Review: A Turn of the Wheel by Catherine Labadie 5 of 5 stars

A Turn of the Wheel by Catherine Labadie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Aubria grew up in a village working in the king's orchard looking after the trees and harvesting the produce. She is betrothed to Lane but that is not what she wants and cannot ignore her longing to not be tied down but to wander the land, so when the Potioner arrives with his complicated past, she feels fascinated by him and what he can teach her. Can they both work together to share knowledge, solve problems and change the paths of their lives?

I found this story a little slow to start with so stick with it as you will be rewarded with a powerful story of how two people from different sides of the same fate can come together to share their knowledge, skills and eventually hearts. Aubria was certainly stubborn and determined which gave her the strength and fortitude to do all of the amazing things she needed to do as part of the various mysteries that she had to resolve. It was easy to get involved in the characters and their thoughts and emotions. I just wonder if there will be another book as I would love to know about al the amazing places and thing that they can go to now that the orchard is safe and they are together.

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Review: Long Grows the Dark by Catherine Labadie 4 of 5 stars

Long Grows the Dark by Catherine Labadie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the past Glenna is a court sorceress in the service of Princess Jael who is betrothed to Glenna's best friend (who Glenna has feelings for but is doing her best to hide). Then an unseen evil comes to try and take the land for himself. Do they make the right choices so that Fate can have happiness or pain in store for them? We then move to the present day where Gwendoline Hallewell is a student at Starford University in a world where magic is commonplace. Her trusty spell book pulls out a man from the past who then is the catalyst to memories of past lives that are the key to a present day threat. Can she work with her two friends Colt and Everleigh to reconcile the past with what needs to happen in the present while retaining their own free will even though past lives are trying to take control?

This was a powerful story where the past and present stories were woven together so that the reader was drip fed the story as it became necessary. In some ways that was really clever and in others it was a bit annoying keep moving between the two time periods and the players in each one. There were definitely times in the story when I really wanted to grab a hold of the main character and shake some sense into her, but she did manage to piece it all together and make the right decisions in the end. The ending was an explosive finale that definitely ended in the right choices. I wonder if there could be another book on the further adventures of Gwen. I also think that Fate has a lot to answer for - she really wasn't that kind to the players in this story. Well written and an original story-line, just stick with the switches between the past and the present - you will get used to it.

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