Izzy Hoffman is Not a Witch
by Alyssa Alessi
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GENRE: Middle Grade Horror
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BLURB:
Twelve-year-old Izzy has been haunted by the
shadow of her ten-times-great grandmother for as long as she can remember. This
is no ordinary ancestral ghost: This great granny was the first woman to be
hung for witchcraft in Izzy’s small New England town.
Every October first, tourists flood the streets of
Marblehead. Unfortunately, this year so do a mysterious man and a possessed
town psychic. When the man shows up at Izzy’s family-run bookstore, making odd
demands and threatening her mom, she must find the connection between this
creep and her ghostly visions.
Trying to make sense of this chaos, Izzy roams into
secret rooms, holds seances at the local tarot parlor, and digs through the old
family cookbooks that sit on her shelves. When she discovers that she may be a
part of a once-in-a-century ritual, Izzy must decide whether it’s going to take
baking magic or blood magic to protect herself and her parents from the return
of the witch hunt.
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Excerpt One:
Every morning I wake from the same dream. Honestly, it’s
more like a nightmare. I walk up to a ridiculously large brass-framed mirror,
its dirty gold trim holding golden vines wrapped around its curves. Faces
belonging to chubby baby angels are carved in its crevices. I’m hesitant to
look at first, but then I jump in front of it like I know what’s coming and
want to get it over with. I do know what’s coming. My reflection is the same
every time. A woman with long straggly black hair and a gaunt face stares back
at me. She has no eyes, yet she looks straight into my soul. Her head moves
from side to side. My chest aches with each crook of her neck. She wants to
pull me in, I know she does. Her bony fingers scratch at the sides of the
glass. I open my mouth to scream, but the shriek comes from her unhinged jaw
instead of mine. I always wake in a puddle of sweat, then get up to brush my
teeth. This has been on repeat for five years, until today. Today is my twelfth
birthday and as a gift, this woman smiled and punched through the glass.
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A witch hunter from the 1600’s is searching for something. Izzy was not a witch…was she?
The narrative was easy and enjoyable. I just get a kick out of witch stories! And this one surely doesn’t disappoint. Wit the help of her mom, Izzy must help her ancestral witch (the one from her dreams) to fight the witch hunter and save an old psychic he may have possessed…by baking magic.
This was a good read with a brave, little witch looking to save and preserve the lineage of the strong women that came before. A nice one.
Rating:
4 stars
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Alyssa Alessi is a writer of middle grade, young adult and short stories all inspired by the unsettling macabre aesthetic of New England. As a child she was on a constant hunt for ghosts, vampires, and her own powers as a witch. When she couldn’t find them, she settled for writing them into existence. You can find her hiking any trail in the Northeast said to be haunted, roaming old cemeteries with a camera in hand, or thrift shopping anywhere antiques are sold. She resides in Boston, MA with her husband, three children and their mini dachshund.
Twitter: @AlyssaAlessi
https://instagram.com/pagesinthegraveyard
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1953971865/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0
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GIVEAWAY :
Alyssa
Alessi will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn
winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you for reviewing this book today.
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