Book Review: The Witch Of Salt & Storm; Kendall Kulper.

Hooray! Another book bites the dust! This one will be entered into a couple of challenges too. The first being the 2014 'Key Words' Challenge, as the word 'The' is in the title. As well as that, this book fits nicely into the 'Monthly Motif' Challenge category of Witches!

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: The Witch Of Salt & Storm
AUTHOR: Kendall Kulper
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Little Brown Books
PAGES: 416
GENRE: Fantasy, Romance, Historical Fiction, Young Adult

RATING: 2.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
You don't know what you must give up to become a witch.

Avery Roe wants only to claim her birthright as the witch of Prince Island and to make the charms that have kept the island's sailors safe at sea for generations, but instead she is held prisoner by her mother in a magic-free life of proper manners and respectability.

Avery thinks escape is just a matter of time, but when she has a harrowing nightmare, she can see what it means: She will be killed. She will be murdered. And she's never been wrong before.

Desperate to change her future, Avery finds a surprising ally in Tane—a tattooed harpoon boy with magic of his own, who moves her in ways she never expected. But as time runs out to unlock her magic and save herself, Avery discovers that becoming a witch requires unimaginable sacrifice.

What I Liked:

• Kulper's writing was very good. Yes, there were some niggles that I shall get to later, but this book is very quotable in some respects and I really felt she had thought a lot about her writing style. The book gripped me pretty well, particularly in the second half and it was filled with many twists and turns to keep the story alive.
• I liked the romance. In other reviews I've seen some complaints, but I thought it was nice and I supported them the whole way through. It was so full of emotion and heartache, as well as lovely moments. I suppose some could say it was rushed, but in my eyes the situation was urgent and the romance had a purpose, in that it furthered the plot.

What I Disliked:

• I am not sure if this was a purposeful move or just appeared on my copy, but there were a fair few consistent grammatical mistakes. Sentences didn't begin with capitals, chapter names had a happy mix of both, and though this didn't exactly ruin my reading experience, it irritated me a bit. If it was a purposeful move then I don't really understand why it was like that.
• It was a little bit of a slow-starter. There was a lot of description, particularly on the topic of Roe Witches and Whaling. While these were interesting to read, it meant the plot was a little more basic than it could have been.

Overall Conclusion:

I found it pretty tough rating this book. Part of me wanted to give it 4 stars because I did enjoy it. However, there were a few things that bothered me and I decided I couldn't quite give it that. If you're into Witch books, it's a pretty good read! It covers Witchcraft well, has a good romance, and I really enjoyed the writing. There were some grammar issues that bugged me, and it took me a little time to get into it, but if there are follow up books I would love to read them.