These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling
My Rating: ★★★
Hannah’s preparing to enter high school and doing all the usual things a teenager does, such as dealing with dramatic breakups, attending wild parties, and sneaking around while grounded. Oh yeah. There’s one teeny, tiny detail missing. Hannah’s a witch. In fact, she’s an elemental witch, which means she can control earth, water, fire, and air. Growing up in Salem, Massachusetts means she’s more than aware of the stereotypes that follow witches around. Hannah is okay with it since no one outside of the supernatural world knows she’s a witch. In fact, it’s forbidden to use magic in front of Regs let alone tell them she’s a witch. Her life is as normal as it gets as a teenage witch until someone performs a blood ritual at a bonfire. Terrified, Hannah suspects a Blood Witch is in town and tries to smoke them out with the help of her ex-girlfriend only to find out that they’re dealing with someone far worse than they ever could’ve imagined.
Told in the first person perspective, we follow Hannah as she narrates her life. Unfortunately for me, I disliked Hannah early on and she’s the sole narrator of the book. It’s okay though because I do like the story and several of the other characters. In fact, I liked the story and these characters so much that I continued even when I was irritated by Hannah. The reason I dislike her is because she’s extremely immature for her age in addition to thinking she knows more than everyone else. However, she was right when she sensed danger was in town right away, so I’ll give her that.
Thankfully, Isabel Sterling created a great cast of characters that I enjoyed following throughout the story. Hannah’s ex-girlfriend, while pushy, is a great character. I love Hannah’s best friend, Gemma, in addition to Hannah’s family and other friends who pop in and out of the story. I also love Morgan and look forward to seeing how her story takes form as the series continues. I can hope that the next book will be narrated by a different character, but I think I’ll be okay if Hannah is still the narrator because there’s a great cast of characters that I want to see continue to develop.
The mystery of who was attacking Hannah and company was well developed and kept me guessing all book long. I had an idea of who it was and was totally wrong in the end. I had to crack a smile when all was revealed because, at some point, I thought it would be funny if this particular character turned out to be the one Hannah and company were looking for all along only to shrug it off. It couldn’t be this person! Boy, was I wrong. What a great twist!
I love the way that the paranormal world is presented and how the backstory on witches is slipped in with ease. I look forward to learning more about the other Clans, especially Blood Witches and their true story. I’m also looking forward to seeing how Hannah and Veronica’s magic continues to develop as the story continues. It’ll be interesting to see where Isabel takes us next and how long this series will be, so you can count me in when the next book drops.
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