A review by paperbackstash
The Seventh Witch by Shirley Damsgaard

3.0

Here it is, the seventh and the last. I have been semi-hooked on the series from book one, delighted to indulge in another paranormal mystery.

Ophelia has come a long way since book one. She's come to embrace who she is, accept her powers, learn how to use them more, dug into her heritage, embraced her family, found a new daughter and romantic interest, and feels more at peace in her life.

In this book, the author brings the main characters out of the small, familiar town into the mountains to reunite in a large family reunion. While there Ophelia goes up against the local vicious witch who wants to destroy her family. The decades old rivalry comes to a head as Ophelia this time has to solve a whole new mystery - what really happened in the past and how to fix it in the present.

I like that Ophelia is braver now and confident in her abilities. I liked the realistic vulnerability that is finally exposed in her grandmother Abby, who was a little cartoonish before with her mannerisms and thought processes. It was interesting to see the tension in the family with the different witches and their different hang-ups. The family drama made this one work well as a series ender.

Finally, after so many books and men, Ophelia finds one that will hang around. I won't ruin it with a spoiler, so I'll just say the decision is a good one and I'm happy with her choice.

While Ophelia digs into her bag of magic tricks, the magic is still rather subdued compared to some glimpses in the first book. This must be a personal preference of the author to make it more realistic and her type of witch. Personally I would have liked to see more of the powers be supernatural over nature driven.

Overall this was a fun, quirky series that ended on a high note, wrapping things up well without dangling threads, giving peace to the man characters and making it seem like they have full lives ahead of them.