Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
An Intrigue of Witches" by Esme Addison is a riveting blend of mystery, history, and magic that keeps readers on the edge of their seats from beginning to end. With a compelling protagonist, a richly imagined setting, and a plot brimming with twists and turns, this novel delivers a captivating reading experience that is both poignant and entertaining.
At the heart of the story is Sidney Taylor, a talented early American history professor whose career has hit a roadblock due to an inconvenient historical discovery. When she receives a cryptic invitation to visit the historic small town of Robbinsville, North Carolina, and embark on a treasure hunt for a missing archaeological artifact, Sidney sees it as an opportunity to both reconnect with her grandmother and potentially change her fortunes.
It's worth noting that the story takes some time to gain momentum. The initial chapters may feel slow-paced as the narrative sets the stage for Sidney's journey.
As Sidney delves deeper into the treasure hunt, she finds herself unraveling two-hundred-year-old clues that lead her into a world of secrets, conspiracies, and magic. The discovery of the artifact sparks a chain of events that thrusts Sidney into the midst of a terrifying conspiracy—one that threatens to shake the very foundations of America's principles.
At the heart of the story is Sidney Taylor, a talented early American history professor whose career has hit a roadblock due to an inconvenient historical discovery. When she receives a cryptic invitation to visit the historic small town of Robbinsville, North Carolina, and embark on a treasure hunt for a missing archaeological artifact, Sidney sees it as an opportunity to both reconnect with her grandmother and potentially change her fortunes.
It's worth noting that the story takes some time to gain momentum. The initial chapters may feel slow-paced as the narrative sets the stage for Sidney's journey.
As Sidney delves deeper into the treasure hunt, she finds herself unraveling two-hundred-year-old clues that lead her into a world of secrets, conspiracies, and magic. The discovery of the artifact sparks a chain of events that thrusts Sidney into the midst of a terrifying conspiracy—one that threatens to shake the very foundations of America's principles.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Mystery, history, and a delightful adventure! This book is like National Treasure meets A Discovery of Witches in the best way. It was so enjoyable, with a complex, intriguing plot with the right number of twists. It’s a treasure hunt mixed with historical discovery mixed with the mystical.
Some of the themes were a bit far fetched, but the author pulled it off and tied everything together. The depth of the myths and history used helped ground the book. I couldn’t stop reading and the end left me feeling inspired and satisfied.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book was an interesting mishmash of the past and present, filled with history, political machinations, and a critical eye to the dangers of technology. Diverse characters and an compelling premise. Many of the historical characters referenced in within the pages were based on actual people from American history, which gave this book a bit of an educational allure.
But there were also things I didn't love. There was a lot of genealogy, which became confusing. There were sections that felt like info dumps—slow, convoluted, and (again) confusing. There were places where the pacing was far too slow. And there were also sections where it was hard to muster the appropriate suspension of disbelief.
I liked it. There were some good aspects. But I didn't love it.
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Thank you NetGalley, Severn house Publishers and the author for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book to be released in May 2024 in exchange for an honest review.
An Intrigue of Witches - A Secret Society Mystery # 1
by Esme Addison
What would you do if everything you knew about American history and their leaders was planned by a secret society formed centuries ago in Europe?
Fans of The DaVinci Code, and National Treasure meets Outlander, and A Discovery of Witches will love this new urban fantasy filled with magic, ancient bloodlines, cryptic messages, puzzles, hidden rooms and a treasure hunt that leads to the most coveted relic in the world.
Thirty year old Sidney Taylor embarks on an unexpected mysterious treasure hunt that has been hidden in her hometown for centuries. Guarded by a secret society to keep hidden from the evil that wishes to rule the world, she must locate the relic before they do which is not an easy task. Even for this well educated historian, she too must piece the puzzles together to find it.
The closer she gets to the truth, Sidney, her family, and the people sworn to protect the artifact and bloodline are in more danger. They are all closely watched, and there isn’t anything they won’t do to obtain what they seek, including murder.
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead” - Benjamin Franklin
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead” - Benjamin Franklin
I’m a big fan of mysterious Indiana Jones/National Treasure type stories, and an even bigger fan of stories with witches and ancient magic. I found this book very interesting and loved the inclusion of history and weaving in the past to write an adventure with focus on well regarded black figures through time.
Her families ties to long awaited restoration of power back to a fated family who plans to only bring protection to the world was weaved well. It seems this character and her powerful friends and family have much more work to do. I look forward to reading about it.
Her families ties to long awaited restoration of power back to a fated family who plans to only bring protection to the world was weaved well. It seems this character and her powerful friends and family have much more work to do. I look forward to reading about it.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An Intrigue of Witches follows Sidney, a recently furloughed Smithsonian researcher, on a mysterious quest to find a lost artifact. Along the way she discovers the truth about her heritage and the secret societies controlling the elite.
At first I found the story slow and the writing a bit clunky. As the book went on the pacing got much better and the story started to flow as more pieces came together. I began to really root for the characters and thoroughly enjoyed Sidney's journey of self discovery.
If you like secret societies, deep history, treasure hunts, witches, and a sprinkle of science fiction this book is for you.
Overall I had a good time with An Intrigue of Witches. The story kind of reminds me of Legendborn mixed with National Treasure. The secret societies, prophecies, black history, and urban fantasy elements from Legendborn plus the mysterious and adventurous treasure hunting reminiscent of National Treasure combined made for a really fun read! I'm looking forward to more in this series.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing an e-ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing an e-ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Urban fantasy
Treasure hunt
Hidden artifacts
Secret society
Paranormal
History & museums
Magic & witches
“Thirty-year-old Black woman Sidney Taylor is a talented early American history professor, working in fast-paced Washington DC, with her eyes on promotion.”
“When she receives an anonymous and very cryptic invitation to visit historic small-town Robbinsville, North Carolina and hunt for a missing archaeological treasure - with a million-dollar pay out at stake - it's one she can't refuse.”
An Intrigue of Witches is the first book in the Secret Society Mystery series.
The book had a interesting mix of history and future, from American & Egyptian history to super modern virtual reality in the future. The plot and storyline reminded me of The Da Vinci Code mixed with Discovery of Witches.
The pacing of the book was okay, not too fast but there weren’t any dull moments either.
The storyline was a bit difficult to follow at times because there were so many things happening and new secrets being revealed, but the ending wrapped everything up nicely.
The characters were a bit shallow. I would have loved to learn more about them, especially the main character. She is a smart and interesting character with a lot of potential.
The storyline was really interesting but at times a bit too much for a book this short. Maybe some of it could have been left for the other books of the series.
Overall I enjoyed reading the book. A bit different than what I usually read.
This book is a good fit for anyone wanting to read an adventurous book with treasure hunting mixed with history.
I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. Receiving ARC didn’t affect my opinion of the book.
I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. Receiving ARC didn’t affect my opinion of the book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, Gaslighting
Minor: Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.
DNF @ 16%
I would say ‘perhaps this books isn’t for me’, but everything about the premise is exactly the novel I was looking for. I love historical fiction, fantasy (particularly witches), mystery, secret societies, escape rooms and treasure hunts. However, this fell completely flat for me. Whilst the writing wasn’t atrocious, it certainly made something that should have been utterly enthralling fall flat on the page.
I felt as though I was told every detail and nothing was left to one’s imagine. Descriptions were factual and I was told how to feel about everything that happened. It was almost as though she was writing a report on a historical discovery. I felt as though the writer was scared to let the reader have to work for anything for fear of being criticised for ambiguity. There were some odd tense switches and the sentences didn’t scan at all well, meaning that forming voices of characters or narrative perspective was incredibly challenging.
Throughout my read I found myself switching into teacher marking mode and was editing individual sentences to ensure they were showing rather than telling me things.
Therefore, I would perhaps summarise that whilst the plot, concepts and the pacing of the novel was nice, it needed a much heavier edit than it was afforded. A real shame as the premise seemed so promising and the story was fun, but the lack of decent editing really held this back.
DNF @ 16%
I would say ‘perhaps this books isn’t for me’, but everything about the premise is exactly the novel I was looking for. I love historical fiction, fantasy (particularly witches), mystery, secret societies, escape rooms and treasure hunts. However, this fell completely flat for me. Whilst the writing wasn’t atrocious, it certainly made something that should have been utterly enthralling fall flat on the page.
I felt as though I was told every detail and nothing was left to one’s imagine. Descriptions were factual and I was told how to feel about everything that happened. It was almost as though she was writing a report on a historical discovery. I felt as though the writer was scared to let the reader have to work for anything for fear of being criticised for ambiguity. There were some odd tense switches and the sentences didn’t scan at all well, meaning that forming voices of characters or narrative perspective was incredibly challenging.
Throughout my read I found myself switching into teacher marking mode and was editing individual sentences to ensure they were showing rather than telling me things.
Therefore, I would perhaps summarise that whilst the plot, concepts and the pacing of the novel was nice, it needed a much heavier edit than it was afforded. A real shame as the premise seemed so promising and the story was fun, but the lack of decent editing really held this back.
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
It’s an enjoyable story. I liked the characters. I’d probably read a sequel if there is one.
There were a few plot points and events that felt bumpy to me. Plus, I hope the editor gets to take another pass before publication.
There were a few plot points and events that felt bumpy to me. Plus, I hope the editor gets to take another pass before publication.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Sidney Taylor, after being placed on furlough, goes back to her small hometown in North Carolina after receiving a letter asking her to find a secret artifact. She goes on a National Treasure-esque pursuit to search out the hidden artifact, falling into a secret society of witches and racing to stop a Virtual Reality takeover. This book was really fun and entertaining and I flew through it. The writing was captivating and kept me hooked. Sidney was charming and relatable and I enjoyed her inner thoughts and seeing her interact with the side characters around her. The secret society of witches was incredibly enchanting and I was truly immersed in the world. A few things I did not enjoy though were the pacing at the beginning, not learning enough background about the main character, and the way that the book tells the reader instead of showing them certain things that are happening. The very first chapter starts with the main character being placed on furlough and getting the letter that invites her back to her hometown. I would have liked to see a little more background leading up to the furlough, in particular, her relationship with Dr. Philippi so that the main character’s motivations and relationship with with her boss made more sense. This also leads into not getting to know the main character enough at the beginning and the telling of things that have happened rather than showing them. I feel that if there had been maybe just one chapter preceding the first chapter to show the reader what Sidney’s life was like before she was placed on furlough, it really would have helped to give a good representation of what being placed on the furlough meant for her. Overall though I really did enjoy this book and I would gladly read the next book once it comes out as I was truly delighted by the main character and loved the atmosphere of the secret society.
Thank you to Severn House and NetGalley for providing access to this ARC. All opinions are my own.