Wednesday, February 5, 2014

THE LINE: Review and Giveaway



Today Kerry Hammond joins us to review THE LINE, by J.D. Horn. We are also giving away one copy of THE LINE - either hard copy or e-book, winners choice. To enter, just leave a comment below. 


The Line is J. D. Horn’s first book and after reading it in only two sittings, I know it won’t be his last. I feel the need to explain that the only reason it took me two sittings was that I started it before bed one night and felt that getting at least a few hours of sleep before work the next day was advisable. 

Mercy Taylor was born into a family of witches, but is the only one without any magical powers. Her fraternal twin sister, Maisie, who came out minutes before her, got all the family magic. Since their mother died in childbirth, Mercy and Maisie were raised by an aunt and uncle; Maisie schooled in the art of magic and Mercy left to grow up like a “normal” person. One day Mercy is summoned by another of her aunts, Aunt Ginny, who happens to be the family matriarch. Aunt Ginny is a stern woman and has always been extremely hard on Mercy because of her lack of powers. When Mercy arrives, she finds Ginny has been violently murdered. Since Ginny has been an anchor in the witching world that keeps the demons at bay, her murder has started a whole string of events that must be dealt with in order to seek a successor.

On another note, Mercy is dating, and getting serious with, her childhood friend Peter. However, she is struggling with her attraction to her sister’s boyfriend, Jackson. She even consults a local Hoodoo (similar to Voodoo) expert to try and rid her of her thoughts for her sister’s love and make her fall for Peter, the person she wants to be in love with. To make matters worse, Mercy starts to wonder if her involvement with the Hoodoo expert may be linked to Aunt Ginny’s death.


JD Horn

The book is one of the best I’ve read in a very long time, for several reasons. The first thing that drew me in was the characters. I was hooked at page one and cared about the people and what happened to them. Did I like them all? Heck no, there is some really evil stuff going on here. But even the evil characters were extremely well drawn, three dimensional, and boy did I love to hate them.

The second thing that had me was the location. The book takes place in Savannah, Georgia. There couldn’t have been a better place to set this story and the author weaves in the history and culture of the area flawlessly. From the local cemeteries to Savannah’s Hoodoo culture, the location added an extra dimension to the tale that wouldn’t have been possible in many other areas.


I’m one of those people who won’t recommend a book until I read the very last page. I’ve read so many books that started off strong and then either fizzled out or left so many loose ends that I wanted to hunt down the author and get my questions answered. The Line was neither of these. The author managed to surprise me with a big twist I was not expecting, tie up all storylines to my extreme satisfaction, yet leave a tiny little door open for a possible sequel—which I would read in a heartbeat. 



Kerry Hammond


8 comments:

  1. Thank you for a great review, Kerry. Can't wait to read this book.

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  2. thanks for this great giveaway and wonderful review. Print book would be lovely. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

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  3. I hope to see a lot of entries for the drawing, you can't go wrong winning and reading this book. I've already recommended it to several friends.

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  4. I can't wait to read it, might even need to recommend it to my Mystery Book Club! Thanks for the fabulous review.

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  5. Oooh I love those love-to-hate-them type of characters - they make a story SO good!

    Thanks for being on the tour. I'm featuring your review on TLC's Facebook page today!

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  6. Our winner is Amy. Congratulations!

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  7. Got to this page by accident and very late but I'm glad I did. Book sounds great!

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