I am very excited to bring you todays post as part of the book tour hosted by Lovebookstours. I was offered a copy of The Secrets of Windwood by Jack Reese in return for an honest review, this has in no way influenced my review, all thoughts and opinions are my own. I would like to thank Cayelle Publishing and Love books tours for allowing me the chance to join this tour.
Blurb
Simon Lord has it all—the beautiful fiancé, the loving family, the sprawling mansion, and the famous last name. Little does he know that what is supposed to be the happiest day of his life will become his last. The little town of Solomon’s Wake has managed to keeps its secrets hidden for nearly a century, but no darkness can lie dormant forever. It only takes one fateful night, one storm, one wedding, for a vampire to rise, a werewolf to escape, and a witch’s age-old curse to rise again.
Decades later, the Lord family is a shadow of its former self. Windwood, the Lord family ancestral home, sits in near ruin as Simon Lord lies in a coma, but life goes on. That is until Joshua Lord makes the fateful decision to return to Windwood with his young family. Curses, as young Jenna Lord finds out, do not have an expiration date. The Lords and their friends find themselves battling vicious werewolves, homicidal grandmothers, the unrelenting spirit of a vengeful witch, and their own dark pasts. The only question is, who will make it out of Windwood alive this time?
My thoughts
I was excited about this book as I am a big fan of stories that involve vampires, witches and werewolves, they always keep me entertained. (I think I would secretly like to be a vampire!). So when offered the chance to join the tour I couldn't resist.
The premise is intriguing, decades old curses and mystical beings hidden within a family always has promise. The story began with a bang, with one of the characters being killed on Simons wedding day. This leads to many questions and loyalties being split throughout the family. We begin to meet some of the characters surrounding this family and some of the details of the age old curse that plagues the inhabitants of Windwood are shared.
I found the beginning to be a little confusing, there were a lot of characters to get to know and a lot of information given about the past and how the characters were linked. The narrative jumped from the past to present day and back again, which was a little difficult to keep up with. I had to go back and reread a few bits every now and again to try and figure out who they were talking about and what had happened. I feel it might have been better to save some of the secrets for future books as it was a lot to get my head around at once.
However as the story progressed and the decades moved on I started to piece it together a bit more and was able to enjoy the story and the action within it. I found it a bit strange that there were members of the family that didn't know about the curses attached and the mystical beings within, I feel the story would have played out better if the family members knew more details about their heritage - the fact that certain things weren't questioned at times was a little strange. However I see that it gave the readers more of a sense of mystery.
Although the start was a bit confusing I enjoyed it the more I progressed through the book, there was a great finale which involved a lot of action and left some cliffhangers open to allow for further books to be written. It was a good effort at a debut novel and I am interested in what happened to the characters who were left at Windwood at the end.
This book will be published on 22nd June 2021, you can preorder a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Windwood-Jack-Reese-ebook/dp/B093B4G5S9/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=secrets+of+windwood&qid=1619357195&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
Does this sound like a book you would enjoy? Let me know in the comments!