Ruby

Ruby (Ruby, #1)
by Amanda Burke

174 pages
Published June 29, 2012

During the Salem witch hunts, an evil witch named Natasha Sullivan tricks a demon into confining himself inside an enchanted music box. She casts a spell that foretells that the demon will emerge in an unknown time in future after the birth of a child known as the Lumen Child. This child’s destiny is to bring light to the planet and Natasha knows that if he is killed then darkness will prevail. Natasha’s identical twin Sarah, discovers what her sister has done. Although she cannot break the spell she casts her own prophecy. It states that three witches known as the Triple Enchantresses will be born in the same time as the Lumen Child and they will be his supernatural protectors. The girls are not sisters, yet they will share a common destiny. Ruby is the story of the first witch and how she very nearly dies before discovering her true identity. Having grown up unaware of her powers, she is rescued by her loving grandmother who is also a white witch and taken back to the family estate where she learns everything she can about what her future holds. Ruby is the first in a four book series.

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When the author approached me with her review request, I was instantly interested. Witches? Makes me smile. Salem? Absolutely.

The premise and plot of this book are good. There could be more character development, though. There were times when I really wanted to care, but the action seemed to be a little in the abstract. Honestly, that's okay, the story still worked. I just felt that it was easy to set the book down.

I do like the whole idea, and I'm interested to see where Ms. Burke takes this.

My one big complaint was the ending. So, if you don't want hints on that, skip this paragraph. The last scene felt unrealistic, and overly-contrived. Of course, everything in every book is contrived. But this felt obvious. The romance Ruby wants seems out of her grasp, and all of a sudden he says "I love you, baby." Um, hello? Maybe it was just a bit rushed, but it felt all melty-cheese to me. Then again, maybe that's what the author was going for.

However, I still want to know what happens next, so over-all, not a big problem.

3.5/5 stars