Trying to forget a violent encounter with a serial killer, Arista settles into her new home in Sedona, Arizona. The New-Agey town seems like a good fit. Interested in magic, she works at a shop called Cosmic Prisms that sells items like crystals and candles. Living with her Aunt Bethie, the co-leader of a coven, Arista learns witchcraft. It\u2019s unclear what supernatural abilities Arista possesses, but she practices reading auras and randomly channels Bethie\u2019s dead grandfather. Still, Arista misses many aspects of her former home in Boulder Creek, California: the pines and redwoods, ex-boyfriend Shane, and her mountain house, built by Bethie\u2019s grandpa. Forever casting a dark shadow over Arista\u2019s life is her Uncle Fergus. Reuniting with the parents who seemingly abandoned her, Arista learns they only wanted to hide her from Fergus\u2019 malevolence. But their sacrifice may have been in vain. Arista\u2019s mother is near death, and Fergus hasn\u2019t given up. Bethie\u2019s coven decides Arista should return to her Boulder Creek house to release the ghost inside her. Meanwhile, Fergus, in possession of Bethie\u2019s family athame (ceremonial blade), pursues his deepest obsession: killing Arista to transfer her magical abilities to himself. Dodd\u2019s second installment of a trilogy opens with a winding drive and crash on a mountain road and maintains a fast and twisty momentum throughout, yet the pace slows down enough for well-rounded character development. Arista, appearing to be positive and upbeat, also exhibits grief, searing anger, and a self-hatred that she sometimes allows \u201cto sink its sharp teeth into her.\u201d The always-intriguing cast includes Arista\u2019s irritating but sassy co-worker Stevie, artist Mr. Tessay, and an eerie child, Soonsil, emitting growls while hugging a plushie. Sedona\u2019s and Boulder Creek\u2019s landscapes are vividly drawn, though it\u2019s clear which one Arista prefers. Sedona\u2019s natural monuments are \u201coverbearing, like emotionless godheads\u201d while Boulder Creek\u2019s \u201clush evergreen\u201d trees are \u201cmajestic\u2026yet so full of life.\u201d The gripping book ends on a cliffhanger, setting up the final installment.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trying to forget a violent encounter with a serial killer, Arista settles into her new home in Sedona, Arizona. The New-Agey town seems like a good fit. Interested in magic, she works at a shop called Cosmic Prisms that sells items like crystals and candles. Living with her Aunt Bethie, the co-leader of a coven, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}