Book #70: Witches of East End

Title: Witches of East End (first of spin-off series from "Blue Bloods" series)

Author: Melissa de la Cruz

Date started reading: May 12, 2012
Date finished reading:  May 15, 2012

Publish date: June 2011
ISBN: 978-1401323905
Number of pages: 288

Official summary: "It’s the beginning of summer in North Hampton, and beautiful Freya Beauchamp is celebrating her engagement to wealthy Bran Gardiner, the heir to Fair Haven and Gardiners Island. But Freya is drawn to Bran’s gorgeous but unreliable brother Killian, and sparks fly when the two decide to play a dangerous game, following an ancient story of love, betrayal and tragedy that harks back to the days of Valhalla. Witches of East End follows the Beauchamp family — the formidable matriarch Joanna and her daughters Freya and Ingrid. Freya, a sexy bartender, has a potion to cure every kind of heartache, while Ingrid, the local librarian, solves complicated domestic problems with her ability to tie magical knots. Joanna is the witch to see when modern medicine has no more answers; her powers can wake the dead. Everything seems to be going smoothly until a young girl, Molly Lancaster, goes missing after taking one of Freya’s irresistible cocktails. As more of the town’s residents begin disappearing, everyone seems to have the same suspects in mind: the Beauchamp women. Fraught with love, small-town secrets, and witchcraft, Witches of East End will capture any reader who craves a page-turning, heart-stopping story of myth and magic from an author who knows how to deliver." (http://melissa-delacruz.com)

Official book trailer:

How I obtained the book: Paid $4.37 for it through the Doubleday Book Club

Memorable quotes:

• "Love wasn't a solution to everything." ~ Ingrid
• "Old houses had a way of getting under your skin, Joanna Beauchamp knew; not just your skin but into your soul, as well as deep into your pocketbook, defying reason or logic in an ever-elusive quest for perfection." 
• "You've got to stop thinking everyone's problems can be solved by falling in love." ~ Ingrid to Freya
• "It was understood that women of a certain age no longer cared about their looks, but it was a lie. Vanity did not die of old age, especially in beautiful women." ~ Joanna
• "That was the problem with motherhood: not only did it make you fat and put anxiety lines in your forehead, but the love you felt -- that intense, all-consuming love for one's child -- was like owning the sharpest and most exquisite knife. It stabbed her right in the heart." ~ Joanna
• "Marriage was like the surface of an ocean, seemingly placid and serene above; yet if you weren't careful, seething and raging with underground earthquakes below." ~ Ingrid 
• "Time did not exist where love and lust were concerned." ~ Freya
• "Being in love with two men at the same time was not what she had signed up for when she had launched this affair. She had to stop acting and start thinking." ~ Freya 
• "Time did not mean anything to those who had too much of it, but it was even more precious once it was limited." ~ Joanna

My commentary: This book wasn't what I had expected. Of course, I really have no clue what I expected. It's definitely an "adult" book instead of "young adult" like the Blue Bloods series. I think I'm going to have to sit and stew on this book for a while before I make a final decision on how I feel about it. I didn't really like it, but I didn't really dislike it either. There were positives and negatives. I do wish, however, that the appearances by the Blue Bloods characters lived up to the promises the author made.

Buy on Amazon.com: Witches of East End (The Beauchamp Family)