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Spellbound
21-year old Armitage Black has three great loves in life: her Black Labrador, Squidge; large bottles of Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry; and nosying her little heart out, to the point where she's frequently in danger of turning into a giant nose on legs.
So when a number of unusual murders start happening in Habely – Armitage's village in North-East England, a place where the most exciting thing to happen tends to be some poor old dear losing their walking stick is generally the most dramatic thing to happen – Armitage is beyond intrigued. Not only are the circumstances of each murder identical to the last, but when the man responsible is finally caught, he claims that he had been forced to do it by Elodia Knight – a woman he claims to be a witch with full-blown magic powers. But everyone knows that witches aren’t real…
Right?
After transcribing Knight’s Police interview and seeing the ‘witch’ put the interviewing officers into some kind of trance before disappearing from Police Custody – taking one of the officers with her – Armitage is determined to find out how Knight is making herself appear to be a true witch. Along with her Black Labrador, Squidge, Armitage cheerfully throws herself into the investigation, dragging her best friend Angie along with them and quickly irritating the officers investigating Knight’s crimes – particularly one Aidan Hadaway, a Detective Constable who is quite the manwhore, a complete stunner with an impressive set of biceps, and of the firm opinion that investigations should be left to people who actually know what they’re doing.
However, as Angie and Armitage’s snooping continues, they come to the attention of Knight herself, who is completely unwilling to let two nosey lasses get in her way. Knight is determined to reach her goals – and if getting rid of Armitage is the only way to do that, then getting rid of Armitage is exactly what she’ll do.
With Hadaway doing his damnedest to keep her out of the case, and with Knight closing in fast, Armitage and her nosiness face a challenge that they’ve never had before. But they’ve never given up mid-nosey before – and Armitage will be damned if she lets a psychopathic ‘witch’ and a pair of Magic Biceps stop her now…
So when a number of unusual murders start happening in Habely – Armitage's village in North-East England, a place where the most exciting thing to happen tends to be some poor old dear losing their walking stick is generally the most dramatic thing to happen – Armitage is beyond intrigued. Not only are the circumstances of each murder identical to the last, but when the man responsible is finally caught, he claims that he had been forced to do it by Elodia Knight – a woman he claims to be a witch with full-blown magic powers. But everyone knows that witches aren’t real…
Right?
After transcribing Knight’s Police interview and seeing the ‘witch’ put the interviewing officers into some kind of trance before disappearing from Police Custody – taking one of the officers with her – Armitage is determined to find out how Knight is making herself appear to be a true witch. Along with her Black Labrador, Squidge, Armitage cheerfully throws herself into the investigation, dragging her best friend Angie along with them and quickly irritating the officers investigating Knight’s crimes – particularly one Aidan Hadaway, a Detective Constable who is quite the manwhore, a complete stunner with an impressive set of biceps, and of the firm opinion that investigations should be left to people who actually know what they’re doing.
However, as Angie and Armitage’s snooping continues, they come to the attention of Knight herself, who is completely unwilling to let two nosey lasses get in her way. Knight is determined to reach her goals – and if getting rid of Armitage is the only way to do that, then getting rid of Armitage is exactly what she’ll do.
With Hadaway doing his damnedest to keep her out of the case, and with Knight closing in fast, Armitage and her nosiness face a challenge that they’ve never had before. But they’ve never given up mid-nosey before – and Armitage will be damned if she lets a psychopathic ‘witch’ and a pair of Magic Biceps stop her now…
ebook
First published July 24, 2015
19 people want to read
About the author
Laurie Elisabeth Ashcroft
2 followersProbably the biggest thing about me is how much I've always loved books.
Apparently, even before I could walk and talk, I used to just sit there and stare at the pictures in the books that Mum or Dad or whoever was reading to me. And then, of course, I had to go to that horrible place called School, where I used to get bored of the lessons and walk out of the classroom to bury myself behind all the coats in the cloakroom and read my latest book. Clearly, 4-year-old Laurie was a lot more devious than Adult Laurie :-)
And then I got dragged off to Secondary School, where we didn't have cloakrooms so I couldn't pull my little party trick. Instead, I got a lot more blatant and read my books in front of the teachers, be it in English or Science or Drama. (My Drama teacher wasn't hugely impressed with my five minute, one-girl show called 'Laurie Reads A Book', which mainly consisted of me sitting on the floor in front of my class and doing nothing but reading Harry Potter.)
From being about 8 or 9, though, what I really liked to do was write. I think my very first story was about a girl called Lisa who had a twin brother Elvis - I was trained from a young age to like Elvis Presley - and an evil computer, although Lisa was the only person who knew that said computer was hell-bent on taking over the world. Or something. Given that it's been a while since I was 8 or 9, I'm not too sure on that last part.
Then, when I was 10, my first favourite characters were born: Amber & Vernon, twin children of the President of the United States. Honestly, that story is so bad that I can't read it today (yes, I still have it) without laughing my head off - but it obviously kicked something off, because Amber & Vernon stayed with me, on and off, until I was 19 or 20 (by which time, happily, my writing had very much improved). Amber & Vernon have recently undergone a makeover, actually, and when I come back to them - which I will do, at some point in the probably distant future - they will now be called Mina & Liam.
Amber/Mina & Vernon/Liam have been very much sidetracked, though, by Miss Armitage Black. And Armitage really is my very favourite character that I've ever written - she's so happy and bouncy, and so many things just bounce straight off her, that I think she's fab. (So does Armitage, actually. But then we're both biased.) The thing that I love most about Armitage is that she went in a completely different direction to my initial plans for her, and she's the first character of mine to do that. I have so much fun writing about Armitage and her adventures and her love of biceps - I really hope that anyone who reads Spellbound loves her even a quarter as much as I do.
OK. So. That's all of my writing stuff.
As for me... I live in a 2-bedroom flat between Middlesbrough and Guisborough with my cat-who-thinks-she's-a-dog, Maggie the Moggy. I dog-sit a lot for my Dad and Stepmum and my sister and her husband, so there are times when my flat strongly resembles The World's Worst Petting Zoo. All I need is for one of them to get a horse and I can finally be upgraded to Farm.
Like Armitage, I used to be a Police Typist. I really think that, without this job, I couldn't have finally got her out on paper - for at least two years beforehand, I'd had this little person floating around my head, wanting to have an unusual name, wanting to get involved in some kind of supernatural mystery that the Police were already investigating - but I had no idea how to get her to where she wanted to be.
Being a Police Typist was the perfect way to do it - Armitage would have unlimited access to the tapes of interviews with perpetrators and victims of crime. And if she happens to get a bit too nosey... well, clearly, she's a very dedicated Typist :P
Still looking for Mr Prince Charming, by the way. This is my one problem with books - the men are always so good-looking and so nice and so into their leading lady, when in actual fact, dating is just HARD
Apparently, even before I could walk and talk, I used to just sit there and stare at the pictures in the books that Mum or Dad or whoever was reading to me. And then, of course, I had to go to that horrible place called School, where I used to get bored of the lessons and walk out of the classroom to bury myself behind all the coats in the cloakroom and read my latest book. Clearly, 4-year-old Laurie was a lot more devious than Adult Laurie :-)
And then I got dragged off to Secondary School, where we didn't have cloakrooms so I couldn't pull my little party trick. Instead, I got a lot more blatant and read my books in front of the teachers, be it in English or Science or Drama. (My Drama teacher wasn't hugely impressed with my five minute, one-girl show called 'Laurie Reads A Book', which mainly consisted of me sitting on the floor in front of my class and doing nothing but reading Harry Potter.)
From being about 8 or 9, though, what I really liked to do was write. I think my very first story was about a girl called Lisa who had a twin brother Elvis - I was trained from a young age to like Elvis Presley - and an evil computer, although Lisa was the only person who knew that said computer was hell-bent on taking over the world. Or something. Given that it's been a while since I was 8 or 9, I'm not too sure on that last part.
Then, when I was 10, my first favourite characters were born: Amber & Vernon, twin children of the President of the United States. Honestly, that story is so bad that I can't read it today (yes, I still have it) without laughing my head off - but it obviously kicked something off, because Amber & Vernon stayed with me, on and off, until I was 19 or 20 (by which time, happily, my writing had very much improved). Amber & Vernon have recently undergone a makeover, actually, and when I come back to them - which I will do, at some point in the probably distant future - they will now be called Mina & Liam.
Amber/Mina & Vernon/Liam have been very much sidetracked, though, by Miss Armitage Black. And Armitage really is my very favourite character that I've ever written - she's so happy and bouncy, and so many things just bounce straight off her, that I think she's fab. (So does Armitage, actually. But then we're both biased.) The thing that I love most about Armitage is that she went in a completely different direction to my initial plans for her, and she's the first character of mine to do that. I have so much fun writing about Armitage and her adventures and her love of biceps - I really hope that anyone who reads Spellbound loves her even a quarter as much as I do.
OK. So. That's all of my writing stuff.
As for me... I live in a 2-bedroom flat between Middlesbrough and Guisborough with my cat-who-thinks-she's-a-dog, Maggie the Moggy. I dog-sit a lot for my Dad and Stepmum and my sister and her husband, so there are times when my flat strongly resembles The World's Worst Petting Zoo. All I need is for one of them to get a horse and I can finally be upgraded to Farm.
Like Armitage, I used to be a Police Typist. I really think that, without this job, I couldn't have finally got her out on paper - for at least two years beforehand, I'd had this little person floating around my head, wanting to have an unusual name, wanting to get involved in some kind of supernatural mystery that the Police were already investigating - but I had no idea how to get her to where she wanted to be.
Being a Police Typist was the perfect way to do it - Armitage would have unlimited access to the tapes of interviews with perpetrators and victims of crime. And if she happens to get a bit too nosey... well, clearly, she's a very dedicated Typist :P
Still looking for Mr Prince Charming, by the way. This is my one problem with books - the men are always so good-looking and so nice and so into their leading lady, when in actual fact, dating is just HARD
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 8, 2016
Thank you to the author, Laurie Elisabeth Ashcroft, for providing me with a copy of Spellbound for review purposes.
Spellbound is a crime mystery story following 21-year-old police typist, Armitage Black, who gets herself thoroughly embroiled in a situation that seems to involve a witchy serial killer.
As you may be able to tell from my description, Spellbound is quite a light-hearted, humorous read - nothing too dark and gritty - aimed at teens/young adults.
The protagonist, Armitage Black is incredibly nosy and a humongous know-it-all, as evidenced by the very first line in the story, "So, the first thing that you need to know about me is that I'm a fair bit nosy. Ridiculously nosey, in fact.". My first impression was that she is not a character who is easy to sympathise with, However, as the book progressed, I found myself slowly warming to Armitage. Yes, she’s incredibly annoying, however she is energetic, passionate, inquisitive and has an incredible sense of self-belief, along with surprisingly little sense of danger or self-preservation!
The supporting characters are likeable and relatable. Her best friend, Angie Fallows, seems down to earth and sensible. She is happily settled down with Detective Constable Johnny Wallace, another very sensible individual, and, on the whole, seems fairly unshakable even in the face of Armitage's craziness. Detective Constable Aiden Hadaway adds a nicely conflicting element to the story, with him and Armitage butting heads at every conceivable moment.
There is an element of romance within the book, between Armitage and Hadaway. With their constant bickering, you can see where this subplot is heading. The burgeoning relationship between Armitage and Hadaway is very chaste in nature (due, I'm guessing, to the likely age of the target audience), which works well with this particular book. I think a more heavy romance would have detracted from the story.
The main plotline is unique and interesting. Armitage and her friends/police are on the trail of a witch, if there is such a thing!? Elodia Knight is up to something and it's not good. People are going missing, bodies are turning up and she's bewitching the local coppers in order to get out of an interview. Ashcroft has created a truly nefarious and completely crazy villain in Elodia Knight.
As mentioned above, the book is obviously targeted at teens/young adults. This is shown in the language (i.e. the word "knobhead" being used quite liberally throughout) which adults might find slightly immature and repetitive, however I think the language is such that teens would identify with and this may well help to make the reader feel more involved in the story. It also helps to give us a real idea of Armitage's personality and thought pattern.
I think that a large part of the enjoyment of the story comes from suspending belief and accepting what the book tells us. As an adult, I did struggle at time to accept some of the less realistic elements of the story, such as the police allowing Armitage to interfere so readily in their investigation. However, I fully accept that I have become quite pedantic as an adult, often commenting on TV shows that something "just wouldn't happen" in real life. My husband has to constantly remind me that some liberties have to be taken in order to create an interesting story. This is certainly the case here. If Armitage was unable to interfere in the investigation, it would be much harder to keep the story short and snappy.
Overall, Spellbound is entertaining and fun. It is a light-hearted, energetic and pacy read with a huge dollop of humour thrown into the mix.
Of interest to anyone who has enjoyed Spellbound, the second book in the Armitage Black series, Devilish is due for release on Kindle on 23 December 2015.
Spellbound is a crime mystery story following 21-year-old police typist, Armitage Black, who gets herself thoroughly embroiled in a situation that seems to involve a witchy serial killer.
As you may be able to tell from my description, Spellbound is quite a light-hearted, humorous read - nothing too dark and gritty - aimed at teens/young adults.
The protagonist, Armitage Black is incredibly nosy and a humongous know-it-all, as evidenced by the very first line in the story, "So, the first thing that you need to know about me is that I'm a fair bit nosy. Ridiculously nosey, in fact.". My first impression was that she is not a character who is easy to sympathise with, However, as the book progressed, I found myself slowly warming to Armitage. Yes, she’s incredibly annoying, however she is energetic, passionate, inquisitive and has an incredible sense of self-belief, along with surprisingly little sense of danger or self-preservation!
The supporting characters are likeable and relatable. Her best friend, Angie Fallows, seems down to earth and sensible. She is happily settled down with Detective Constable Johnny Wallace, another very sensible individual, and, on the whole, seems fairly unshakable even in the face of Armitage's craziness. Detective Constable Aiden Hadaway adds a nicely conflicting element to the story, with him and Armitage butting heads at every conceivable moment.
There is an element of romance within the book, between Armitage and Hadaway. With their constant bickering, you can see where this subplot is heading. The burgeoning relationship between Armitage and Hadaway is very chaste in nature (due, I'm guessing, to the likely age of the target audience), which works well with this particular book. I think a more heavy romance would have detracted from the story.
The main plotline is unique and interesting. Armitage and her friends/police are on the trail of a witch, if there is such a thing!? Elodia Knight is up to something and it's not good. People are going missing, bodies are turning up and she's bewitching the local coppers in order to get out of an interview. Ashcroft has created a truly nefarious and completely crazy villain in Elodia Knight.
As mentioned above, the book is obviously targeted at teens/young adults. This is shown in the language (i.e. the word "knobhead" being used quite liberally throughout) which adults might find slightly immature and repetitive, however I think the language is such that teens would identify with and this may well help to make the reader feel more involved in the story. It also helps to give us a real idea of Armitage's personality and thought pattern.
I think that a large part of the enjoyment of the story comes from suspending belief and accepting what the book tells us. As an adult, I did struggle at time to accept some of the less realistic elements of the story, such as the police allowing Armitage to interfere so readily in their investigation. However, I fully accept that I have become quite pedantic as an adult, often commenting on TV shows that something "just wouldn't happen" in real life. My husband has to constantly remind me that some liberties have to be taken in order to create an interesting story. This is certainly the case here. If Armitage was unable to interfere in the investigation, it would be much harder to keep the story short and snappy.
Overall, Spellbound is entertaining and fun. It is a light-hearted, energetic and pacy read with a huge dollop of humour thrown into the mix.
Of interest to anyone who has enjoyed Spellbound, the second book in the Armitage Black series, Devilish is due for release on Kindle on 23 December 2015.
March 25, 2016
I was asked to review this book by a friend. The author. I was delighted to do so as I had seen her post things on social media about her book and how far she had written and what the next development in the story would be. The author is a fellow blogger and appreciates the use of sharing things online.
I was looking forward to reading this book as I had read the reviews online where they talk about all the different turns and twists in the story. Well...! There were so many! Just when I thought we were developing some understanding into Elodia Knight, she would vanish into thin air or she would abscond from criminal proceedings. There were times when I did think Armitage Black should keep her "curious" (nosy) nose out of the police business, but credit to her, she did find the answers out in the end and both her and Angie did help with the criminal investigations
However, what I did not expect was so much violence! I didn't know a character, especially a young girl who has a fear of blood, could fight with such vengeance and persistence. She definitely had a bee in her bonnet when Knight kept trying to hurt Black.
Armitage Black is a young girl who lives with her best friend Angie and her dog Squidge. She works for the local police force as a typist (sounds surprisingly similar to professions I know we have both been in Miss Ashcroft!!). Black has a, shall we say, unappreciated interest, in criminal proceedings of local interesting cases. She enjoys to watch and type the interviews up and then start her own investigation.
One person who particularly does not appreciate this, is the police officer Aidan Hadaway, the best friend of Angie's boyfriend Detective Constable Jonny Wallace. Throughout the story, Black is adamant she does not like Hadaway anymore than the annoying arrogant "man slag" that she believes he is. The whole way through the story there are different opportunities for both Black and Hadaway to finally realise their feelings for one another. This is something I thought would absolutely definitely happen and would be a running theme, however, Ashcroft keeps us in suspense right until the very end, will Black and Hadaway finally get together? Will Black stop being so childish and actually have a real conversation with him? Who knows!
Overall I did enjoy the book. It was an enjoyable read, the writing was easy to read and there were no confusions as to who was who or why things were happening in the story. There is a selection of spelling errors, which can be down to this book being an early print. This did not take away from the story in any way. The story is captivating, interesting and it keeps you in suspense about Elodia Knight right until the end. I was a little disappointed, as Black was, of the outcome for Knight, I had hoped some true justice for Knight, but I suppose nothing was more conclusive than the ending.
I would definitely recommend this book to a friend, which I already have and I would read it again. I look forward to seeing if Ashcroft prints any additional books and I would look forward to reading them and writing any reviews she requests. Thank you again for choosing me to review your book, I hope you have enjoyed my review and I can only apologise it has taken so long! The life of a teacher ey!
Rating: 7/10
10-word review: such an honour! Poor Armitage! Amazed she didn't break anything.
Check out more at http://threeminutesfortyfiveseconds.b...
I was looking forward to reading this book as I had read the reviews online where they talk about all the different turns and twists in the story. Well...! There were so many! Just when I thought we were developing some understanding into Elodia Knight, she would vanish into thin air or she would abscond from criminal proceedings. There were times when I did think Armitage Black should keep her "curious" (nosy) nose out of the police business, but credit to her, she did find the answers out in the end and both her and Angie did help with the criminal investigations
However, what I did not expect was so much violence! I didn't know a character, especially a young girl who has a fear of blood, could fight with such vengeance and persistence. She definitely had a bee in her bonnet when Knight kept trying to hurt Black.
Armitage Black is a young girl who lives with her best friend Angie and her dog Squidge. She works for the local police force as a typist (sounds surprisingly similar to professions I know we have both been in Miss Ashcroft!!). Black has a, shall we say, unappreciated interest, in criminal proceedings of local interesting cases. She enjoys to watch and type the interviews up and then start her own investigation.
One person who particularly does not appreciate this, is the police officer Aidan Hadaway, the best friend of Angie's boyfriend Detective Constable Jonny Wallace. Throughout the story, Black is adamant she does not like Hadaway anymore than the annoying arrogant "man slag" that she believes he is. The whole way through the story there are different opportunities for both Black and Hadaway to finally realise their feelings for one another. This is something I thought would absolutely definitely happen and would be a running theme, however, Ashcroft keeps us in suspense right until the very end, will Black and Hadaway finally get together? Will Black stop being so childish and actually have a real conversation with him? Who knows!
Overall I did enjoy the book. It was an enjoyable read, the writing was easy to read and there were no confusions as to who was who or why things were happening in the story. There is a selection of spelling errors, which can be down to this book being an early print. This did not take away from the story in any way. The story is captivating, interesting and it keeps you in suspense about Elodia Knight right until the end. I was a little disappointed, as Black was, of the outcome for Knight, I had hoped some true justice for Knight, but I suppose nothing was more conclusive than the ending.
I would definitely recommend this book to a friend, which I already have and I would read it again. I look forward to seeing if Ashcroft prints any additional books and I would look forward to reading them and writing any reviews she requests. Thank you again for choosing me to review your book, I hope you have enjoyed my review and I can only apologise it has taken so long! The life of a teacher ey!
Rating: 7/10
10-word review: such an honour! Poor Armitage! Amazed she didn't break anything.
Check out more at http://threeminutesfortyfiveseconds.b...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews