The Line (Witching Savannah #1) by J. D. Horn

From Goodreads: Mercy Taylor, the youngest member of Savannah’s preeminent witching family, was born without the gift of magic. She is accustomed to coming in a distant second to the minutes older, exquisite and gifted twin she adores. Hopelessly in love with her sister’s boyfriend, she goes to a Hoodoo root doctor for a love spell. A spell that will turn her heart to another man, the best friend who has loved her since childhood. Aunt Ginny, the family’s matriarch, would not approve. But Mercy has more to worry about than a love triangle when Aunt Ginny is brutally murdered. Ginny was the Taylor family’s high commander in the defense of the bewitched line that separates humankind from the demons who once ruled our realm. A demon invasion looms now that the line is compromised. Worse yet, some within the witching world stand to gain from a demon takeover. Mercy, entangled in the dark magic of her love spell, fighting for her sister’s trust, and hopelessly without magic, must tap the strength born from being an outcast to protect the line she doesn’t feel a part of...

I'll be honest, I was ready to not like this. The reason is because part of the blurb that I didn't copy above turned me way off.

"Move over, Sookie Stackhouse—the witches of Savannah are the new talk of the South. Bold, flirty, and with a touch of darkness, debut author J.D. Horn spins a mesmerizing tale of a family of witches . . . and the problem that can arise from being so powerful. As Charlaine Harris’ series winds down—and as Deborah Harkness’ series heats up—Witching Savannah is new contemporary fantasy that will be sure to enchant new readers."

I'm sorry, but to me that's as pretentious as all get out, and it made me steer away from this one for a long time. It's riding on others coat tails. Maybe it gets the job done, the attention paid, but it makes me angry. Maybe the author had no say in that description, that's possible, I don't really know how that works. At any rate, I tried it out because I decided to try Kindle Prime and was having a hard time finding things that were on it that I wanted to read. The Line was available however, so I decided to give it a try, in spite of my ire at the blurb.

I was pleasantly surprised and found myself genuinely interested in the characters and what happened to them.  There were some twists I wasn't expecting and some I saw coming after big hints.  It could use more polish, some of the jumps between chapters seemed a little abrupt, or like we'd missed some time in between, I can't really explain why they seemed bigger than other books I've read.  As a debut, I think it was good.

All in all I did enjoy it.  I give it a 3.5/5 and would recommend it to fans of paranormal/witch stories, but do not expect Sookie Stackhouse, because it's not.  I haven't read the Deborah Harkness series yet, so I can't speak for that one, but to me, if they had left all reference to the other books out, that would have peaked my interest rather than irritated me because I wouldn't have felt like they were trying to capitalize on a reputation they hadn't earned.

I do really like the cover, the detail is neat and I like the style.  I look forward to seeing where the story goes next.  You can connect with J. D. Horn on his facebook page.