Some Spells Should Never Be CastCharlie Payne has been busy learning to master her magical abilities with mixed results. Unfortunately, there’s no time to get discouraged because a rash of ghosts keeps showing up looking for Charlie's help when she least expects it.Now Charlie and her cousins must figure out what’s killing the good and not so good people of Palmetto Point before the next person dies.Otherwise, they may end up the targets of a modern day witch hunt.
The Witch's Ladder is the fourth book in the spine-tingling Witches of Palmetto Point Series. If you like Darcy Coates, Shani Struthers or JL Bryan, then you will love the Witches of Palmetto Point Series by Wendy Wang!
Download it now and find a comfy chair because this supernatural thriller will have you clinging to the edge of your seat.
Wendy Wang is a fantastic storyteller and I will continue to follow and read this series. Wendy, can I please be your editor for your next book, though? I am serious in this offer. Keep writing and I will continue to support you by reading your books, but I offer my editing services to you!
I loved the story and the way the characters are developing. There is a feeling this book was pushed to publication so fast no one proofread or edited it. Use of the incorrect word and misspellings were frequent throughout the book. I still enjoyed the story, but would have enjoyed it more without the distraction of so many errors.
Okay, this 4th installment of the series was really going off the rails for me. Perhaps its just not my kind of story. I was really disappointed.
We are now moving into a book "remake" of Charmed, the tv series. And from me, that is not a compliment, as I never really enjoyed Charmed though I tried to watch it as I love witches, ghosts, fantasy and sci-fi. It was just too trite, mushy, sentimental and later on ridiculous.
I feel the same now here. Suddenly there is a Witch Council and a magical law enforcement unit (with the ludicrous name of Defenders of Light no less), not to mention a witches school where those without family to teach them can go? No, sorry but for me, just no.
Character growth took a backseat, especially for Charlie, who is an irritatingly self-righteous prig in this book, who interferes with her cousins' lives regardless, and who judge people on their first appearance. Nothing of the more thoughtful and introspective Charlie seems to remain.
The only cousin I enjoyed for the ten minutes we saw her, was Lisa, who doesn't take crap from anyone, not even her cousins, sister or aunt and who is rightfully IMO questioning the "Council's" right to interfere in the lives and practices of witches.
Poor old Tom the Reaper has now been "forgiven" by Charlie, and is relegated to her bodyguard and her lapdog reaper-on-call. And poor Jason is so out of his depth by now, and relegated to a cousin's love interest.
None of the suspense of the first two books, and even the third was better than this.
I downloaded the 5th book as its free-to-read on my KindleUnlimited, but I don't know whether I'll bother reading it.
I hate giving 3 star rating, but every single book in this series was full of typos and that is annoying as hell. I also don’t like that Charlie remains unattached. Was hoping Jason and her would hook up, but then her cousin decided to bed him. Glad this was the last book.
I really enjoyed the mystery of this one since it was based on magic. We got to further ourselves in the magical side of the witches' lives this time. I can't wait to see if the new characters get to stick around.
Although I liked the plot premise and the characters, 'The Witch's Ladder' did not seem as polished as the previous books in the series. The action was rushed, and I didn't have a sense of resolution with the ending. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't go into details, but I really expected more from the Defenders of Light agent.
I read this as part of the Witches of Palmetto Point boxed set. I don't know if the stand-alone book has typographical and grammatical issues, but this book appears to have slipped out without a final proofreading, which stuck me as odd, since the previous books were much better.
This book lacked a lot of story. There was small character growth but that was it. This book could have been so much better if the author had gone more in depth. So far this is the worst one. I always enjoy these books to a degree but they are never enough. I feel like this was the condensed version of the real book.
At this point this series remains enjoyable. It's light and fluffy and has actually manages to improve my mood.
There's a bit of repetition and the wavering and inconsistency in one of the characters acceptance of Charlie's skills is nothing if not weird. It's almost as if the author is backtracking because there needs to be this kind of conflict. For me it's a nothingburger. I am just in the mood for something that is upbeat.
Love this series of books and this one was no exception. Charlie & her cousins are strong empowered women trying to live life to its fullest while protecting those around them. I love the interactions with Jason, Tom, & Ben. It seems Charlie may be beginning to crack her ruling against Tom which could be fun to see unravel. We never did find out what happened to the missing chicken legs (I assume used in a spell) and more importantly what happened to the ghost rooster? Hope she sticks around awhile. I don’t think it’s cool that Lisa started messing with Jason, because Girl Code. Also curious if Melinda will resurface in the future to stir up more trouble as well as Layla in her DOL adventures. I love how smoothly the conversations flow to allow the reader to really be involved and invested in the characters and their dilemmas. Great story!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I will be really shocked to give Wendy Wang's books anything lower than a five star rating. These stories around the Witches of Palmetto Point deserve a higher rating as far as I'm concerned. Being a witch myself, reading each of these stories, I find myself feeling like I'm inside a cozy cottage with family reminiscing on our Book of Shadows regarding events when our Magick was needed. There is so much excitement PLUS each story has more than one storyline going on. When an situation gets resolved, the story is still moving and thank goodness for that!! As a reader, you will always want more!!! Book 5, here I come!!!!
I guess the author changed her mind about going in that direction.
There also seems to be a trend of wrapping up the conflicts abruptly in these books, which is also kind of...not my favorite. I'm interested in seeing what happens next, but I'm not super into the romance shift, the POV swapping from Charlie to Jen so often, or the resulting pointless slice-of-life scenes. I do actually like slice-of-life if focused on the main character, but talking about two different people going about work and mundane activities isn't for me.
The Witch's Ladder: Witches of Palmetto Point Book 4, my fourth read from author Wendy Wang an author I’d not heard of until I recently received an email from author Gwendolyn Druyor outlining the challenges that her friend Wendy was facing. Wendy’s husband David is in the hospital. "He's been there for a couple of weeks already. Something twisted in his guts and his lungs are not working as they should. There have been incremental improvements, but nobody is telling her he's getting better. She's scared. Wendy is going to have to cancel the preorder for her next book. Amazon will not allow her to do another presale for a full year. Presales bring in a lot of money, drive rank up for launch day, and are very important to indie authors. It's going to crush her business. All that on top of spending the holidays in the ICU, wondering..." Motivated to give a new author a try I went out and got the first four books in this series. This book, the third, a 7-hour 9 minute/290-page psychic suspense mystery was thoroughly enjoyable picks up at the conclusion of the second book. ” I received a free Audible copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review." The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. Amy Melissa Bentley’s talented narration again adds to the enjoyment. I look forward to reading more from this author. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).
charmed, ghost whisperer, and medium all rolled in to one.
If you liked those shows, I think you would enjoy this series. I’ve read books 1-4 but this is my first written review and it applies for 1-4 as well. I really like these books and I’m invested to read more from this author… HOWEVER I do think these could be improved in areas. The endings are extremely abrupt and almost always leaves questions still unanswered. It could also use a good proof reader. There are a few areas within the books that could use a little expanding. Book 2and3 had Jason jealous of Tom but suddenly he is having fun with Lisa. How did that come about? This book left me more annoyed than others. Charlie has been doin her thing and knowing her stuff brilliantly she didn’t need her protection necklace but was grateful to have it and knew how important that protection is but all of a sudden she gives her necklace away and suddenly she can’t remember to get another necklace protection when clearly needed or how to use salt until someone else did it. Also why couldn’t you give Tom more powers when glamoured? I feel like he should have noticed and commented in the moment when Charlie hands him half a spirit. That was very much a missed opportunity to give him more depth. Also he should be more knowledgeable about spirits than Ben the necromancer.
Does no one proofread a book anymore? This was like reading a sixth grade paper. Tons of dropped words, wrong words, this makes you feel like you trip over the text. Nothing worse than a book that reminds you that you are reading. Just does not flow.
Plus this was very childish in quite a few parts, like oh, there really are vampires and bears oh my!
What happened to the chicken?
There are points in the story that don’t go anywhere or just are plain forgotten. The characters have strange last names, that you can’t remember, but everybody has short first names that are forgettable. This is basically one of those books that can be used as an example of how not to write a book. Nothing about this novel makes me wish to read the others. Three stars because “Tom” has potential. Should be one star in general.
For me, Ms. Wang lost her edge after the first two books in the series. Even though this book was more akin to the first two, it does not hold together well and at times contradicts previously established storylines. Without the benefit of reading the books through Kindle Unlimited, I probably would not continue with the series and may not anyway. I definitely need a break from this series before I can consider continuing because the “spell cast” by the first two is gone.
The characters have merit and the books have the potential to be really good reads but it almost feels as if the goal of the author currently is merely to create a product instead of a reading experience. Unfortunate in my opinion.
I like how all of the girls are getting more POV time, making it more of an ensemble cast. The additional layers of the magic community, such as the DOL (not to mentions Charlie's tease(?) about vampires!) add exciting & intriguing depth to the world building. My only complaint is that with each additional book, there seem to be more & more minor errors. This one suffered from missing words (i.e. "went work" instead of "went to work"), missing or misplaced punctuation (i.e. a period in the middle of a sentence), & repetition of words (i.e. "I am on the on the way"). Not just here & there, either, but fairly regularly. It isn't enough to detract from the story... too much, though it does irritate the grammar nerd in me.
I really want to give this book more stars. I have really been enjoying the witches and their family dynamic. I would have liked to get more background and history. This narrative was a missed opportunity. The story is good but felt like it didn’t progress the arc of the series. I think this novel was incomplete and seriously needed a good editor. Perhaps it would have worked better as a novella or short story. Or perhaps revealing more about the family and community would have put flesh on these bones. Anyway, the typos were too distracting. I think I could have skipped this one altogether.
Have you ever been so embarrassed or hurt by someone's uncaring attitude, that you wanted to cause them physical pain. You are in an abusive relationship and see no way out, but you find out there is a way... Dark magic is not to be taken lightly. What you want to happen and what really happens can be a life changing experience!! Charlie is starting to tap into her inner powers and with the help of her family, DOL agent Ben, Jason and Tom. I again didn't want to put my kindle down. There is never a dull moment!! Enjoy your reading! Blessings
A rash of suspicious deaths and hauntings in Palmetto Springs brings unwanted attention to local magic practitioners. It's up to Charlie and her group of cousins and friends to sort it out once and for all. It's a pity that Wendy Wang can't magic her computer because "The Witches Ladder", fourth book in the series, is plagued by poor editing - for example, "pilfer" is used as if it meant "rummage" and "they're" instead of "there are." There's actually not much to the story and it wraps itself up rather unsatisfactorily and in a hurry. It's readable but is probably the weakest book in the series so far.
So, in this episode, a Witches Ladder is a cursed bracelet. It appears a dark witch is killing people with cursed jewelry. Charlie, Jason, and Charlie’s cousins join forces to find the dark witch and stop the killing. Along the way, Tom and Charlie help several spirits while Jason does his part as an officer of the law.
I like this series. Urban Fantasy is a guilty pleasure of mine. I like to escape so long as the mystery or adventure is front and center. I have no interest in hat supernatural sex. This series is very clean and focused on mystery rather than romance. The characters are charming, and the stories well done.
SPOILERS * * * * * * Didn't finish, barely got past the first chapter. I was really enjoying the series. was hoping Tom would leave and a friends to lovers romance would bloom as a side plot between Jason and Charlie. I was incredibly disappointed that Jason got with Lisa. Tom is boring AF and has no chemistry with Charlie and no substance IMO (Jason just felt like he was more suited to Charlie and more real IDK, i was looking forward to a slow burn between them but was just left feeling annoyed and disappointed) I wont be continuing the series
I am over the moon that characters are developing, that we are seeing into other lives than just Charlie's. What I really (again) struggled with is the editing, the proofing, the details that seem to fall to the wayside. The grammatical error are cringe worthy. I guess I just assumed that when a book was released, there was effort to ensure that the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted... The book seemed to pick up fast and end very abruptly- the story line just flew through to the end.
I’m not sure who edited this series of books but, they’ve done a terrible job. So many grammatical and punctuation errors.
Also the damsel in distress is just becoming over powering. These started out so good and interesting.
Also the language turned quite a bit in this book. Too many uses of ‘sweetie’ ‘oh my stars’ ‘my stars’ ‘honey’. I’m a southerner too but, we don’t use them to this extent AT ALL. Pretty bummed out the further I read into this series.