Witchstruck by Victoria Lamb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Witchstruck combines some of my favorite things in storytelling – history, political intrigue, romance and magic. Victoria Lamb has taken the story of Princess Elizabeth and inserted that of Meg Lytton. Meg is in service to the princess while she has been sent to the country under suspicion of treason by Queen Mary. Meg has always grown up around magic as her Aunt who raised her, has taught her everything she knows and although Meg is not the strongest witch, she definitely knows some stuff.
The characters are what really make this book for me because I have heard this story before. You know…the challenges of 16th century England – Catholic vs. Protestant, witch hunts….all of this exists but with Meg as the main character, we get to see all of this through her eyes and I really enjoyed it.
Meg struggles with trying to find her power as a witch and what that means with her role in Elizabeth’s household. At times I found myself annoyed with Meg – she would do some pretty silly things (like go off and practice her magic where and when she knew she shouldn’t have) and got herself into some bad situations but the thing that redeemed her for me was the fact that she would use her brains to get out of the situations. She is young and hopefully as she becomes older and more experienced she will start thinking about the things she does.
Alejandro was a bit of a mystery at first. I wasn’t really sure where his character was going to fit into the overall story but it worked for me. He clearly had some mistrust for Meg when he first met her but he isn’t one to make snap judgments so after he got to know Meg, he began to see her as more than just a young girl who is a bit wild and makes some questionable decisions.
I loved seeing the relationship progress and change between Meg and Alejandro. What I liked was that this was not the main focus of the book and it was definitely a progression and something that happened immediately. Both had their own plans and eventually, they came to care for each other enough that the other’s safety became just as important as the original work they were doing. With that said, Alejandro’s decision at the end of the book seemed to come a bit out of nowhere…mostly because he had been out of the picture for a little while and even though they did come to care for each other, I wasn’t really expecting him to propose what he did. Although the part of me that loves the HEA and romance was happy he did.
While all of this is happening, the continual threat of being caught practicing witchcraft is there. Not only because of Meg’s poor decisions but because she has drawn the attention of Marcus Dent, the witchfinder. Marcus wants to marry Meg but she knows who he is and what he represents. Nevermind that she is afraid of him and also in love with Alejandro (yep – I said it). When she refuses to marry Marcus, he accuses her aunt of being a witch and then eventually Meg.
On top of all of this happening, Meg is dealing with the fact that her father and cousin have betrayed her trust. While she has gotten a letter from Princess Elizabeth to try to help her aunt, her cousin and father have decided to use that letter to push those that support her taking over the throne into action. In order to protect the princess, Meg and Alejandro make the decision to chase the letter down and get it back to the princess so that it can’t be used against her.
I really enjoyed this book and am definitely looking forward to the next book in the series. I myself have been on a historical kick so it came to my attention at just the right time. Lamb blends in perfectly the idea of what might have occurred if Princess Elizabeth had a witch for a maid alongside the intrigue that exists in the royal family as well as how people feel about witchcraft. While the first few chapters were a bit slow, once I got past them, the story flew and I couldn’t seem to put the book down. Definitely check this one out!
Thank you to Harlequin Teen and Edelweiss for the review copy!
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