Practical Hexes

by Kim Richardson

[Berls]

3.5 stars
This is one of my favorites so far in The Witches of Hollow Cove series. Tessa didn't irritate me nearly as much as she has in previous books (which obviously isn't that much or I wouldn't still be reading the series) and the plot was very compelling. That last book had ended on a bit of a cliff, so I was pretty eager to see what would happen. As this is book 5, definite series spoilers to follow.

In the last book, Tessa had made a deal with a soul catcher to be in his service for one month in exchange for releasing all the souls he had taken as part of another contract. And at the end of that book, he had called in her payment. So I was excited to see what the soul collecting would look like. It was an interesting world development, with some unexpected consequences that really made up the bulk of the conflict for Practical Hexes. As is typical of this series, there's no predicting where things will go or how she'll solve her problem as that all unfolds as Tessa learns new things. I found it very engaging and was very interested to see how she'd get herself out of this mess.

I do still feel that the characters are on the flatter side/fairly two dimensional. I'd really like to see a little more depth - I keep hoping for it. We got a small glimpse of it in her father and the soul collector, so maybe others will develop a bit more as the series progresses? I do enjoy the stories, so that would bring the whole thing up a notch for me.

It ends with this main story arch completed but yet another (maybe really 2?) cliffs. I'm expecting consequences from how she solved her mess and then there's a bombshell her aunts dropped -- one that I HOPE will lead to more depth in their characters for the next book.

The narration continues to be an uncertainty for me. I don't dislike Devon Sevari by any means - I just find myself struggling with the dialogue and wondering how much is the writing and how much is the narration. If voiced differently, would it bother me less? But maybe my problem with the dialogue is part of this larger character issue I have? I don't know, but I will continue listening and I'd like to try out another book/series narrated by Devon Sevari sometime to compare.