Halfway Dead (Halfway Witchy, #1)

by Terry Maggert

The romance wrecked what otherwise might have been a really awesome book. Okay that might have been an exaggeration. The romance is not the only flaw it's just the biggest. The main character, Carlie is a witch who has very strong ethics and ideas about what she is and who she wants to be. She has a great sense of humour and approaches obstacles with gusto. Her Gran is her mentor and her personality was very endearing. The problem then; is everyone else. The rest of the characters aren't fleshed out and it makes the rest of the plot somewhat flat.

The relationship between Carlie and Wulfric is kind of empty - there's not really any development or enough viable interaction to build anything more than an attraction. Even the attraction seemed kind of odd. The inclusion of Major also didn't really make any sense - the plot line was wrapped up but it never really felt like a satisfying conclusion to why he was there at all. There seemed to be a lot of random characters that were mentioned but just disappeared. There probably weren't that many - but it felt like characters were introduced then banished.

I enjoyed the inclusion of the Will-o'-the-Wisp's - Bindi was spunky and her attitude was fierce. Jim was a nice inclusion but I never really felt we got to know him. I would've liked to see more of Brendan and it was set up that he probably will feature more prominently in future books. There were a lot of nice little elements that I found enjoyable - the love of waffles, insight into Carlie's parents and the idea of their little diner having their own shorthand for orders. Overall it was a fun read, but it had the potential to be a lot more.