Review by Booklist Review
This new supernatural mystery features witches, a rising vampire menace, and a fierce mom determined to keep her kids safe. Cassie Beckett has had a tough life, and despite a slightly reckless sister and an absentee husband, she's set on maintaining her status quo. But when vampires begin to pop up across town, and someone tells Cassie that the Deliverer is coming for her, she's forced to reach out to her once-guardian, Aunt Dorcas, for advice. In Dorcas' house by the sea, Cassie learns that their family and the Deliverer have been locked in a prophecy for generations and that Cassie is next up to find her magic and destroy him before he destroys them all. This fantasy novel has its scares but is ultimately very cozy--the kind of fun, exciting fantasy that warms readers' hearts. The characters feel familiar and juggle magical and banal concerns, and the side plots of sisterhood and Cassie's love life are interesting additions to the main story of a cautious woman and mother coming into her own.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Wallace (In the Company of Witches) infuses humor, magic, and surprise into this well-crafted suburban fantasy. Prince Edward Island native Cassie Beckett has her hands full with her 15-year-old daughter and eight year-old twins while her husband is away with Doctors Without Borders. And then there's her sister, Eliza, who's eight years her junior and whom she treats like her fourth child. When Eliza and Cassie witness their hair dresser, Joanne, biting Eliza's boyfriend's neck, it's a rude awakening that vampires are real. Confronted by the pair, Joanne gurgles a cryptic threat: "He's awake.... The Thirteenth witch will die." Cassie learns from her historian neighbor that centuries ago a powerful sea witch fought a vampire, known as the Deliverer, who was decimating the island. He was put into an enchanted sleep, but every 25 years he awakens to kill a descendant of the witch. If he kills 13 descendants, he'll be freed. Worse: Cassie herself may be number 13. Ever the über mom, with snacks and juice boxes at the ready, she gathers her family, her magical cat, and a town full of friends to help confront the Deliverer. Wallace's wonderfully realized characters overcome the exasperation of child-rearing, embrace the bonds of family and friendship, and chuckle through their madcap adventures. Readers are sure to be entertained. (Aug.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Cassie Beckett is forced to reckon with a magical legacy she never knew she had when her life of endless responsibilities is knocked sideways by the return of the vampire whom her family has been feuding with for 12 generations. The vampire is returning for a final, winner-take-all showdown against Cassie, a witch who has no belief in her own powers and is not remotely prepared for the fight of her life. Cassie must "witch up" to deal permanently with the vampire's plans for world domination, even though she doesn't feel ready to become the slayer that her generation needs. She has no choice in whether she fights, but she can save the day if she reclaims even the weirdest parts of her family and its legacy, along with the love she never thought she could afford to accept. VERDICT Wallace's ("Evenfall Witches B&B Mysteries" series) wild romp of a Halloween broom ride combines painful family legacies and found sisterhoods with the lost legacies of Hazel Beck's "Witchlore" series and Andrea Jo DeWerd's What We Sacrifice for Magic, plus Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Recommended for fans of any of the above or of the recent spate of contemporary witchy novels.--Marlene Harris
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