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Andrew Sharpai has his heart broken when he’s engaged to be married to a Vegas showgirl. He moves away from the bright lights and goes to Pocatello, Idaho. There, he meets Iris Winkle and her daughter, Lily. Rumor around town has it that Iris is a witch. With her horribly scarred face and her pentagram pendant, she doesn’t do much to dispel the idea. Andrew is attracted to Iris though and finds himself in over his head when he starts to experience supernatural events.
Do you ever read a book and think, “This is trying to tell me something, but I’m either not in a place to learn it now, or it’s something I’ve already learned and moved past?” That’s me with this book. I really liked Peterson’s first book, Thumb Flagging, and liked what he had to say about learning from everyone you meet. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like I learned anything from Andrew Sharpai.
It could be the subject matter. Mention anything even slightly demonic and you have given me a big-time case of the heebie-jeebies. There wasn’t enough going on to even give me nightmares, but I was a little worried when I realized where this was going. It is fairly tame stuff–the point isn’t to scare the reader, I did get that much–but I didn’t have any way of knowing that as I read.
I did like the three main characters. Poor Andrew just wants someone to love and he keeps getting hurt. He’s such a good guy though. Iris has lived a hard life, but she’s learned from her mistakes and is now trying to move on and do the best she can. Little Lily stole the show. She’s so funny and wise beyond her years, but she’s so desperately trying to look out for her mom and try to hold her little world together. Oh, and I have to mention Elijah Corbeau. Best name ever for a raven, and what a raven he is. He might have been my favorite character, strange as that sounds. His larger-than-life personality jumps off the page whenever he enters a scene.
My inner editor is making me mention that this could have used one more good edit. There were quite a few typos.
I think this could speak volumes to the right reader at the right time (perhaps someone who is more of a spiritual seeker than I am?). I was really just left with some good characters and a feeling that I missed something.
Thanks to the author for sending me a copy for review.
