We bought a new Samsung Tab few weeks back. It was bought with just 2 purposes in mind. One, use it for my son’s online classes. Two, read my eBooks on a bigger screen than my phone. I was in the middle of reading Obsidio when I got the tab and I couldn’t wait to start an eBook. This is when I received an e-ARC of Birthspell by Miriam Khan. I was quite excited to read it. The book is described as a paranormal romance and that’s not a genre I’ve read much of. So I was intrigued. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Birthspell is about Crystal – aka Crys – who is an orphan. She is set to move out of the orphanage and live on her own when her aunt by marriage, Isobel, discovers her. Isobel invites Crys back to her ancestral house at Blacksville. Crys had lost her parents and an aunt at a very young age and wants to know more about her family and parents. She starts having weird visions and dreams while she’s staying at Thorncrest Manor. She’s also unexplainably attracted to Isobel’s son Craven, who likes to be called Cray. But he is rude and keeps ignoring her. On her first day out, she also meets Seb, who seems to be the perfect gentleman. And then there’s the family curse which says that every woman will give birth to a daughter and then die. Is this what happened to her mother? Will she be able to figure out what really happened to her parents? Who will she choose? Cray or Seb?
I loved the cover. I think it’s gorgeous. The book started off really well. The first few chapters are the best part of the book. The scenes set in the orphanage have been done well. My heart went out to Crystal when she was always singled out as the odd one at the orphanage. She does not have any friends either. When Isobel comes along, Crystal’s yearning to be loved is quite evident. But my favorite character in the book was Eve. Crystal finds a friend in Jess while at Blacksville. Eve is Jess’ grandmother. Her no nonsense character was refreshing to read about.
Unfortunately, that’s all I liked about the book. My main issue with the book was its poor editing. There were a lot of grammatical errors which made my reading experience not so memorable. The second issue was the disconnect between scenes. There was no natural flow to the events. Crystal would be out picking fruits with Jess one moment and in the next she’s at Jess’ house with Eve. The next moment she’s arguing with them for no apparent reason and then in the next she’s back home. It was quite confusing to me. I felt that a lot of things happened in the book but most of it did not make any sense. I was hoping to have at least some of my questions answered by the end.
I also felt that some of the scenes were missing in the book. For eg: I really couldn’t understand why Crystal felt close to the house help. Crystal sees one of them in a motherly nature but there was no incident to justify this feeling. Then there is the insinuation that Crystal has suffered a trauma in the past due to which she keeps fainting and losing time. But we do not get any kind of explanation for this either. The book also ended abruptly. My copy has all the 3 books in one file. So I didn’t even know the book had ended until I turned the page. But yes, it did end with a murder.
Even though the book has all of these issues, I still feel the underlying plot is decent enough. It has all the potential to be a good book. The book just needs good editing, a natural flow to events and good character development. I’m sure if these are done, then it would be an enjoyable read. I’m hoping at least some of my questions will be answered in the second book.
My Rating 2⭐/5.
