BLOG TOUR – The Flowerpot Witch (A Wendy Woo Witch Lit Novel Book 3) by Wendy Steele + REVIEW & GIVEAWAY!

REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY!!

Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources (@rararesources) for inviting me along for The Flowerpot Witch by Wendy Steele (@wendywooauthor). Don’t miss the GIVEAWAY at the end of the post – open internationally!

What’s the book about?

Lizzie Martin has chosen pottery to be her new career… but the teacher from hell threatens to thwart her ambitions before she starts.

She has support from her best friend Louise and Evan, another pottery tutor, but Rowan, her fifteen year old daughter is restless, Josh, her ex-husband is colluding with her aunt and though her mother is alive, access to her is forbidden. When The Morrigan appears in her sacred circle, Lizzie knows she has a battle on her hands.

There is hope though.

Stardust the chicken brings a new creature into Lizzie’s life and a long awaited meeting with her Aunt Matilda brings Lizzie’s past into perspective.

Lizzie’s magic ventures beyond The Sanctuary, into the Welsh landscape and the realms of the fae.

My Review:

Lizzie Martin is endearing and delightful – why anyone would bear her ill will is beyond me. Struggling to do what’s right, she finds life more difficult now that she has no financial worries (due to a generous inheritance), than she did when she was battling to pay the bills! The burden of responsibility that comes with being the recipient of such a reward weighs heavily on her shoulders.

She has a fabulous best friend, Louise to share her worries with. Louise is a dispenser of great no-nonsense advice and she sees things for what they are, hence allowing her to be both understanding and firm.

While trying to navigate the trials of figuring out how to make her inheritance useful and helpful to those around her, Lizzie has to deal with a rather complicated family situation and some rather nasty trolls: her ex-husband Josh, who seems intent on messing with his daughter’s head, as well as finagling his way into Lizzie’s moaning and miserable aunt’s life so that he can partner with her in whatever mischief he has planned for poor Lizzie; her ex-boss and his family, together with his past criminal activity that she can’t seem to shake; and attempting to trust George who she thinks she quite fancies, but isn’t too sure of.

My favourite character was Rowan, Lizzie’s 15-year-old daughter (possibly because I too have one of these). Wise beyond her years, but still very much a typical teenager, she’s clearly a product of her mother and the author shows great character insight in the scenes between mother and daughter. Their relationship has such a strong foundation and one can only smile reading their easy banter and loving interaction. It radiates off the pages.

While this was promoted as being able to be read as a standalone, it’s the third in a series and for quite some time in the beginning of the book, I battled to figure out what was going on. Although the author does bring in some backstory, I found it didn’t flow as easily as I’d have liked.

Although the cover is cute and hints at something light and airy within, I found it at odds with the actual content. Yes, Lizzie prefers to dress in a quirky, colourful manner, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t take her pagan practices very seriously. It’s not just hocus-pocus stuff. These are her beliefs and how she lives every aspect of her life. The descriptions given are fascinating and give wonderful spiritual insight into a way of life that many people tend to view with disdain – usually due to pure ignorance. If only they would be more sensitive to others and their faiths and ideas, as Lizzie is, the world would be a much happier place!

Author Bio: Wendy Steele is author, wise woman, goddess. She is writer, dance teacher, mother and healer. Her passion is magic.

*****!!!!! GIVEAWAY !!!!!*****

Win 3 x Paperback copies of The Flowerpot Witch

(Open Internationally)