Shadow Grove

Shadow Grove Series, Book 1

By: Lacey Edward

Narrated by: Cait Frizzell

What would you do if you turned 18 and found out you were a witch?

Ariel Temple is leading a perfectly normal existence. She does well in school and mostly keeps to herself. She lives with her father and wonders why they have never visited her grandfather, even though they speak to him every week on the phone.

When her grandfather suddenly dies, Ariel and her father must travel to Shadow Grove to settle his affairs. Shadow Grove holds many, many secrets, not the least of which is what really happened to Ariel's mother and why her grandfather left her a powerful amulet before he died.

When she finds out she is a witch, Ariel has some decisions to make. But first, who can she trust...the mysterious man who appears in her dreams or the recluse whom her father clearly despises?

©2015 Lacey Edward (P)2015 Asselin Group Online Publisher

3.45/5 Slow Start to Teen Witch Series

Summary: Around her 18th birthday, Ariel finds out she’s a witch.

Additional Comments:
Content warning: a few mild curses
Neutral:
- The plots pretty slow moving. I get that there’s a lot of setup, but really, I could only think of 2 pts in the book that had any sort of action.
- Some of the bad guys’ motives seem weak.
- Ethan kind of seems along for the ride. He doesn’t add or detract much. Wish he’d done more as Ariel’s father.
- I wish Ariel had done more. She’s learning a lot, but it seems a lot of other things/people are protecting her. I want to see her become the in control witch ready to take on the forces of darkness.

What I didn’t like:
- A lot of the training scenes involved inane questions that seemed designed solely to move the conversation on so the other character could continue his/her lecture. For some reason, in the audio, that drove me nuts. (Really? I’m a witch? A book? Etc)
- Unresolved questions: - Why does Oren offer to help her if he’s just a collector? Who is the queen? What the heck happened to James? The queen shows up at the beginning and the end, but we’re specifically not told anything about her.
- Lack of closure in the end. There would have been better closure without the very last scene. We already know it’s book 1 and the story continues, but the last scene sort of stamps a “to be continued” sign on the story. I find those annoying.

What I liked:
- I enjoyed Ariel as a character. The tried and true girl-has-special-powers trope is always a fun one, and Ariel’s pretty likable.
- Oddly enough, I enjoyed the Vampire. He was a nice addition.
- I think the series as a whole has merit. There’s a lot of setup in this book.
- I loved the narrator’s voice for Dione. (British accents rock.)

Conclusion: It’s a slow start, but there’s a ton of potential for the series.

A slow build to nothing.

The narrator has an emotional range from A to B and the story takes forever to go absolutely nowhere. There are far better listens available.