Monday, September 7, 2015

The Witch of Bourbon Street by Suzanne Palmieri




What They Say.....When Frances Sorrow returns home to the now dilapidated Sorrow Estate to restore her birthright, she finds herself haunted by a 100-year-old mystery only she can unravel

Set amidst the charming chaos of The French Quarter and remote bayous of Tivoli Parish, Louisiana, Suzanne Palmieri’s The Witch of Bourbon Street weaves an unforgettable tale of mystery and magic.

Situated deep in the bayou is the formerly opulent Sorrow Estate. Once home to a magical family, the Sorrows, it now lays in ruins, uninhabited since a series of murders in 1902 shocked the entire community. When Frances Green Sorrow is born, the family is on the brink of obscurity and the last remaining Sorrows cling to the hope that she is the one who will finally resurrect the glory of what once was.

However, Frances has no wish to be the family’s savior. Disillusioned, she marries young, attempting an "ordinary life," and has a son, Jack. When her marriage fails and she loses custody of her boy, she runs away to live a quiet life on the dilapidated Sorrow Estate, where she practices solitary magic amid ghosts and gardens. But when Jack disappears, she is forced to rejoin the world she left behind and solve the century-old murder that casts a long shadow over Tivoli Parish and its inhabitants in order to find her son.

The Witch of Bourbon Street is a story of love, family, redemption and forgiveness. It’s a story that bridges the nostalgia of time, and brings those that are separated back together again.


What I Say....I've read Suzanne Palmieri before and really enjoyed her.  But I struggled with this book.  Not the story, I liked the story, but there is honestly something wrong with me when it comes to New Orleans.  

I absolutely HATE anything to do with it.  I hate gumbo, I hate swamps, I hate crawfish.  But the thing I hate the most is Cajun dialect.  Reading it or hearing it, doesn't matter, it's like nails on a chalkboard for me.  I must have had a bad past life experience in New Orleans, because I've never set foot in that state  (and never would willingly).

So although I liked Frances as a character, and the ghost story, it was hard for me to get into the book because I couldn't stand reading it.  The author was very heavy on authentic dialect, which is probably the right thing, but I just couldn't get into it.

This had nothing to do with the story or Palmieri's writing - I've loved some of Pamlieri's other Witch books, but I should have known once I saw the words, "Bourbon Street" to take a pass.

The current Goodreads rating is 3.98, which is awesome.  Looks like other people don't have the unreasonable prejudice against the bayou like I do.

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