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Witches' Brew
A house with a dark history. A family with an old secret. But who will kill to hide the past?Cataloguing Angelo Vance’s latest acquisition is the last job Fleur wants, but his mother insists that it’s her and her alone he wants for the task. Yet arriving at The Rookery, alongside the books Fleur discovers a treasure trove of old grimoires. Worse, something is very wrong in this old house. Who is the shadowy figure she keeps catching glimpses of, and hears? If it’s, Angelo he’s not just bad but mad, and if it isn’t, is he in danger?
As Fleur digs into the family who owned The Rookery in the past, ever darker secrets start coming to light and worryingly, seem to be impacting on the present. Could the lethal recipes from the grimoires be still in use, and if so, why? As violence towards her and others erupts, the police get involved and Fleur needs all her skills to make sure the wrong man does not get arrested …and the right one lives to tell the tale!Witches’ Brew is a psychic suspense novel for those who love a dash of history in their mysteries. If you enjoy writers like Barbara Erskine, Lucinda Riley, and Phil Rickman’s Merrily Watkins series, then you’ll love this.
Read it now to discover if Angelo is really as wicked as he first seems!
As Fleur digs into the family who owned The Rookery in the past, ever darker secrets start coming to light and worryingly, seem to be impacting on the present. Could the lethal recipes from the grimoires be still in use, and if so, why? As violence towards her and others erupts, the police get involved and Fleur needs all her skills to make sure the wrong man does not get arrested …and the right one lives to tell the tale!Witches’ Brew is a psychic suspense novel for those who love a dash of history in their mysteries. If you enjoy writers like Barbara Erskine, Lucinda Riley, and Phil Rickman’s Merrily Watkins series, then you’ll love this.
Read it now to discover if Angelo is really as wicked as he first seems!
568 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 5, 2023
106 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 16, 2023
Awful
Got about a third of the way in to this book, had to give up. So boring! Too much discussion on family members and confusing timelines, dates etc, went on and on and lost track of the real story. Disappointing!
Got about a third of the way in to this book, had to give up. So boring! Too much discussion on family members and confusing timelines, dates etc, went on and on and lost track of the real story. Disappointing!
May 1, 2023
I was really looking forward to reading this book, and it had the potential to be good. It wasn't.
There are quite a few problems with it. Its billed as a dual time line mystery, but it doesn't come accross that way at all. There are pages and pages of the modern day characters listing and listing and listing names and dates and names and dates and names and dates. And it is just too much. If you are going to have such a convoluted family tree, introduce them in parts at a time. Let us get to know the characters so that this endless list of names makes some kind of sense and the reader can feel the tiniest bit invested in them.
Also, the other timeline was only really what was read in a diary form. Would have been better if there were more chapters just dedicated to the padt characters.
The supernatural aspect- didn't even come up until about two hundred pages in and then it was like Fleurs abilities were just dropped in all at once over a couple of pages.
The characters were a bit one dimensional and nobody had a clear voice. The amount of clumsy dialogue was annoying. The first time one of the characters exclained "hells teeth" I thought ok, just a quirk of this character cos lets be honest nobody talks like that. I might have heard my 80 year old father in law use it a time or two, but its not a phrase i would have expected from any of the characters. But most of them use it.
The toxic culture in Fleurs work place at the beginning where they would happily send a lone woman into a situation where she is isolated with an accused (although acquitted) sex offender despite her and other members of staff objecting was almost enough to make me give up on the first chapter.
If you want to avoid spoilers whilst reading, maybe don't look at the family tree in an early chapter where we see Gabriel Vance before he has been named.
I'm actually really disappointed by this book. It should have been better. If they cut half the complications and melodrama and concentrated on a handful of characters, and making them good characters that the reader can actually care about. The fleur and Angelo romance? Just bleurghh. Not even bothered about them, they had barely any interactions that made you care whether they end up together or whether they end up dead.
There are quite a few problems with it. Its billed as a dual time line mystery, but it doesn't come accross that way at all. There are pages and pages of the modern day characters listing and listing and listing names and dates and names and dates and names and dates. And it is just too much. If you are going to have such a convoluted family tree, introduce them in parts at a time. Let us get to know the characters so that this endless list of names makes some kind of sense and the reader can feel the tiniest bit invested in them.
Also, the other timeline was only really what was read in a diary form. Would have been better if there were more chapters just dedicated to the padt characters.
The supernatural aspect- didn't even come up until about two hundred pages in and then it was like Fleurs abilities were just dropped in all at once over a couple of pages.
The characters were a bit one dimensional and nobody had a clear voice. The amount of clumsy dialogue was annoying. The first time one of the characters exclained "hells teeth" I thought ok, just a quirk of this character cos lets be honest nobody talks like that. I might have heard my 80 year old father in law use it a time or two, but its not a phrase i would have expected from any of the characters. But most of them use it.
The toxic culture in Fleurs work place at the beginning where they would happily send a lone woman into a situation where she is isolated with an accused (although acquitted) sex offender despite her and other members of staff objecting was almost enough to make me give up on the first chapter.
If you want to avoid spoilers whilst reading, maybe don't look at the family tree in an early chapter where we see Gabriel Vance before he has been named.
I'm actually really disappointed by this book. It should have been better. If they cut half the complications and melodrama and concentrated on a handful of characters, and making them good characters that the reader can actually care about. The fleur and Angelo romance? Just bleurghh. Not even bothered about them, they had barely any interactions that made you care whether they end up together or whether they end up dead.
September 4, 2023
Witches' Brew follows Fleur. Fleur is hired by this man to catalog some of his ancestors' books in order to have them valued. While there Fleur discovers a bunch of ancient grimoires and diaries belonging to the family. Fleur is attacked verbally by Angelo's mother, the man who hired Fleur. On her guard, Fleur takes this job with caution because her predecessor, Claire claims that Angelo Vance raped her while she was on the job. As Fleur investigates the grimoires, she begins to unravel the dangerous history of this family. When Fleur meets the mysterious Angelo, she is confused because this man is not dangerous as they claim he is but is charming. Fleur begins to suspect that there's something wrong in that house. Who is this shadowy figure she sees upstairs in the loft who looks like Angelo?
When Fleur begins to be threatened the police gets involved.
Fleur must use her skills to make sure the wrong man is arrested, for she suspects that either Angelo is either good or mad or are there a doppelganger involved?
I couldn't wait to finish this book. It took too long to read. In my opinion I thought the book was too long. There were too many back stories and timelines that confuses the reader. Also I found the characters were a bit flat.
If the book was a bit shorter and the genealogies were condensed; perhaps if the readers were spared the ongoing stories of Angelo's ancestors, the book would have made more sense.
April 18, 2023
Great book, couldn't put it down. Well written with great and believable characters
Fleur works cataloguing and valuing antique books, scrolls etc. When the company she works for is contacted and asked for someone to do this for a whole library in a very old house, they are delighted but the requests states that they want only Fleur to do the job, on her own, and to live in the Dower House on site while the work is done. This raises concern as the owner of the premises seems to be mentally disturbed in someway, maybe having more than one personality. Fleur though is so excited at the prospect she doesn't let it put her off.
However from the day she arrives and meets the mother of the owner, things take a strange and worrying turn. She is asked by the mother to check out some very old grimoires and tarot cards that go way back in the family, and Fleur has a particular interest in these. However while following the family tree back through the grimoires she finds some very dark secrets and dealings with witchcraft and the occult.
This is a split time novel, as through the grimoires she is able to go back and see certain things through the eyes of the women in the family.
A real rollercoaster of a book with many twists and turns.
More like this please
Fleur works cataloguing and valuing antique books, scrolls etc. When the company she works for is contacted and asked for someone to do this for a whole library in a very old house, they are delighted but the requests states that they want only Fleur to do the job, on her own, and to live in the Dower House on site while the work is done. This raises concern as the owner of the premises seems to be mentally disturbed in someway, maybe having more than one personality. Fleur though is so excited at the prospect she doesn't let it put her off.
However from the day she arrives and meets the mother of the owner, things take a strange and worrying turn. She is asked by the mother to check out some very old grimoires and tarot cards that go way back in the family, and Fleur has a particular interest in these. However while following the family tree back through the grimoires she finds some very dark secrets and dealings with witchcraft and the occult.
This is a split time novel, as through the grimoires she is able to go back and see certain things through the eyes of the women in the family.
A real rollercoaster of a book with many twists and turns.
More like this please
May 7, 2023
No teenagers! Hallelujah!
As a real-live Pagan, who was raised by crazy Dirty Ol' Ditch Witch Aunties, I love, love, love this book. It's real people. With real adult issues. Coming if age doesn't just happen at 13-18. It happens over and over at all stages of life and this book shares a story of that. I love Fleur. She's real (that word again!) And relatable. She's experienced adult life & knows a thing or 20. (No simpering vampire wannabes here!) Pace is great. Family trees came in HUGELY handy, as, holy cow, were there LOTS of characters. It didn't bog the story down though. I'm not sure how Hutton managed that! Also, Hutton knows her Paganism, Pagan history and got it right. Which is hard, when, if you ask 20 Pagans "What is Paganism?" you'll get 20 different answers. And next week they'll all have changed their minds. Well done Hutton. Well done!
As a real-live Pagan, who was raised by crazy Dirty Ol' Ditch Witch Aunties, I love, love, love this book. It's real people. With real adult issues. Coming if age doesn't just happen at 13-18. It happens over and over at all stages of life and this book shares a story of that. I love Fleur. She's real (that word again!) And relatable. She's experienced adult life & knows a thing or 20. (No simpering vampire wannabes here!) Pace is great. Family trees came in HUGELY handy, as, holy cow, were there LOTS of characters. It didn't bog the story down though. I'm not sure how Hutton managed that! Also, Hutton knows her Paganism, Pagan history and got it right. Which is hard, when, if you ask 20 Pagans "What is Paganism?" you'll get 20 different answers. And next week they'll all have changed their minds. Well done Hutton. Well done!
February 16, 2023
Deadly secrets come to light
A case of apparent split personality turns into something much darker, as Fleur sets out to investigate a family tree with a very twisted history indeed. One of LJ Hutton's best books yet, I think. Can't wait for more.
A case of apparent split personality turns into something much darker, as Fleur sets out to investigate a family tree with a very twisted history indeed. One of LJ Hutton's best books yet, I think. Can't wait for more.
November 1, 2023
I rarely give up on a book but I did with this by chapter 12 i was done. Tedious and slow too much time lineline on family members names and dates jumping back and forth it became confusing I lost track.
February 28, 2023
soooo interesting
Really enjoyed this. Took a bit of following sometimes for the family tree but easy to get engrossed. More Fleur stories please.
Really enjoyed this. Took a bit of following sometimes for the family tree but easy to get engrossed. More Fleur stories please.
March 4, 2023
Brilliant
I really enjoyed it. Loved the tarot reading and ghosts. Have read several of this author's books. Enjoyed every one.
I really enjoyed it. Loved the tarot reading and ghosts. Have read several of this author's books. Enjoyed every one.
April 26, 2023
A well-crafted book with an interesting story, but somehow I put it down at the quarter-way mark and didn’t pick it up again. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ is probably unfair but…
August 1, 2023
Unputdownable
Brilliant read, had me sitting on the edge of my seat. It pulled me in and kept me there from start to finish! Loved it.
Brilliant read, had me sitting on the edge of my seat. It pulled me in and kept me there from start to finish! Loved it.
February 4, 2024
So disappointed. This was so implausible so confusing and yet so predictable.
April 9, 2024
Witche’s Brew
This had me hooked from the beginning, with some tense moments and lots of twists and a thoroughly enjoyable read. Would definitely recommend this to friends.
This had me hooked from the beginning, with some tense moments and lots of twists and a thoroughly enjoyable read. Would definitely recommend this to friends.
June 16, 2023
Took so long to read.
I love reading. I love reading any genre. Honestly I found this to be a tedious read. Sometimes it felt as if I was reading a textbook. Too much information leading to not much of anything interesting.
I’m sorry to the author who probably poured her life and soul into the book, but, I just didn’t enjoy this book at all.
I love reading. I love reading any genre. Honestly I found this to be a tedious read. Sometimes it felt as if I was reading a textbook. Too much information leading to not much of anything interesting.
I’m sorry to the author who probably poured her life and soul into the book, but, I just didn’t enjoy this book at all.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews