This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Jeff Severcool was born and raised in upstate New York, but resides in Charlotte, North Carolina. In addition to his writing, he’s been active in a variety of martial arts for over a decade, and is completely addicted to tennis. He spends a lot of time Googling bizarre things for no reason – things like “Oakville blobs” and “Nicholas Cage’s pyramid tomb.” He also loves Zillow’ing houses he can’t afford, loitering in coffee shops, and spending time with his daughter doing anything at all. The Secret Witch is his debut novel.
Reviewed by Robin Goodfellow for Readers' Favorite
The Secret Witch by Jeff Severcool is a dark, Gothic tale about attaining freedom, even as you pass through the fires of hatred. Verity is a young woman who lives in Salem during the witch hunts. She and her adopted sister, Hope, decide to get some berries for her in the woods, when they stumble across a dead deer, drained of blood. As the witch hunts continue, and Verity loses both of her sisters to the hellish embers of life and death, she herself must face the evil festering within Salem. It all comes crashing down when she is targeted. Severcool weaves a demented story about a girl’s quest for freedom, as she walks the thin line between salvation and damnation.
While I didn’t necessarily love Verity, I did understand where she was coming from. Puritans are incredibly strict, and when they came to this country, they sought freedom for themselves, but not for others. Nevertheless, she does attain what she desired most; the freedom to choose, the freedom to live, and the freedom to kill. And Salem was, of course, the site of the infamous witch hunts. Paranoia shrouded the town in fear and scandal, something that Verity pointed out. If you were different from any of them, you risked being murdered. That was exactly what happened to Verity. Though justice was served by the death of the Elder, she herself was brought to trial for his murder. From the sham marriage between Verity and her husband, Josiah, to the dark dealings of Minister Barrowe, it appears that human corruption is more monstrous than the vampires themselves. Severcool shows this stark contrast in that though vampires were traditional monsters, humans were the ones to destroy. As such, I would recommend this book to fans who love The Killing Cure by C.S. Kendall and Pnaramakhia by Flavio Santonocito.
