Grey Magic by J.T. Lawrence (First published independently in 2016)
Let Raven Kane show you.
She is a thoroughly modern witch living in current-day Johannesburg, dealing with the things everyone deals with in addition to a wayward coven, a wonderful menagerie of pets and animals, and a crumbling house.
Add a criminal investigation into the mix and no wonder Raven is feeling overwhelmed and under-spelled. She is burnt out, tired and fighting to hang onto what really matters to her.
This book has everything – family and expectations, love and fear, murder and mayhem, animals and potion gardens. The past and the present collide in this story, and sparks fly.
Raven is easy to relate to. She is flawed and complex, but inherently someone the reader would like to know. I think this book could happily sit both in general fiction and in YA fiction.
Raven did feel younger than the twenty something she must be, so I do think she would appeal to young adults as well as older ones.
What I found the most engaging about this book is the obvious joy the author felt while writing it. It is fun. The words rush off the page, tripping and giggling as they demand attention. But don’t be fooled by this style, the story underneath is all Lawrence, in all her surprising and occasionally twisted glory.
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