Now this is more like it! This is the third book I've read so far written by Sarah Diemer/Elora Bishop, and it has a really similar feel to her book Sugar Moon (written as Sarah Diemer). However, where Sugar Moon felt a little rushed, One Solstice Night feels just right.

Isabella is a mediocre-at-best witch who keeps getting run out of the towns the hire her--with torches and pitchforks, the whole she-bang. When she hears that the sleepy town of Benevolence only needs one spell a year from their More...

After reading the author's "Cage the Darlings" I was looking forward to reading this particular story, as I have a soft spot for witches. This book is a lot shorter than the previously mentioned book, pretty much a novella.

This story is about a mediocre witch named Isabella who moves to the town of Benevolence (a town full of shapeshifting animal-human hybrids called Changers), where they only need one spell a year, and that is the spell to ward off the Wolf of Winter. There she sees a white do More...

(From my Wordpress blog, Word Vagabond: Supporting Independent and Small Press Authors)

Isabella Fox is used to being run out of town. A mediocre witch-for-hire, eventually her spells always seem to go wrong. After getting run out of town for the third time by an angry mob, she takes a post in the sleepy mountain town of Benevolence, vowing that this time she will get it right. And since the townsfolk only need her to do one spell a year, how could she possibly go wrong?

This is a beautifully told More...

This is a sweet and charming tale of a mediocre witch with a massive heart. Isabella and her familiar, Alice, are used to being run out of town by angry mobs, but they're hoping Benevolence will be different. As she struggles to prove to the town and herself that she's capable of doing her job, Isabella falls in love - and that's the biggest threat she faces in her new home.

This is a lovely story of love, hope, magic, and forgiveness. Bishop packs a lot into her novella, and handles it with a li More...

I read One Solstice Night by Elora Bishop back just before the solstice. It was such a lovely, fun read. If you read my Q&A with Sarah Diemer (http://ainesrealm.blogspot.com/2012/1...), then you saw that she and Elora Bishop are the same person. While One Solstice Night is not a YA book, it's perfectly fine for teen readers.

Young witch, Isabella, is run out of town because of her failure at being a witch. When she finds an add for a job as the town witch for Benevolence, she snatches it up. More...

This is such a sweet story. I was delighted to hear that Bishop was continuing the series. It's an incredibly comforting and warm story. There's a lot of heart and love in this novella. The relationships between Isabella, Alice and Emily are strongly drawn and each has a very distinct personality. Though we don't get to see a lot of the emotional attraction between Emily and Isabella, there's enough to make it clear that it is more than physical attraction.

The writing isn't as tight as in some o More...

I actually found this story to be charming, interesting, and relatively well-written. Unfortunately, the length was problematic. Somewhere between a short story and a novella, this story wasn't long enough to create a compelling story with the tension necessary to a fairy tale and/or fantasy. There simply wasn't enough room to fully develop the characters or the plot, which was disappointing from a writer and a work that showed so much promise.

I was making the rounds, reading all of Elora's works in March-April and this was another I'd somehow never gotten to before. It was so smooth and sweet, I was in love with the main character, the towns people, the way it all neatly knitted together at the end, even pulling a few tears from me on the way to getting there.

This book is lovely. Anyone who is fascinated with the idea of a witch for hire should read this novel. The descriptive imagery itself will mesmerize the reader. This written work captures the reader's attention as a novel approach to pagan literature. This book is about movement, hope, and metamorphosis.

A little bit of spun-sugar sweetness for the day my girlfriend went home after a visit. It's a quick read, and the love story is really cute. Predictable, perhaps, but lovely, and it made me smile a lot. And there's a talking cat! Win all round. And, of course, there's a happy ending, despite a touch of danger in the middle.

What an adorable story! Such endearing characters (my favorite is Alice!), and a great story to boot. Just the right balance of adventure, magic and romance. My only "complaint" is that I wish it was longer! Definitely a holiday favorite.

Charming story about a mediocre witch. A story about love and hope.

Lighthearted and fun, this is a tale for anyone with a warm and open heart.

Review soon @thefaeryromanticlibrarian.blogspot.com