Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Postscript
SERIES: Kedgetown #1
AUTHOR: Anne Barwell
PUBLISHER: LaceDragon Publishing
LENGTH: 191 Pages
RELEASE DATE: February 7, 2023
BLURB:
A magical bookshop holds the keys.
When Mason Chynoweth inherits an old house in small-town New Zealand, he hopes to discover what happened to his great-great uncle Lewis after he returned from the war in 1945. Mason’s first encounter with the property is thankfully reassuring—his sensitive psychic powers aren’t triggered and he has a calm sense of coming home.
Elijah Whitaker arrives in Kedgetown for an extended visit with his aunts. He’s quickly drawn to Mason and offers to help him try to find some answers in the dusty old house. It soon becomes clear that Mason is keeping secrets, but Elijah has a few secrets of his own. Like his closely guarded knowledge of the hidden supernatural world, and the fact that many of the townspeople are psi and supernaturals.
What is the connection between the house and Postscript, the town’s enigmatic bookshop? Mason’s glimpses of the past give some clues, but not enough to make sense of the puzzle.
When a hidden journal comes to light, the true story of Lewis’s journey is revealed, and his path and Mason and Elijah’s begin to intertwine.
REVIEW:
Mason struggles to fit in. But, when he inherits a house in the small town of Kedgetown, he has no idea that he’s walking into a life-changing scenario. Elijah is a frequent visitor to Kedgetown. Yet, other than visiting his aunts, there’s nothing to keep him there. Or was it the case of having the right incentive?
Being a human in Kedgetown puts one in the minority. And the remainder keep secrets until the time is right to reveal them. I found Postscript an interesting supernatural story that I sat on the fence between awe and confusion.
The story is told in the third person from multiple viewpoints. Technically, there is the odd grammatical typo and slip of tense, but the change from past to present tense could have been deliberate – I’m not honestly sure. The reason I say this is because there is a journal. Where many authors may write this diary style in a different font – Anne Barwell writes it as though the characters are living the elements of the journal. However, whereas I was under the impression that the story was supposed to be about how Mason and Elijah found each other during their search for information on Lewis and Cyrus – it soon became a tale of four main protagonists with dedicated chapters. Some of these forays into the past worked better than others, and occasionally, I lost track of what was happening with Mason and Elijah.
The story is set near Wellington, New Zealand, with para-normal (yes, the hyphen is deliberate) events from the start, because the paranormal is normal for Kedgetown. In the opening pages, I experienced many ‘Ugh, What?” moments and re-read several pages where I initially attributed slips of the tongue as typos instead of story hints, but then I remembered para-normal, and everything realigned. Cleverly as this was written (hence the awe), I’d get distracted over what was said earlier, by who and how it affected the scene (and we have the confusion).
I thought Mason and Elijah were lovely, but the main in-depth story lay with Lewis and Cyrus – so I get how their journey would have taken on a life of its own. Oh, and Wordsworth the cat is a scene stealer – loved him.
In this story, some traditional supernatural features have been merged. On the one hand, Elijah describes himself as a werewolf who needs chaining up at the full moon; then, he describes himself as a shifter wolf who can’t wait to stretch his legs. This is the case for several supernatural beings. It is the first time I’ve read several elements combined in one person – then again, many aspects of this paranormal story are merged.
I enjoy a story written differently, and a lot about Postscript was super reading. But some parts worked better for me than others hence the on-the-fence rating.
RATING: 
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