While Seana Kelly’s previous, immensely popular, Sam Quinn series featured a werewolf who runs a bar/bookstore, this first volume in the “Sea Wicche Chronicles” find Arwyn Cassandra Corey, the titular sea wicche, opening up a tea room/art gallery. This familiarity in set-up will delight Kelly’s loyal readers as will the arrival of this book’s very own werewolf character within its first few pages. Similarities aside, this new series–BEWICCHED (The Sea Wicche Chronicles)–gives the author an opportunity to play to her strengths and develop another engaging fantasy character residing in a recognizably contemporary setting.
Arwyn is renovating a former cannery into a seaside attraction where she is planning on serving up the finest baked goods alongside showcasing the most adorable artworks. She’s a clairvoyant who now has to wear gloves at all times as her touch can trigger visions and read minds–a problem when the mind she’s reading is telling her he wants her to drop dead because he thinks she’s a money-grabbing fraud or previously when a guy she had a crush on revealed that he was only kissing her to make somebody else jealous and how he wished her ass wasn’t quite so big. What with familial pressure coming from her mother and grandmother who want her to take her place on the Corey Council (the governing body for her ancient magical family) and trying to keep on top of the remodeling work at the cannery, Arwyn has those gloved hands full. But for all the light-hearted fun–and Kelly is exceptionally good at scenes where Arwyn is engaged in sparkling, witty interactions with the supporting cast–things soon take a far darker turn when a serial killer strikes and Arwyn’s clairvoyant abilities are called upon by the police.
Kelly gets the balance right between a good-natured, cozy romp, with just a side of romance, and a harder, more sinister edge. Though never quite straying into full detective thriller territory, BEWICCHED certainly has more suspenseful elements than most light fantasy novels. The plotting is good and the author gives her new character plenty to do in her first outing. And Arwyn is an instantly engaging creation with enough quirks and force of will to propel her through many future escapades.
With an intriguing back story that can be expected to be further revealed, Seana Kelly’s BEWICCHED (The Sea Wicche Chronicles) is a well-written contemporary fantasy novel that skillfully introduces a new character-driven series.
~Kent Lane for IndieReader