Blog Tour: The Memory Witch by Heather Topham Wood (Review + Giveaway!)

Welcome to the first day of Heather Topham Wood's THE MEMORY WITCH blog tour!

I'll be reviewing the novel and showcasing my favourite quotes of the novel. There's also a giveaway where you can win a $30 Amazon Gift Card (:

Click on the blog tour banner for a list of other blogs participating in the tour!


The Memory Witch (The Memory Witch, #1) by Heather Topham Wood
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
Released: December 15th 2013
Format: Ebook
Source: Review copy provided by publisher
Blog tour hosted by: Itching For Books

Ten years ago, Quinn Jacobs’ mother made a bargain with a local witch—steal away Quinn’s memories from the first eight years of her life and in return, Quinn would spend a year in servitude to the witch.

On Quinn’s eighteenth birthday, she’s forced to leave her home and friends behind. For the next year, she’ll live at the Chadwick House, learning everything she needs to know about being a spellcaster. As her powers grow, Quinn begins to unravel the secrets of the past and the reason her mother was so desperate to conceal the horrifying truth.

Wood weaves a dark tale with a touch of magic in The Memory Witch – the first in a series. I have always loved tales with witches in them and was drawn to Quinn's story.

Quinn was a character that I quickly grew to like. Wood brilliantly set up the plot and characters, making it very believable that Quinn had no choice but to leave with Stella, the witch. There was also a significant build-up of events before Quinn left for Stella's place, which I greatly appreciated because the pacing would have been off if Wood had jumped straight into Quinn's tutelage with Stella.

Throughout her stay with Stella, Quinn echoed similar thoughts I had and I really liked how she smart and mature she was:

If I was going to be here for a year, I had to encourage a level of civility with my instructor. If I had to venture a guess, it would be that staying on the witch's good side was vital to my survival.

You go, girl!

Simply put, I'm a little sick of hot-headed heroines who don't put a bit more thought into their next plan of action. Quinn was a hardworking student and strove to follow Stella's instructions. She was also determined about not being involved with Mason and followed through with it albeit having warring emotions (yay!).

Stella was a character that grew on me from the very beginning. I have a feeling the opposite might have been intended for readers, but Stella came across as a stricter Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter with a capacity to care more than she should. She was an awesome mentor to Quinn and was a little disturbing at times, but I still really, REALLY like her!

Mason and Quinn were so hot. So hot. *fans self* Mason is that complicated boy with the complicated past, and though they always say you should NEVER go for a bad boy, I'm just glad that he stepped into Quinn's life. Mason's backstory was heart-wrenching and the way these two fell for each other was just – *searches for appropriate gif*

Yup.

One thing that irked me was how Wood's writing seemed to tell more than show. I'm sure we're all familiar with how we should show, not tell with writing. I felt that there was so much more between Quinn and Stella's relationship that could've been fleshed out if Wood had shown more instead of just telling us what happened between the two of them, such as this:

A few incidences after snapping at Stella, I had ended up getting stuck doing deep cleaning in the bathrooms.

This happened many, many times. Not of Quinn cleaning the bathrooms, but of how incidents that could've been used to further show the relationship between characters were not put to good use. I couldn't see the "cruelty and disdain" Quinn spoke of Stella at one point. I also didn't get how Stella and Quinn's mother ended up in a screamfest – my guess is that there should've been a build-up of show, not tell because I completely missed the signals prior to that. Additionally, Quinn frequently commented how Mason didn't want to get near her at the beginning, that he was hot-and-cold. Often I found myself questioning, really? I guess it would have been more evident if Wood had fleshed out their relationship more at the start.

Nevertheless, the story held my attention for a good whole day. The ending made The Memory Witch so much darker than I thought it would be, too, and it didn't help that I was finishing it up close to midnight. I just can't help but wonder if Wood had experienced an element of Quinn's past – be it personal, or having been exposed to something similar like that in her life so far. It was... very disturbing, not to mention heartbreaking. I felt like someone had used my body as a gong after finishing this book – my feelings were all over the place, reverberating inside of me.

The Memory Witch has been planned for a trilogy, and I'm definitely looking forward to more Quinn and Mason, as well as a whole new bunch of characters!

FAVOURITE QUOTES

"Stella could make that boy of yours infertile with a snap of her fingers." — Quinn's mother

"You make me feel things for you that I have no business feeling." — Mason

"I'm not exactly badass witch material." — Quinn

"You can't let a lifetime of hate produce a lifetime of misery." — Stella

" 'You're being a stubborn witch. I need you back to your old self. If I have to listen to another client complain about their pitiful love life, I'm going to have to start handing out hexes instead of potions,' I threatened. 

[Stella's] laugh turned into a fit of coughing."

Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to enter the giveaway!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Heather Topham Wood’s obsession with novels began in childhood while growing up in a shore town in New Jersey. Writing since her teens, she recently returned to penning novels after a successful career as a freelance writer. She’s the author of the paranormal romance Second Sight series and the standalone The Disappearing Girl.

Heather graduated from the College of New Jersey in 2005 and holds a bachelor's degree in English. Her freelance work has appeared in publications such as USA Today, Livestrong.com, Outlook by the Bay and Step in Style magazine. She resides in Trenton, New Jersey with her husband and two sons. Besides writing, Heather is a pop culture fanatic and has an obsession with supernatural novels and TV shows.

Connect with Heather: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Get your copy of The Memory Witch!

Amazon US | Amazon UK | The Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

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