I have very mixed feelings about this book.
I liked the multiple POVs and the characters but struggled with the time jumps and pacing a lot.

Thank you to the author and publisher, for the chance to read this ARC, in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately, this wasn’t for me, I loved the premise but, the time jumps made the story hard to keep up with.

I loved the multiple POVs in this book. I love the atmosphere of the south. Especially new orleans. And the way this was told over a period of generations. I enjoyed this book very much

A Southern Enchantress is an interesting mix of fantasy and historical fiction and a must read for lovers of spirituality and the occult.

Our Southern Enchantress, Suzanne, is a divorced Mum of two who meets a dastardly handsome man at a garden party. Said handsome man, Max, has only one thing on his mind - her sizable divorce settlement, and dislikes Suzanne's attention being taken away by pesky ghosts.

Telling the story in multiple perspectives across two timelines was a bold move by Trahan - it's often difficult to keep up with who's who and when's when. While each character has their own unique voice, it is sometimes tricky to understand the time in which it is happening - especially between Max and Suzanne's chapters.

Firstly, thank you, NetGalley and Atmosphere Press, for giving me a copy of this beautiful book in exchange for an honest review.

A beautiful combination of magic realism and complex multigenerational tragedy, A Southern Enchantress is a dual timeline novel charting the lengths a legacy clairsentient and enchantress will go to in order to right the pain of the past.

At first, the dual timelines were a little confusing, but once the story really got going, they really helped to develop the generational heartbreak that is at the heart of this novel. The real highlight for me was the sheer volume of vivid imagery of both New Orleans and the Gulf Coast created by the author. You can clearly tell Deborah Trahan has done her research in developing this novel because I really felt like I was in the deep south of America from cover to cover; I could smell the saltiness of the sea, feel the warm late summer breeze and hear the call of the sea birds so deeply.

The generational heartbreak explored throughout hit me like very few other books have. It really felt that up until Suzanne, history was doomed to just keep repeating itself through the power that money and status held and continue to hold over people. It really stood out to me that whether in 1945 or 2013, the Lafountain women's lives revolved around the money and status held by their male relatives and was used as a form of control which I felt was explored really tactfully.

Overall, this novel is a beautiful, vividly colourful journey of one woman's quest to put an end to the heartbreaking generational trauma thrust upon her female ancestors for generations told with care, warmth and a ending leaving the reader with a lasting sense of satisfaction.

This book just isn’t my cup of tea and that’s okay!

I loved the descriptions and the atmosphere of the coast. I loved the full circle connections.

However, none of the characters were likable to me and the plot wasn’t my favorite!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. While I was really interested in the premise and I love the cover, it was a bit confusing and hard to get into. Normally I do fine with dual timelines but it was a bit complicated to follow. I felt like I didn’t know what was going on. Also I didn’t find myself caring for any character and that makes it difficult to enjoy a book.

I requested this book because I was hearing things about it and because of the cover. The cover is so beautiful.
So far I liked this book.
I will be doing a detailed review very soon.

Thank you netgalley for alliwing me an advanced copy to give my honest review.

I loved the multiple POVs in this book. I love the atmosphere of the south. Especially new orleans. And the way this was told over a period of generations. I enjoyed this book very much

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book!

This story had me captivated from the very beginning. They way the author went between three main POV's to tell a story, one of the perspectives being from the 1940's, and the others being from 2013. And if you couldn't tell from the title. there is a lot of paranormal and magical elements to this story. As much as I loved that the author touched on sensitive topics, I do with that there was a trigger warning page as this book does discuss non-consent sex and drugging another person.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. I enjoyed it, though I was taken out of the story by POVs and timelines jumping around. It threw me off a bit, but I really loved the descriptions of the areas they were in, the characters, and the historical elements.

I really wanted to get into this book because the story, the setting and the characters were very intriguing and have a lot of potential.

Unfortunately, I had to dnf the book about a quarter in. I struggled to keep track of the story from the very beginning and it took me a few tries to try and get into it. The shifting pov with the time jumps made it quite difficult to keep track of what was going on. I think what would have helped a bit is to do a bit more world-building in the beginning and/or have longer chapters that introduce the characters and set the scene more before starting the jumps.

I did enjoy the fact that the time jump chapters were written in past tense. It gave the story more atmosphere. It did, however, have the unfortunate effect that the present tense chapters felt a bit more descriptive and less atmospheric. Maybe I just have a preference of past tense over present tense, so take it with a grain of salt.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a copy.

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

For transparency, I DNF’d this book at 20%.

I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately I just couldn’t keep track of the plot due to the constantly shifting POV and timelines with each chapter. I do typically enjoy back and forth timelines and find they are most effective when following the main timeline and occasionally dipping back to the past to scenes which are linked and shed light/foreshadow the main plot - this story jumps with each chapter between POV and timeline. I felt as though we did not have enough time with one timeline to settle in to the story which left me feeling quite disconnected. I think if it started on the now timeline and then went back to follow the events leading up to it, with some sprinkles of the historical timeline, I would have found it easier to follow, but the constant movement ended in confusion. I ended up putting this down for two days and upon picking it back up again I had no idea what was happening. I think if these timelines were adjusted/tightened this would be a fantastic and interesting story, as I did enjoy the writing style!

TW: aggression, verbal abuse.

What I liked most about A Southern Enchantress by Deborah Trahan was its vivid descriptions of the settings of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast and New Orleans. The book’s narrative takes place in dual timelines and describes the lives of several generations of women in the Lafountain family, a family with talent for folk magic, spellcasting and even clairsentience.

Published by Atmospheric Press.

This was a lovely surprise. I have never picked up a "paranormal" book before but this one intrigued me, I think because the setting is New Orleans and I love New Orleans.
Sometimes setting is so lovely that it is virtually a character in and of itself. In this book, setting was that. I was drawn into the story by the setting. Also, an honorable mention goes to the dialogue which is some of the best I have seen in a while: realistic and natural but not mundane. The characters were all compelling (both real and paranormal).
If there is any criticism, it would be that the plot could be a bit confusing. There was a dual timeline, which was clearly delineated in the titles of the chapters but it took some time to figure out why it was there. With the atmosphere, mood and setting though, it was easy enough to be intrigued until I could figure it out.
I would give it 4.5 stars and I would be interested in reading more by the author. Even more, I am now more willing to add paranormal to my reading repertoire.

This book was just what I wanted. The story was fantastic and the writing was beautiful. I loved the historical inspiration and I would highly recommend this book.