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oblue

Abandoned by Booklikes

Government drone by day and book lover and geek girl by night!

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This Time Next Year
Sophie Cousens
An Extraordinary Union
Alyssa Cole
A Princess in Theory: Reluctant Royals
Alyssa Cole
Burn for Me
Ilona Andrews
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John Connolly
After I'm Gone
Laura Lippman
The Black Angel
John Connolly
The Ballad of Black Tom
Victor LaValle
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The Witch Of Blackbird Pond

The Witch Of Blackbird Pond - Elizabeth George Speare Now I recall why I wasn't a huge fan of his book while I was a kid. Between the main character lamenting every single moment that she's being worked like a slave and the Puritans sounding scarily familiar about people being evil if they don't worship as they do, I was over this book almost as soon as I started it.

Taking place in 1687, we get a sneak peek at the colonies prior to the American revolution. The main character Kit who has lived in Barbados her whole life with her grandfather as her only guardian sets off to live with her aunt that lives in the Connecticut colony. We find out that Kit has just shown up without writing her family because she's penniless and without a home after her grandfather dies. That should have made me more sympathetic, instead I was just as irritated as her uncle when she shows up and has disdain for the town and how no one else dresses like she does. Trying to make friends with her two cousins, Kit is set to work and we quickly find out she's not that great at doing anything besides feeling self righteous and angry that she's being treated worse than a slave.

I wish we had more time to study the other characters, but we don't. We know Mercy is very generous and good and that Judith is selfish and vain. We know that Uncle Matthew is hard and religious and Aunt Rachel is a doormat.

We could have explored the Quaker faith, but we don't. We just hear from other characters what occurred to Hannah and why she's seen as being a witch. There was no outrage about what was done to her and the fact that she had to flee her home because of this backwards town.

The only reason why I gave this book three stars was the fact that at least Speare takes time to explain how the town, seaport, and other areas look. It was an interesting time she took the reader back to, so I was actually interested in seeing the first seeds of discontent among those who lived in the colonies.

The dialogue was just okay and the flow was fine. I think i just wanted more set up since we just randomly have every character getting a happily ever after and considering that we know how the Salem witch trials went, I find it hard to believe that there would have been no further repercussions towards Kit's family due to her hanging out with a "witch".