I said this early on in my reading of this book, but the narrative certainly wasn't aided by the addition of multiple perspectives. By the timer we'd reached the 70% mark I was mostly just going along to get along.

I think that seeing these dynamics play out on television, with more episodic moments might have been a better vehicle, or for there to be some other driving force of the narrative outside of this little curse situation.

Most of what makes this book just okay for me is how the book ends and how the narrative finds a way to weave together the lives of the women in this family into something that makes sense in a book. Definitley one of the Jenna picks that is a swing and a miss fro me. Just yesterday I was talking about how some books would benefit from being read a part of a collective, and while this was meant to be a buddy read I don't think that there is much to be gained from reading this outside of isolation. 'Propulsive and poignant, Black Candle Women concocts an intoxicating potion of warmth, wisdom, and wonder.This book was just aggressively fine. 'Propulsive and poignant, Black Candle Women concocts an intoxicating potion of warmth, wisdom, and wonder.' -Ava DuVernay Sadeqa Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of The House of Eve, a Reese's Book Club Pick ' Richly imagined and elegantly told, with plenty of satisfying secrets, heartaches, and twists. And as new truths about the curse emerge, they're set on a collision course dating back to 1950s New Orleans's French Quarter-where a hidden story in a mysterious book may just hold the answers they seek in life and in love. Their surprise guest forces each woman to reckon with her own past choices and mistakes.

But when young Nickie Montrose brings home a boy for the first time, their quiet lives are thrown into disarray.įor the family has withheld a crucial secret from Nickie all these years: any person a Montrose woman falls in love with will die. They keep to themselves, never venture far from home, and their collection of tinctures and spells is an unspoken bond between them. Generations of Montrose women-Augusta, Victoria, Willow-have always lived together in their quaint California bungalow.

Magazine,, Reader's Digest, Katie Couric Media, AARP Sisters, Goodreads, BookRiotĪ warm and wry family drama with a magical twist about four generations of Black women, a family love curse, and the secrets they keep for and from each other over one very complicated year Named a Best Book of the Month by: Shondaland, MS. you will love Black Candle Women.' -Jenna Bush Hager A Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Seen on the Today Show

Black candle women by diane marie brown