Serpent's Kiss
A Witches of East End Novel
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4.1 • 52 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of the Blue Bloods and The Descendants series comes the thrilling sequel to the Witches of East End.
The intriguing Beauchamp family, introduced in the New York Times bestselling Witches of East End, returns in Serpent's Kiss, with dizzying plot twists and spellbinding magic.
Joanna and her daughters, bookish Ingrid and wild-child Freya, are just settling into the newfound peace that has been cast over their small, off-the map town of North Hampton. With the centuries-old restriction against practicing magic lifted, casting spells, mixing potions, and curing troubled souls has never felt so good for the three witches. That is, until everything gets turned upside down—from Joanna's organized kitchen to Ingrid's previously nonexistent love life to Freya's once unshakeable faith in her sexy soul mate, Killian Gardiner.
When Freya's twin brother, Freddie, suddenly returns, escaped from Limbo and professing innocence on a long-ago crime, Freya should be ecstatic. The golden boy can do no wrong. Or can he? Freddie blames no other than her fiancé, Killian for his downfall, and enlists Freya's help to prove it. Now Freya doesn't know who to believe or trust.
And for the first time in—well, forever, really—Ingrid is also busy in love. Matt Noble, the handsome and charming police detective, has won her heart. But can romance work between a virgin witch and a mortal who doesn't believe in magic? Things get even more complicated when it appears Ingrid is harboring the prime suspects in Matt's police investigation.
To add to the chaos, a dead spirit is attempting to make contact with Joanna—but does it mean to bring harm or help? Joanna asks her sort-of ex-husband Norman to help figure it out, only to accidentally invite him to a Thanksgiving dinner with a dapper gentleman she's recently begun dating.
As the witches pull together to discover the serpent within their midst and the culprit behind Freddie's imprisonment, everything is thrown into peril. Will the discovery come too late to save those they love most?
Melissa de la Cruz weaves all this and more in a blockbuster sequel that is not to be missed by her fans, and one that is sure to enchant new readers of the series.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This minimally engaging sequel suffers from middle-child syndrome. The cast and all their problems carry on from the bestselling first installment, Witches of East End. At the center are two sisters and Joanna, their mother three witches who live in the charmed town of North Hampton at the end of Long Island. All three are romantically beset: Joanna is torn between her ex-husband and a new beau; librarian Ingrid, the older, is nervous about her first real relationship; and wild child Freya is forced to doubt the man she madly loves. It doesn't help that an errant band of pixies and a trouble-prone brother with a missing trident are stirring up more supernatural strife. Dependent for its tension on the first installment, this chapter merely drifts along on leftover steam. The characters are stylized but lively, and moments like a trip in time to the witch-hunting 17th century are tantalizing. Not helping matters is the fact that these characters are immortal Norse gods, an original conceit that lends an air of unimportance to the proceedings; to an immortal, what's a 50-year marriage, or even a 5,000-year stint in limbo, in the grand scheme of things?
