Thursday, October 18, 2012

Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft by Jody Gehrman {review-giveaway}

Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft
by Jody Gehrman
Series: Audrey's Guides #1
Publisher: Magic Genie
Publication date: June 30, 2012
Genre: Paranormal
Purchase: Barnes and Noble/ Amazon


Falling in Love, baking a magical cake, fighting an evil necromancer—it’s all in a day’s work for Audrey Oliver, seventeen-year-old witch-in-training. When her mother goes missing and her twenty-one-year-old witchy cousin shows up out of the blue, Audrey knows something’s gone horribly, dangerously wrong. Now it’s up to her to get her own magical powers up to speed before everyone she loves is destroyed by the sorcerer intricately connected to her mother’s secret past.

When I was approached for a review by the author of Audrey’s Guide to Witchcraft, the cover whore in me screamed, “Say yes! Say yes!” The practical (weaker) side of me said, “Calm down, let me read the synopsis! Stop jumping you're making the words all blurry!” I distracted my inner cover whore by pointing out a shiny object and quickly read the synopsis and you can guess what our answer was. Audrey’s Guide to Witchcraft has a gorgeous cover and inside there is a terrific spell-casting, character filled tale that kept me spellbound. Witches, necromancers, swoon worthy guys and a chocolate cake with raspberries that should be illegal! This witchy tale offered a great start to a new series.

The tale pulls you in from the start. We meet protagonist Audrey and things are about to turn upside down in her fairly normal little life. First, strange things happen at school that kind of freak her out, she has some weird visions/daydreams and a nagging, persistent feeling that something is wrong with her Mom. When she gets home she and her sister are greeted by their supposed cousin, twenty-one year old Sadie. Sadie informs them their mother has had to go home to deal with a family emergency. Audrey and Meg have never met their mother’s side of the family and something just feels wrong.  Stranger still weird things are happening to Audrey. Mix in a cute boy who does things to her, the weird dude from her dreams and her unusual cousin and you have the makings for a witchy tale. The tale that unfolded kept me enchanted, as the tale slowly picked up speed and things were revealed to us.

Audrey is a typical teenager, who is eager to take on the world. She loves cooking and chemistry and I ended up liking this geeky, nerd girl. Her sister Meg is one of those girls who seems to have it all, from the way she walks to her ease at being center stage. Sadie was totally cool and just gave of that whole 'hippy-vibe'. I found her to be funny, quirky and quick-witted. I so want to read more about her!  Bridget is Audrey’s best friend, and I liked this nerd girl with her made up vocabulary. I admired how loyal Audrey was to her, but also loved the growth we saw in Bridget.  Julian is yummy, and I am very curious about him and the effects he has on Audrey. Overall the characters were fairly fleshed out but still have the potential to be more as the series progresses. The romance is sweet, funny, smexy and served on the side is this tale. 

Gehrman adds her own delightful twists and colorful characters to a tried and true formula creating a fun, silly, captivating read that kept me intrigued as the tale unfolded. The tale had dark and suspenseful moments filled with evil, necromancers, zombie type creatures and witchy goodness. Gehrman made baking sensual, even magical, and I liked this added element. I want to test out that chocolate cake recipe..Eep! Audrey’s powers, the coven’s rules, spells mentioned and other witchy details were fascinating. The pacing was perfect and slowly built to the intense climax. While the tale is far from over, she skillfully avoided the dreaded cliffhanger.

I recommend Audrey’s Guide to Witchcraft to fans of anything witchy. This was a delightful start to a promising series and I am looking forward to the next cover book in the series.

This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for my unbiased review. *Purchases made through buy links on this site result in a small commission which funds our giveaways.

I gave this witchy tale 4 brewed cups of coffee out of 5
Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer Kimba The Caffeinated Book Reviewer Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Giveaway time!! 
The author loves Halloween and will give
13 followers an eBook copy of Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft!
open internationally
enter rafflecopter below:


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47 Comments:

At July 17, 2013 at 10:29 PM , Anonymous Erin F said...

thanks for a great review! This book sounds fantastic and I'm definitely adding to my wishilst :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:31 AM , Anonymous Jen Ryland said...

It is a fantastic cover -- glad you also enjoyed the story inside!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:49 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

Thanks Danielle..maybe you will win a copy :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:49 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

you are welcome Shaunesay..good luck!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:49 AM , Anonymous Shaunesay said...

Sounds like a fun one! Thank you for the giveaway!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:49 AM , Anonymous Shaunesay said...

I'm the same!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:50 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

thanks Heather and good luck to you!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:50 AM , Anonymous Heather said...

Great review!!! Thanks for doing the giveaway!!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:50 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

o.o enjoy!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:50 AM , Anonymous Kimberly @ Turning The Pages said...

Great review! I picked up a copy of this a few days ago when it was a kindle freebie and now I can't wait to read it it sounds so good!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:54 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

I enjoyed this one, it was fun! Good luck :0

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:54 AM , Anonymous Brandy Corona said...

This looks really interesting! I love stories about witches!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:55 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

this was a lot of fun and perfect for fall.

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:55 AM , Anonymous Traci G said...

sounds like a blast.

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:55 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

It was a fun read !

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:55 AM , Anonymous ryan snyder said...

i loved Jody's Betty books. :D i cannot wait to read another book by this author! this sounds like such a cute read. :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

I look forward to reading it Melissa :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous Melissa's Midnight Musings said...

I'm so glad you enjoyed this one! I loved the baking element in this story too. My review will be up later this month.

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

Always good to know I am not the only one!!!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know said...

Looking forward to checking this one out. I'm the same way about covers sometimes. I get all excited and then I have to calm down to make sure the book even sounds remotely like something I want to read.


Sandy @ Somewhere Only We know

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

Yay..hope you enjoy it!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

ouija board *shivers* ...i had a really creepy experience with one once

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous Christy (Love of Books) said...

The cover reminds me of a ouija board. Sounds like another another good one!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

Thanks for sharing it and good luck to you :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous outlandergone67 said...

I shared this on facebook!!!!! Thanks for the giveaway.

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

Me too...thanks Jen :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

ooh dig it out, this is the perfect time of year for some witchy fun!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous Sam @ Realm of Fiction said...

This sounds like a really fun book with fun characters. I still have a review copy to get around to! Eeek!


Glad you enjoyed it. :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

O.o I hope you enjoy it :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous Heidi said...

H an the cover whore in you was screaming yes yes....I am glad to hear that the book was more than a pretty cover especially since I am reading it next week for Something Wicked!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous erinf1 said...

thanks for a great review! This book sounds very interesting and definitely adding to my wishlist :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

It was fun Erin, hope you enjoy it!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous erin f said...

thanks for the great review! Definitely adding this book to my wishlist :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

thanks sista!!!!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous A Belle's Tales said...

Yayyy! We can be inner cover whore sistas who enjoy our paranormal woo-woo! LOL! Wonderful review! I have this one and now I can't wait to get started on it!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf said...

Ah...chocolate cake with raspberries! My favorite (That was my wedding cake) Plus Witches!! Woohoo!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

It was a fun read :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous Christina K. said...

This is such a unique concept! Sounds cute too:)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

O.o you should it's perfect for fall!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

LOL

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

I am a YA noob, and have found some really terrific books. So glad you liked it.

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous Diana Leigh said...

Though I'm not a YA reader, I was totally drawn to this book by the cover and blurb. I'm glad I read it - very enjoyable!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

It was and I hope you get a chance to read it :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous mobb said...

this is really interesting=)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:56 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

cool!

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:57 AM , Anonymous Blodeuedd said...

Pretty sure I just dLed this one as a freebie..I think :)

 
At July 18, 2013 at 1:57 AM , Anonymous kimbacaffeinate said...

Me too :)

 

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