Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Seventeen-year-old Everett Hallman may have been born a witch, but he possesses only low levels of spell-casting energy. He lives with his grandfather in the town of Ashville, near woods with high paranormal activity, and helps guide lost spirits to their respective afterlives. When strange urges lead Everett away from the woods and to a nearby martial arts school, he discovers the residue of paranormal creatures so powerful, he can’t help investigating further.

After he discovers he is a Bridge Master, a witch who can cross over to various spirit worlds, complications arise. The powerful witch who is supposed to mentor him goes missing, something is off about the handsome martial artist he befriends, and his energy keeps dipping to dangerous levels. The more he probes, the clearer it becomes that he cannot walk away.

 

Book Review

With a concept in witchcraft that I have not read about in this form before, ‘The Bridge’ gave me an interesting fantasy/paranormal world that contained more than one surprise. But there is more than great world building to this YA novel – wonderful characters, mysterious events, an action-packed confrontation, and more than one life lesson to be learned. With drama, new discoveries, and unexpected twists, ‘The Bridge’ pulled me in and didn’t let me go until the final page.

Everett is seventeen, bookish, has almost no friends, and is a witch. His parents vanished seven years ago and he now lives with his grandfather (who is also a witch) in a small town, trying to learn how to control his abilities. He is not very powerful, in fact even small spells routinely exhaust him to the point of fainting, but he is a rare Bridge Master, able to send lost souls to the afterlife. I found this whole idea of bridges to different types of afterlife really interesting, and to have witches to help with that was a nice twist. Everett has a jellyfish as a familiar, which is just hilarious, but Buzz (as he names him) has a mind of his own.

Then strange things start happening. First, Everett is drawn to a local martial arts school where he meets Bryce – a very attractive instructor. The strange paranormal residue Everett finds all over the place makes him wonder what’s going on. Then the witch who is supposed to teach him how to be a Bridge Master vanishes, and neither Everett’s grandfather nor the witch sent by the Order to investigate have any idea what’s going on. Or so they say. And as the mystery deepens, Everett’s determination to deal with it by himself increases. Never mind that he knows he is in over his head, just like any teenager I’ve ever met, Everett is not going to ask for help. Nope. Not going to happen. Until it is almost too late and he is in so deep that his life is threatened, his friends are hostages to unimaginable evil, and all of humanity is threatened with subjugation.

Everett has a lot to deal with in this story, and while his need for independence is understandable, it is also very dangerous. It provided me with a wonderful adventure to follow and more than one scary moment! It also enables Everett to understand himself better and put a few events in his life into perspective. Coming of age is hard – and when you’re a witch it can also be dangerous.

If you like stories about witchcraft, spells, and paranormal riddles, if two young men figuring out their world and themselves sound interesting, and if you’re looking for a suspenseful, fantastical, slightly scary, and very imaginative read that might just make you forget the real world around you, then you will probably like this novel.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Harmony Ink Press for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 224 pages/67307 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	02-June-2016
Price	$6.99 ebook, $14.99 paperback, $14.99 bundle
Buy Link	https://www.harmonyinkpress.com/books/the-bridge-by-rachel-lou-385-b