reading the series, you won’t be disappointed.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

A delightful follow up to the Witch’s Kiss. A few months later witch in training Merry and her brother Leo are still trying to process the evens of the first book. It’s the summer holidays, no school. Merry is focused on her witch training. Leo has become moody and withdrawn.

Merry’s witch training isn’t going quite as well as she would like, she’s got much more power than anyone seems to realise, and she can do things that there aren’t written instructions for. I really like the way witchcraft works in the novel, the way the spells are performed and the history surrounding it. Though it’s a little surprising while there’s a big coven there seems to be so few teenage daughters. Only one other teen besides Merry shows up in the novel. That aside, the coven working together aspect is pretty interesting.

Though it’s not surprising that for Merry it can get incredibly frustrating because all these women are trained witches and grownups to boot. So when Merry accidentally stumbles on a file in her grandmother’s house about a women who turns out to have been murdered, and was a witch as well…it’s a new mystery to solve. Of course Merry is told to leave it alone.

Merry’s prophetic-like dreams are back as well, this time telling of a fairy-tale monster. But is there something more to this?

On top of this Merry’s grandmother has disappeared, more dead witches are turning up, Leo is becoming more withdrawn. Two different new boys turns up, one a drifter who camps in the woods near the Black Lake strikes up a friendship with Leo, which has potential to turn into something more, and the other shows up at Merry’s grandmother’s house around the time Gran goes missing. Both have secrets and mysteries about them.

The story telling is as a top notch as the first book, Merry is an incredibly likeable main character. I enjoy her voice immensely. She still manages to be sassy, and snarky, sensible, though not without faults. Her magic for one – still difficult to control and comes out at inopportune moments, especially when she’s pissed off – which happens a few times, leading to a few plot twists.

Didn’t like Leo quite as much in this book, he’s pulled away from Merry and has become quite stubborn and moody, he’s struggled to cope with a certain death from the first book, so it’s sort of understandable, but at the same time, his secretive attitude is annoying. He’s not outright mean to Merry or anything, but he’s got a definite chip on his shoulder attitude, and being secretive and shutting her out, which is sad considering how close they were in the first book. At least we get Leo’s point of view, so the reader does get a bit more insight into his character. Plus, Leo gets a romance in this instalment, so yay for that.

An intriguing mystery to solve and new characters to unravel and get to know. And one hell of a cliff-hanger at the end! I really hope there is another instalment ASAP.
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, Children’s for approving my request to view the title.

I found The Witch's Tears just as original as The Witch's Kiss and it was nice to see character development for both Leo and Merry. The involvement of minor characters from book 1 was also good. The standard of writing was just as good and I can't wait to see if there's another instalment!

I never usually enjoy fantasy books, yet, these two have won me over!

Merry is a young witch, living with her brother, Leo and her mum. She and her gran have practised magic but her mum and brother don't her mum believes it is dangerous, which it is and can be as we find out.

An ancient love gone wrong between Gwydion who was unrequitedly in love with his childhood friend, Edith. Gwydion made the kingdom same and the reward was to be marriage to Edith, however, the king didn't want to allow the lower class Gwydion into royalty and so Edith marries Aiden and has a baby boy, Jack whom Gwydion places a curse on to be the King Of Hearts.

Merry and the neighbours around them who are magic including Merry's young friends, whom support Merry on what she is facing in that she needs to stop Gwydion and keep them all safe and unharmed.

An ancient parchment reveals to Merry and Leo, they need to go to the lake and retrieve the two puppet hearts which can stop Gwydion and the King Of Hearts from what they are doing which is stabbing people whom believe themselves to be in love.

It is at the Black Lake where Merry and Leo first encounter Jack, though they soon learn he has two sides, the evil killing side which he feels trying to take him over all the time yet he can be normal for bouts of time between it having control of him again. They learn how Gwydion controls Jack to make him obey him and Merry dreams of Jack as well as fancying him!

I'm not spoiling this book further but it was an enticing and gripping read I read in one afternoon and then read the next sequel in the evening!

The Witch's Tears is the sequel and this book focuses on Merry learning and failing still how to manage her magic and finally get it to work right for her.

We also see the arrival of some new male characters, Leo's new love interest, Ronan, whom steps in to stop Simon beating up Leo after he's come out as gay. Then we meet Finn whom ends up trapped in a protective spell cast on Merry and Leo's Grans home after she has disappeared mysteriously and so the main aim of the book is to find their Gran and stop the evil at work quite literally.

We soon learn of enchantment extractors whom steal wizard and witch magic have also killed Flo, Merry's friend so just whom has Merry and Leo's Gran and what are their plans?

The Witch's Tears being set only three months apart, shows how love and loss can be healed and then another form of the same issue can arise. Grief is big in the book and I expect more to come in the next book but I'm not going to spoil anymore of the plot in The Witch's Tears.

Many thanks to the publisher's for sending me The Witch's Tears!

I wasn't keen on these books. The Witch's Kiss just didn't feel like anything different than all the books I've read before. I didn't really feel much for Merry, who seemed to just wait around for more instructions. The end was better and I liked how it linked up, but it didn't change how I thought about the book as a whole.

The second book was better, there was more going on in general and the storyline was much more interesting. But it still felt like most of the action was going on while Merry was just sitting back not doing much. This time it wasn't because of her own decision at least, but I still felt that by confining her and not letting her be part of the action, it just made the story dull and frustrating.

I probably won't be reading any more of this series.

The Witch's Tears is book 2 in the series.

I was really excited to read this book as I thoroughly enjoyed the first one! I liked the magic but wasn't too happy with the brother-sister relationship that was shown in this book. There was a lot of action towards the end which felt like it wasn't enough, but the huge cliffhanger at the end left me wanting more..!

I love the front cover of this book, this is a case where I would be judging a book by its cover. The Witch’s Tears front cover contains shards of ice with a hole in the middle shaped like a heart.
This review will contain spoilers particularly ones that would ruin The Witch’s Kiss for those who haven’t read it.
At the beginning of the book Merry is dreaming that she is lying on the grass next to Jack. She is meant to be reading but all she can think about is Jack kissing her. I’m dead, Merry. You killed me, remember? True love’s kiss?...There wasn’t a happy ever after, Merry. Not for us.
Merry is still having trouble controlling her magic and is getting a lot of judgment from the coven about her dangerous lack of control. Merry feels angry at their attitude and under pressure to perform the spells being asked of her.
Both Merry and Leo are in mourning after the events of last year. Merry is grieving over Jack’s death and Leo is mourning the death of his best friend Dan. Leo also feels like he is to blame for Dan’s death as he should have warned him.
With everything that is going on there has been an increasing distance between Leo and Merry. Merry is feeling more lonely than ever. She can’t tell her best friend Ruby about what happened last year and even if she wanted to Ruby has said she doesn’t want to know. Merry’s mum is around more but still has a tendency to bury her head in the sand and Merry is reluctant to share things with her gran.
Gwydion and Jack, the King of Hearts are defeated but Merry is feeling uneasy as though someone has been watching her house. Leo has been having similar feelings as well and with witches turning up dead all over the country are any of them really safe?
Merry has always been told not to trust wizards so when two show up Merry is understandably wary. Ronan saved Leo after he was beaten by some former friends but there is something about him Merry doesn’t trust even though Leo is clearly besotted . Finn is the other wizard and Merry can’t help but like him even though she thinks he is hiding something.
This was a good sequel and left me wanting more.

After loving The Witch’s Kiss, and getting to meet the Corr sisters, the sequel was something I was dying to get my hands on, and I’m happy to report that I loved it just as much as the first book! While the fairy tale theme that drew me to the first book isn’t as prominent, there are lots of things that bubble to the surface in its absence and I really loved. Please tell me there’s a third book coming?

Plot and Pacing
So after the rather radical events at the end of The Witch’s Kiss, Merry has a lot to be traumatised over. The boy she loved isn’t around and she’s dealing with magic stronger than anyone’s ever had in her coven. What I absolutely loved about the story was getting to watch Merry actually learn to use her powers, and cast spells and write in her journey book. I think in a lot of fantasy stories, we take for granted that magic characters can do magic, and that it must have been a huge learning curve. Actually getting to see it felt really unique and interesting!

There’s also a ton of drama happening in Merry’s life now. Her grandmother goes missing, someone close to her dies (!) and there are two new boys on the scene, both wizards, Ronan, the one after Leo’s heart, and Finn, who’s Merry’s replacement Jack.

Things felt both domestically sweet and excitingly adventurous in perfect balance, my favourite things!

Characters
Leo was one of my fave characters in the first book, and I thought we really came into his own in The Witch’s Tears. There was such an interesting discussion about being the non-magical member of his family. I felt so much sympathy for him, and imagined myself in his position so easily. While it wasn’t a big tension builder in the first book, which was reflectively odd, there’s definitely a spanner in the works of the sibling relationship here. Merry’s getting more powerful and Leo doesn’t know how to continue feeling needed.

Merry also had some nice character development, mostly magical related, and I’m really pleased that even with manic things happening around her, she kept a relatively level head.

Any new character, though, I was so skeptical of. Wizards make witches feel nervous in this world, and I related to that wholeheartedly. My eye was twitching every time the boys appeared, and my nervous energy paid off! But no spoilers, of course!

Romance
Getting a gay romance in this story was amazing, because while Leo did have a love interest in the first book, his relationship with Ronan felt so much more concrete and no matter how skeptical I was of the wizard boy, I routed for their love to work out.

As far as Merry and Finn go…hmm, I wasn’t a big fan. She had such an encompassing relationship with Jack, I didn’t expect her to recover into a new relationship so quickly. I grew to understand the two of them, and it was emphasised that Merry felt two different things for each boy, so I’ll be interested to see how this love triangle spans out if a third book is in the works. Look at me, only just finished the second book, and already demanding more!

Verdict
The Witch’s Tears was a super great sequel that fans of the first book will love, and I hope will draw a lot of new people to the series. Reading a sequel that remains consistent to the first book is a real rarity, so I couldn’t recommend it more!

ARC copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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.