Witches of East End (The Beauchamp Family #1)

Summary:

"From the author of the highly addictive and bestselling Blue Bloods series, with almost 3 million copies sold, comes a new novel, Melissa de la Cruz's first for adults, featuring a family of formidable and beguiling witches.
The three Beauchamp women--Joanna and her daughters Freya and Ingrid--live in North Hampton, out on the tip of Long Island. Their beautiful, mist-shrouded town seems almost stuck in time, and all three women lead seemingly quiet, uneventful existences. But they are harboring a mighty secret--they are powerful witches banned from using their magic. Joanna can resurrect people from the dead and heal the most serious of injuries. Ingrid, her bookish daughter, has the ability to predict the future and weave knots that can solve anything from infertility to infidelity. And finally, there's Freya, the wild child, who has a charm or a potion that can cure most any heartache.
For centuries, all three women have been forced to suppress their abilities. But then Freya, who is about to get married to the wealthy and mysterious Bran Gardiner, finds that her increasingly complicated romantic life makes it more difficult than ever to hide her secret. Soon Ingrid and Joanna confront similar dilemmas, and the Beauchamp women realize they can no longer conceal their true selves. They unearth their wands from the attic, dust off their broomsticks, and begin casting spells on the townspeople. It all seems like a bit of good-natured, innocent magic, but then mysterious, violent attacks begin to plague the town. When a young girl disappears over the Fourth of July weekend, they realize it's time to uncover who and what dark forces are working against them.
With a brand-new cast of characters, a fascinating and fresh world to discover, and a few surprise appearances from some of the Blue Blood fan favorites, this is a page-turning, deliciously fun, magical summer read fraught with love affairs, witchcraft, and an unforgettable battle between good and evil."

I was really excited when Melissa De La Cruz came out with Witches of East End, since I am a HUGE fan of the Blue Blood Series. I was even more excited when I heard some of those characters would be making an appearance this book. So, I bought it and it sat in my TBR pile, for pretty much ever and I finally picked it up and began reading it a couple of days ago and was shocked.

Witches of East End has more of an adult tone to it.. maybe we can say New Adult, over Young Adult and De La Cruz's writing had more of a stronger literary tone to it. Not the same as Blue Bloods. You know, it was slower paced and really descriptive. Once I caught on, I really liked it; I just needed a moment to adjust.

The storyline overall was interesting... because at first the tone to it, is 3 witches (a mother and her daughters)  who have powers but due to punishments from the Salem Trials can no longer use them. As the story progresses the women start to use their powers in their small community and then some other worldly bad things start happening. You can kind of see where this is going to go as you start to read and the farther you get into the book, the story starts to pick up and get more exciting.

However, the last 100 pages the plot kind of takes an odd turn. We learn a lot about the ladies past and how it ties in with the issues they are having now. Although, I did find those plot lines interesting.. I just felt they jumped out of no where and didn't fit into the story at the time. Though, it is obvious they will play a part in the series as a whole. The placing of it seemed off for me.

In conclusion. I was happy with the book and will definitely continue on with the series, but that may be because De La Cruz already has a strong fan base with me. If you are a fan of the Blue Bloods series or Melissa De La Cruz's writing it is a must read and if you are someone who hasn't read her books, but is looking for a little more adult paranormal reads, than I highly recommend this book as well.

PS
My favorite part was definitely when Mimi showed up and the tiny scenes that involved the Vampires.