Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: The Burning of Arbor
SERIES: The Witches of Arbor #1
AUTHOR: J.L. Brown
PUBLISHER: NineStar Press
LENGTH: 281 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2018
BLURB:
Evangeline Clarion is a fiery artist and elemental witch. She dreams of opening a gallery in her small town of Arbor, but Eva’s embrace of her own power and sexuality offends the pious sensibilities of the devout Arbor citizenry.
A gaggle Eva referred to as “Arbor’s Most Moral” sets out on a witch hunt to ruin her and drive her out of town. They attack her in the pews, in the press, and in person. But instead of weakening her, the relentless barrage fuels the fire within her.
As her burgeoning magic is set aflame within Eva, so is her desire. While her neighbors plot against her, Eva falls in love—first with the mesmerizing heir of the Morgan Manor estate, and later with a beautiful Wiccan. Eva relies on both of them, along with a cast of magical cohorts, to help her combat the witch hunt. But when magical retribution goes too far, Arbor’s salvation rests in the hands of a witch.
REVIEW:
In and of itself, this is a good story with stunning atmosphere and a sexy, escapist romance. But it isn’t the type of book I’d normally choose, because it is mainly a cisgender M/F romance marketed as an LGBT-centric romance. But I’ll go a little more into that later.
First, here’s what I enjoyed. I’ve read a lot of books about witchcraft and Wicca over the past few years, but this is one that I feel is closest to the real thing. I am not a witch myself, but I have many friends who prescribe to the beliefs, and I think they’d be very happy with this depiction. I adored the descriptive language—the spells, the familiars, the way Eva connects with nature and with the world on such a primal level. It made me feel close to the Goddess, made me completely understand the beauty of witchcraft. This aspect of the book really kept me involved and turning the page. I felt so cozy and welcomed within Eva’s little Arbor community (aside from those who wanted to take her down).
But here’s where I had some issues. Simply put, Eva is a bisexual woman, so any relationship she will ever be in is an LGBT relationship. I don’t want to erase or downplay Eva’s bisexuality, or claim that just because a person is in a different-sex romance, they are automatically not LGBT. That’s total crap, of course. And I’m not a bisexual woman, so I just can’t make those judgment calls in what is good representation or not.
But for the first 85% of this book, Eva and Alexander are the main romantic couple, and we only had a few passing words even hinting at Eva’s bisexuality or polyamory. The addition of a female partner came so suddenly near the end of the book that it almost seemed that the author shoehorned it into the novel to market it differently. And the tone of the book favors male partners over female—there’s constant description on how hot the men are, how much Eva wants to have sex with Alexander, how admirable all the male bodies are. It feels very much like a traditional M/F romance with a little bit of LGBT rep at the very end. Alexander is the ideal man—the ruggedly handsome, possessive, protective partner who still treats you like a princess and respects your boundaries. But most NineStar Press readers are looking for books that go against this very common theme. We see romances like this every single day on every single bookstore shelf. There was just nothing new or interesting about it.
I had a lot of issues with the marketing of this book as an LGBT read, but if this series continues and focuses on other characters, I can definitely see the potential. I absolutely adored the subplot about Eva’s goddess-mother Maggie’s developing relationship with Ayo, an elegant Nigerian lawyer who is also a witch. I would definitely read a book about those two. And I can see some interesting plots involving Eva’s “boys”—the group of male witches who Eva grew up with who all have really interesting backstories of their own.
Despite my feelings about the marketing of this story, there is a lot to enjoy. The magic elements are enticing and well-written. The author has a knack for descriptive language. And maybe bisexual readers will find something in it that speaks to them on a level it just didn’t speak to me. But as someone who went into this book thinking it was a poly romance with F/F elements, I was pretty disappointed.
RATING:
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