Saturday, May 3, 2014

Blog Tour Stop: The Goodbye Witch by Heather Blake (Guest Post, Review and Giveaway)

Please join me in welcoming Heather Blake to Debbie's Book Bag, today. Heather is here promoting the release of her book, The Goodbye Witch. Please enjoy her guest post, along with my review of her book and a giveaway!


Blind Faith
By Heather Blake

One of the most-asked questions I receive from readers is, “Where do you get your ideas?” 

Honestly, some of the time I have no idea where they come from. The ideas are just there. Most of the time, however, an idea comes from a situation I see or hear. It sets off a spark that I then flame into a full-blown plot by playing the “what if” game. What if that happened to one of my characters? Then what if my character did this, did that?

For The Goodbye Witch, it was a magazine article I read that created the spark. A human-interest piece about a young woman who’d been murdered. Nineteen years old. A high-achieving college student. The whole world ahead of her. There was a preponderance of evidence against the woman’s boyfriend that he’d committed the crime. DNA. Witnesses. A confession (though later retracted). Yet…his parents steadfastly refused to believe their son, their pride and joy who was also a college student on the fast-track to greatness, could have had anything to do with this heinous crime. No way. Not their boy. They proclaimed his innocence to any and all who would listen (and still do, despite his conviction).

The behavior, the blind faith, of those parents struck me hard. What if that was one of my sons? What would I do in that situation? How would I react? Better yet…what if it happened to one of my characters?

What if?

In The Goodbye Witch, Wishcrafter Darcy Merriweather’s best friend, Starla, is living her worst nightmare. Her fugitive ex-husband, Kyle, has returned to the Enchanted Village. Years ago, he escaped jail after being arrested for Starla’s attempted murder. His family – his parents and two brothers – and most of the village took Kyle’s side after the arrest. As the village’s golden child, Kyle could do no wrong in their eyes. 

Darcy, of course, is livid at the absolute allegiance to Kyle. How could everyone simply ignore all the evidence against him?

What if?

It’s not until Kyle’s found dead, and Starla becomes the number one suspect in his death, that Darcy learns how easily someone can put blind faith behind a loved one accused of a horrible crime. She’ll do anything and everything to clear her friend’s name.


Because nothing is ever what it seems in the Enchanted Village, it takes all Darcy has learned about the Craft and help from her family and friends (mortal and Crafters alike) to discover the true motive for Kyle’s death. And when she does, she’s completely unprepared for the consequences of those actions and how they affect her own life…

Book Information:


The Goodbye Witch (Wishcraft Mystery - Book 4) by Heather Blake

Publication Date: 05/06/2014
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Obsidian Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 320
ISBN-10: 0451465873
ISBN-13: 978-0451465870

(Received for an honest review from Obsidian Mystery)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Indiebound

Heather Blake on the WEB: website, blog, twitter, facebook, goodreads

Books in the series

Wishcraft Mystery

1. It Takes a Witch
2. A Witch Before Dying
3. The Good, The Bad and The Witchy
4. The Goodbye Witch

Coverart: Click the Image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.



Synopsis:

As Enchanted Village’s resident Wishcrafter, Darcy Merriweather has the power to make other people’s wishes come true, but what she really wishes is that she had the power to uncloak the invisible man who’s stalking her best friend....
 
Darcy’s closest friend and fellow witch, Starla Sullivan, hoped she’d never see her ex-husband, Kyle, again. Two years ago he tried to kill her, and he has been a fugitive ever since. Now Starla claims to have seen him back in Enchanted Village, but it seems she’s the only one who can see him. To everyone else, her ex is invisible.
 
Darcy only wishes his motives were as transparent as the rest of him. Since the police can’t arrest someone they can’t see, it’s up to Darcy to find the secret behind Kyle’s latest disappearing act—before he does something they can’t see coming….


Thoughts:

The fourth book in Heather Blake's Wishcraft Mystery series, The Goodbye Witch, combines a well written cozy mystery with the paranormal. The charming town called the Enchanted Village isn't at all what it seems sometimes and Blake makes readers believe that wishes can come true there. Great character development and pacing make this book a perfect read for the lounger or the porch swing. A great addition to the series!

What I liked:

It's official... I want to live in the Enchanted Village. Heather Blake has made this little town so accessible to her readers that they literally would love to find a town like it and move right in. I always enjoy the way that Blake makes the village come alive with great descriptive passages and characters that seem like old friends. The Goodbye Witch is the fourth book in the series and as a reader I still feel like I am always finding something new about the town or it's inhabitants. 

I loved the fact that this installment focuses on Starla and Darcy's best friend. These two have been close all along and Starla always seems to know the right thing to do or say and now she's the one in trouble. I liked the idea of blind faith, and how Darcy was utterly convinced that Starla could never hurt anyone including her ex-husband who had tried to kill her in the past. It showed the depth of their friendship and how important Starla was too Darcy and to the series in general. I like it when an author lets the mystery hit close to home.

Darcy, as usual, has an interesting way of going about figuring out each crime and whodunit. In this one, there plenty of suspects and motives and Darcy has a lot of evidence to work with. I liked seeing the whole gang of Darcy's family and friends trying to save one of their own. It worked well with the story and I thought Blake did a great job of placing her red herrings strategically to keep the reader a little off balance. I figured it out before the end, but not too far ahead. I was very satisfied by the ending and thought that this was probably the best in the series so far. 

What I didn't like:

There were a couple of points when I felt like the story dragged a little bit and I wanted to push ahead, but that's just the mystery reader in me. I want to see if I've got it all figured out, like most readers do.

Bottom Line:

This was a fun read. It had some good underlying themes, like strong friendship and blind faith. Blake's books seem to improve with each one in the series and I like this one best so far. I want to live in the 
Enchanted Village so I think it's safe to say this is a good read.

The Goodbye Witch will be available to readers from their favorite bookseller on May 6th. It is available for pre-order NOW!

I'm giving this one 4 out of 5 apples from my book bag!




About the Author:

Heather Blake grew up in a suburb of Boston and enjoys going “home” in her novels. As a young mother, she tried her hand at writing novels and hasn’t looked back. Heather currently lives in the Cincinnati area with her family. She is the author of the Wishcraft Mysteries as well as the Magic Potion Mysteries.


Giveaway Details:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of The Goodbye Witch by Heather Blake.

~ You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~ US addresses only.
~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, May 17th.

1. Please leave a comment about a special wish that you have made in your life and whether it came true or if you're still waiting.

2. Please fill out the FORM.

27 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, definitely still waiting for my wish; feels like it will never happen :(
Email Subscriber: jslbrown2009(at)aol(dot)com

cyn209 said...

my very first wish is still to come true, but I'm pretty patient......

my most recent wish came true 4 years ago, when I needed a kidney transplant.......

bn100 said...

don't really make any

traveler said...

My wish is for great health and to travel. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

Unknown said...

Hello! I've been following your blog for a while now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from King wood Texas! Just wanted to tell you keep up the fantastic work!...Cccam Server

Linda Kish said...

My last wish was for my heart cath to come out good and it did. The doctor says I should live to my 90s based on the results of the cath.

lkish77123 at gmail dot com

holdenj said...

So far, so good in the wish area! We are all healthy and happy here. Love this series, thanks for the great post and giveaway!

NoraA said...

Hi Heather,
Many years ago I made the wish that I could live my life to my own tune and march to the beat of my own drum. Of course family, job and circumstances made sure that never happened.

Sue Farrell said...

My wishes have been for my health---and so far so good.

Bonnie Gill said...

I always wish to win the lottery but it hasn't come true yet :)

Heather Blake said...

Thank you for the wonderful review--I'm so happy you enjoyed the story.

And I hope all the wishes here come true. :)

SandyG265 said...

When I was a kid I wished for a horse but never got one

Unknown said...

It's a silly wish..... I wished I was able to write a computer program. It came true this year as I was able to go back to school after too many years away. I took intro to computer programming and will be taking C# in the summer. :D

Ayjah said...

My wish is for my husband's health and future to perk right up. We are working towards a brighter future...

Connie Correll said...

I remember breaking a wish bone with my brother when we were little. Gramma asked what I had wished for, low and behold the next day I had a huge bag of candy, just what I had wished for!

Laura S Reading said...

Thank you so much for this chance.

lkleback said...

I wish for a peaceful life every day. So far so good!

Texas Book Lover said...

I made a wish to find a new job. It took two years but I finally found one!!!

Natasha said...

I wished for a guinea pig when I was little and I have one now.
Thanks for the chance to win!

Carol M said...

I'm not one for making wishes. You have to make things happen!

Brooke Showalter said...

I've wished for different things...some have come true and some haven't. But I'll never stop wishing. :)

Anita Yancey said...

I made a wish to win the lottery, and I 'm still waiting to see if it ever comes true. I think very few wishes ever come true.

ayancey1974(at)gmail(dot)com

Unknown said...

Yes, I have and am still waiting for it to come true.

Kimberly Wyatt said...

I wished for a sister for most of my life and it finally came true when I turned 20. It was a definite surprise to my dad though!

lag123 said...

I do have a secret wish and I am still waiting for it to come true.

lag110 at mchsi dot com

Michelle F. said...

No, I haven't had any wishes come true. I'd love to win the lottery or even just an iPad mini!

Sharon Braswell said...

I'm still waiting on a special wish to come true but it's becoming more visible and possible in my life every day now!