This is the first book in the Betwixt & Between series by Darynda Jones. It is a women’s paranormal series published 2010 by Feather & Leaf, LLC. The audiobook I listened to is narrated by Traci Odom. Now, this isn’t the most popular book series by this author, she apparently has another one called Charley Davidson, and others have mentioned that the likeness of the two series is striking but I haven’t read that one so I cannot utter too much about it but I want to mention it.
The story is set in the modern age, Defiance Dayne (Dephne) has just lost everything in a divorce but soon finds out that her real grandmother (as she is adopted) has died and left everything she owned to Dephne. So, with nothing to lose she moves to Salem where she gets a new friend, a misbehaving cat, and a handsome handyman living in the basement. (from what I can tell). If that wasn’t enough, her grandmother was a witch and the residents seeking help from Dephne expect her to be as well. Especially now when people have gone missing and everyone expects Dephne to pull out a miracle to save them.
Dephne is a middle-aged woman in her 40s and has lost everything in a divorce because she rolled over without fighting back. She has no confidence and is REALLY thirsty for a new man so it is a good thing that a half-naked handyman in a kilt is walking around her house. She also has a snarky new best friend Anette who is mostly there to growl at people being mean to Dephne so she doesn’t have to do anything.
This has a lot of what I would call middle-aged humor quite common for these kinds of books which means that there is a lot of jokes about vaginas, ovulating, and wanting a man… I never found that kind of humor funny and it doesn’t tell me anything about the characters’ personality outside her being old and desperate.
The plot is… Well, the book is only around 250 pages long and at least half of it is dedicated to weirdly long descriptions, awkward jokes of the middle-aged variety, and everything else outside the paranormal plot. It isn’t until the very end that she actually starts to do something and everything before that is just her saying that she has no magic and her weird ghost grandmother claiming she is the greatest witch that has ever walked this earth.
If you feel like this plot or at least parts of it feel familiar which is most likely because, though it isn’t badly written, it doesn’t take any risks. It just takes up every plot and takes inspiration from every older paranormal romance you can find. I got a clear Charmed vibe from it but the random half-naked guy who walks around and clearly likes Dephne for no real reason is typical in YA romances as well.
Now, I don’t think this is a horrible book, despite my complaints. The largest problem is that it is clearly aimed at an older female audience. It has a lot of subjects that older women can relate to, such as the fear of their clock ticking, divorces, and the lack of confidence that comes with it. At my age, the fear comes from the lack of progress, not the sadness of losing everything I have built up. Which means that I can’t relate to the characters that much.
The plot also feels weirdly boring and uneventful. This surely pleases the people who like real-life drama instead of paranormal stuff and wants to ease into the paranormal genre. I have been drowning in paranormal stuff since I was a baby and it bothers me that the stories told to us by the grandma are far more interesting than the actual book. She fell in love with a man who fell into dark magic and she had to kill him. That would have been an interesting read but instead, we get this. I can only give it a 4 out of 10 and explain that I just am not the intended audience for this book.
Maybe this series will be better in the future but I won’t be the one to read it. If it sounds interesting to you, then try it. There are fans of this series so there clearly are some people who like it. I just am not one of them.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
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