The Curse of the Mekori: A young adult witchy academia contemporary fantasy with a kiss of death

by Brooke Clonts

"Irresistible. Brooke Clonts’ latest fantasy will keep you spellbound to the surprising end."
—Richard Paul Evans, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Some secrets should stay buried...

Bryanna Delacey struggles with her grades. When she’s invited to participate in a special education program in England, she seizes the opportunity, but after she arrives, the body of a student with sacrificial markings turns up dead in a canal. Panic ripples through the student body. When the next victim turns out to be someone she knows, Bryanna decides to protect her friends at all costs, especially Hadrian, the cute boy with the gorgeous eyes. As she faces off against dark forces, she uncovers secrets from her past, discovers the truth about a 400-year-old rumor and learns the consequences of unmasking evil.

For fans of "Howl's Moving Castle," "The Raven Boys," "Wednesday," and "Hocus Pocus."

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, Ebooks, Fantasy Romance

349 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 21, 2023

About the author

Brooke Clonts crafts fast-paced fantasy featuring magical misfits and reluctant heroes, with emotions sharp enough to sting.

When she’s not writing, Brooke is outdoors chasing adventure—or retreating into the pages of a good fantasy novel. Find her at brookeclonts.com.

Reviews

[Lonnia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story of Bryanna and Hadrian. Bryanna was found by a professor in England as a 3 year old. He arranged an adoption to a family in the USA he says to protect her. She wants to find her birth parents, so she goes to school at Burnley Boarding school where the professor teaches. Bryanna finds out more than she expected. She was a witch in her past lives. There are witches and students found missing body parts. The story kept me glued to it. I received this as a ARC and this is my honest review.

[Dane Bradshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book!

I loved this book. I couldn’t put it down! It was a clean book with excitement and mystery. I would recommend it to anyone!

[Katie Hutton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really did enjoy this premise of the book and how beautifully it was written. But at about 60% of the way through, it was falling a bit flat for me. I usually love YA books but I think going back and forth between present day and the past in writings was a getting a bit much.

I just wanted to finish the book to find out everything about Bryanna. It almost wasn't enough for me to want to finish the book. I'm glad I did finish it though.

I round up my rating to 3.5 stars for the magic, writing, and premise.

"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘉𝘶𝘣 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 ARC 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬."

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bryanna Delacey was a great main character and I enjoyed getting to know her. It had what I was looking for in a paranormal romance, and it was so well done. I enjoy how Brooke Clonts wrote this and wanted this world to continue. I can't wait to read more from Brooke Clonts. It does a great job with witches and had a great mystery going on.

"Have you met vampire boys, then?” She meets my gaze and laughs. “No, but I keep an eye out.” I try to imagine Hadrian with fangs, but it doesn’t suit him. He’s too warm and red-haired for Dracula. As I pretend to check for vampires under my bed, Noelle laughs again, this time with her head thrown back."

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fun book to read! It’s historical fiction mixed with murder mystery and some romance thrown in there as well. There were pieces of the story that don’t come together until towards the end and until then you’re just trying to figure out how it all ties together. But then it does and I legit had two open mouth in shock moments!! Totally didn’t seem some of that coming and it was good! I also hope for a second one…could totally see where the story might continue. Fingers crossed!!

[Desiree Weinheimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED this book! I got so caught up in the world and couldn’t put it down until the mystery was solved. The main character was so relatable and I could empathize so easily with her. No spoilers but the ending blew me away! I love a good, clean fantasy and this exceeded my expectations. Would highly recommend!

[Joshelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Curse of the Mekori" by Brook Clonts is a YA dark academia novel intertwined with loose historical nods to the English Pendle witch trials.

Clonts does an amazing job setting the perfect dreary and dark mood of the story from the first chapter, making me feel right at home while settling in with a blanket and her book. By starting the story off with an excerpt from the past, you're drawn in by the wonder of how the author would tie it all together with Bry's 16-year-old, present day timeline.

Though the timeframe is short within the story, the main characters growth is evident by end. The author wrote an incredibly realistic portrayal of the mind of a high schooler, and what exactly would drive a 16/17-year-old to want to up and run away from their daily life. Although Bryanna doesn't start out as the strong female lead of fantasy books, she (like other young women) finds her catalyst that soon sends her on the heroes journey we all know and love.

The writing, world building, and plot were five-star worthy; my only qualm was that when everything finally did come together in the end, I was left with some unanswered questions (such as why Guido was so special to everyone, and what some of the shared tokens from the Mekori were about, etc). All questions I hope to have answered in the next installment of the series that I will definitely be reading!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Christina Frøkjær · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Curse of the Mekori has a wonderful premise, but I clashed with the execution of it.

I thought that there was plenty of promise, but that there was a lot of jumping around and back and forth that probably is a fairly decent representation of teenage years (at least from my memory of what High School was like) but felt jarring to read. I didn't really get along with the book and the voice of it. But that's a me problem.

I loved the tie-ins with historical events and learning more about Guy Fawkes and the 1612 Pendle Witch trials, there were interesting documents that Bryanna reads during the book (some historically based, some that fit the story), there were some very engaging characters, and the mystery doesn't play out quite as I predicted.

If you like high school main characters, witches, mysteries, and pseudo-historical fiction, then you probably will like this book better than me.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Ela Ale · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice book, this would be my opinion if someone ask me about it.

The story is very catchy, I like it, but I think it never grew enough. There are too many lacks in the characters development, in many times I was able to predict what was going to happen and at the end of the book there wasn't enough emotion.

I hope it is going to be a part two, if not I'm really going to be disappointed. If you don't want a spoiler stop reading at this point.




The girl is a witch of 200 years that doesn't remember who she is, but dude! she is a witch what if at the end when she remembers she can defend her self and make all the wrongs (the mekori witches) right? I get it the author wanted to do something different, but I feel that at the end because of that she fell short.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun book to read! It has a mystery, romance, and history for one splendid book. The characters were so well done. Bryanna the main character is so interesting to get to know. She was someone who I could empathize with and she was so relatable that it was like kids I went to school with.

It has just the right amount of romance tossed in. Best of all it was nice and clean. No spicy stuff! I read it in just one day because I simply didn't want to put it down!

What are you waiting for? Go grab a copy for yourself if you like romance with a bit of the paranormal and historical sides of things tossed in to make it truly a fabulous book!

[bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a promise of dark academia and slight historical fantasy, I was really excited.
I think it carried out the premise fairly well, offering a cohesive insight into Bryanna (the main character) as well as some interesting historical perspectives of Witch Trials. For a teenage protagonist, the narration of the story was accurate and engrossing. Even though the mystery didn’t turn out like I thought it would, I was still intrigued and shocked, which was exciting. I would probably read this again, will enjoy it just as much if not more next time. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Marie Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was SO good! I wasn't sure how having a male narrator for a female led book was going to work (I'm super picky about my audios), but I quickly forgot about that as I got pulled into the story. It was such a cool combination of contemporary academy fantasy, mystery, and witch trials. There was a certain character I was suspicious about from the beginning and even though their position in the story wasn't a complete surprise it was still revealed really well. I don't know if the author plans on expanding this into a series or not, but if they do I will be dropping everything to read it.

[Jax · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Curse of the Mekori follows Bryanna’s story, a young woman with ADHD who has always struggled in life and wants the chance to go somewhere new as well as meet the man that rescued her off the streets as a baby. But, traveling abroad teaches her dark secrets about the world and her past. Can she live up to her own dark and twisted past?

Wow. This is a winding story that keeps you hooked and ends in a way you’d never expect. It’s full of breadcrumbs that lead up to the big reveal at the end which is a great way to keep the pages turning. There’s such a unique concept behind this story and I really enjoyed it from start to finish.

[TC Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Need to think on this - full review coming soon.

Okay, I thought about it and here is what I think:

The Curse of the Mekori has a fantastic premise, but I struggled with the execution. I thought that there was plenty of promise, but that there was lot of jumping around and back and forth that probably is fairly decent representation of teenage years (at least from my memory of what High School was like) but felt jarring to read. I didn't jive with the book but that's me.

I did love the tie-ins with historical events and learning more about Guy Fawkes and the 1612 Pendle Witch trials, there were interesting documents that Bryanna reads during the course of the book (some historically based, some that fit the story), there were some very engaging characters, and the mystery doesn't play out quite as I predicted.

If you like high school main characters, witches, mysteries, and pseudo-historical fiction, then you might like this book.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book with just a little bit of everything in it. Clonts provides well developed and thought out characters that you can't help but to love and root for. The mysterious elements were definitely enough to keep me guessing to the end but also well balanced with the paranormal aspect that was promised.

Also, the well wrapped up ending was just the cherry on top. Even with the slight promise of more to come, it didn't feel like a major cliffhanger and was satisfying.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Bre - justbookvibes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This young adult novel had all the elements of what my teenage self would’ve loved reading. Boarding school, magic, love, and mystery! I mean even as an adult I enjoyed reading this book. I thought the concept of the book was intriguing. There were times where I felt like characters weren’t as developed as I would’ve liked and there were characters I would’ve liked to see more of but didn’t. But, apart from that I did like the premise of the book and the storyline. So if you love witches, magic, young love, and mystery then give this book a shot!

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very fun read!
A well written book, with great characters and a mistery that kept me turning page after page!
Bryanna was found by a professor in England as a 3 year old. He arranged her adoption to a family in the USA, to protect her. She wants to find her birth parents, so she goes to school at Burnley Boarding school where the professor teaches...
But what she learns about herself is more mysterious than she imagined!

I received a free ARC of this book, but this review is voluntary and reflects my opinion.

[Laurin Wanner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and I hope to read a sequel. At times I fend some of the characters frustrating which in a way made them more real. I have notes saying wtf and huh throughout the book.

There were some beautiful lines: "Every passing moment is a needle on my skin, a hold on my breath." "Because we can be like the vines that spring from the ground, growing together. Always changing, a better person with each new thought. A lifetime of learning." - those were just a couple that i enjoyed.

Overall i give it 4 stars and I'll be resting the sequel.

[Amie Derricott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the plot of this book but felt that the execution wasn't quite there. The story seemed to jump around and certain aspects seem to have been added in almost as an afterthought in an attempt to add more "excitement" but this left it a bit disjointed overall.
I did really love how actual historical events were woven into the story in the form of the journal entries the MC is given, and I enjoyed the storyline between Bryanna and Hadrian. I felt a little bit disappointed in the way the events tied up at the end, but I would definitely read a sequel!

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smooth read all throughout. Very unique twist on mixing historical and fantasy into a digestable story. Definitely on the Y side of YA but I don’t mind that. I would have gobbled this book downnnnn in middle school!

Somehow felt slow despite the life or death situations. The characters didn’t feel fleshed out enough for anything to truly resonate, and there wasn’t enough buildup for the dramatic moments to hit you hard.

[elder_millennialnitemar_reads (Ashley) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️/5
The story was good although it fell a little flat at times. A more thorough development of the MCs, less abrupt changes of scenery, small details can help create a more rounded story. Absolutely an author I want to follow & hopefully the next will be even better!
I received this ARC free through Book Sirens!

[M.T. Zimny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Sabrina meets Wednesday meets Vampire Academy story kept me on my toes (happy to report I have all 10. If you know you know). Even though I listened to this audiobook in the springtime, every time I opened it up, it felt like Halloween. Highly recommend for anyone who loves a witchy mystery, YA books, and excellent ADHD/ anxiety rep!

[Shannon Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating!

This book was so fun to read. I was hooked from the first page. It is a clean romance with some murdery mystery and intrigue. A modern day witch story with a few twists. Brooke is a talented author. This is a book you won't want to put down.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

ehhh

I found the initial draw to this title appealing, but the delivery came off as confusing. I wish the author explored the curse more and different branches of witchcraft. It kind of all tumbled out at the end and seemed to be lumped into simply good vs evil.

[Allie Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! It had a bit of a slow start, but was amazing!

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not my usual genre. It was a YA book I bought from the author at a festival. However, it was a nice book to have on vacation and right before Halloween. An interesting story premise.

[Emily Bradshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing! It is a real page turner and it kept me interested all the way up to the ending. I definitely reccomend it to those of you who like a good young adult novel!

[Karey Hoke · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ Ch 4. I couldn’t get past the awkward, shallow writing. Teenagers don’t talk like the MC and her friends/family. And once I read the first, “Swoon!” I wasn’t interested in finishing this book.

[Luz Whittenberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the story and all the topics in it. I just feel there were moments that could’ve explain a little more details about the origin of Bryanna.

[Briana Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the premise of the this book, but the execution just wasn’t there. Almost 90% of the major plot points and action happen in the last couple chapters of the book.
Bryanna spends most of the time bemoaning her own un-coolness and whether Hadrian (who also has barely any character development and backstory) likes her.
And then all of a sudden Bryanna finds *spoiler* the spell book from her past life and sees the word REMEMBER and that’s all it takes for her to remember witches and spells how Hadrian is her past love reincarnated.
Overall it wasn’t terrible, I liked the concept but I would’ve loved more about Bryanna’s previous reincarnations or memories or anything that tied her first life into her current one. It was just very rushed.