I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
A Witch in Time by Constance Sayers Published by Redhook on February 11 2020
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 448
Format: Finished hardcover
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Lovers cursed by a witch find themselves reliving their lives, over and over, in Constance Sayers’ sparkling and gripping debut.
Don’t let the beautiful, ethereal cover fool you. A Witch in Time has some very dark themes mixed in with a romance plot about a trio of people who are connected through time by a witch’s curse. I really loved this book but it’s very different from what I was expecting. The story follows the short, tragic lives of four different women, starting in 1895 Paris and ending in 2012 Washington D.C. Fans of historical fiction are going to want to consider reading this book, even if you’re not into fantasy/multiple lives stories. Yes, there are supernatural elements at play here, but I found the historical aspects and the fascinating connections among Helen, Juliet, Nora and Sandra to be the main draw. Also, don’t be scared off by the word “romance,” as this definitely isn’t typical for the genre.
The story begins in 2012 Washington D.C. as we meet Helen Lambert, the successful owner of a critically acclaimed magazine called In Focus. Helen is recently divorced from Roger, an art dealer and museum curator, and has reluctantly been pushed into a blind date by a well-meaning co-worker. Her date turns out to be Luke Varner, an enigmatic man who seems to have met Helen before. During their dinner together, Luke drops cryptic comments about unfamiliar people and places that he swears Helen should remember. But of course, Helen has no idea what he’s talking about.
That is, until she starts to have weird and extremely vivid dreams about a young French girl named Juliet LaCompte in 1895 France. As Helen gradually relives Juliet’s life during these dreams, Luke begins to fill in the blanks, explaining that Helen and her ex-husband Roger are part of a binding curse, cast long ago by Juliet’s mother. Unfortunately, the curse went badly and bound Juliet and her lover Marchant together for eternity. Luke explains that Helen and Roger are the latest reincarnations of Juliet and Marchant, and that Helen is doomed to die on her thirty-fourth birthday, unless she is able to break the curse.
I absolutely loved the format of this story. Sayers jumps back and forth among four different time periods, but it was seamlessly done and very easy to follow. If you are one of those readers who is more comfortable with linear storytelling, I urge you to give this a try. The author uses Helen’s dreams as a way to frame these time jumps, so the present day story of Helen is the anchor for all the other time periods.
It’s also through Helen’s eyes that the reader learns about Juliet, Nora and Sandra, the other three women in the story. Each woman was carefully depicted and I was fascinated by each of their stories. Juliet is only sixteen when she falls under the spell of the much older painter Auguste Marchant. Their affair is the catalyst for everything else that happens in this story, and Juliet’s death was both shocking and sad. In 1920’s New York, we meet actress Nora Wheeler who falls in love with film director Billy Rapp. Nora’s story moved me the most, for some reason, since her entire adult life is spent trying to escape a horrible, controlling man named Clint. And finally, Sandra Keane is a talented musician in 1970’s Los Angeles. She meets and falls in love with photographer Rick Nash, but their love affair is doomed just like all the others. Making an appearance in each timeline is the mysterious Luke Varner, who we find out is the “administrator” of the curse. Luke acts as a protector for all four women, but his secrets aren’t revealed until nearly the end of the story.
I absolutely loved all the connections between the characters, which are revealed slowly over the course of the story. In each timeline, Juliet/Nora/Sandra/Helen is a piano virtuoso, and I loved the way Sayers used music as a binding thread through all their lives. The Marchant/Billy/Rick/Roger characters all have similarities as well, but I won’t spoil the surprise and let you discover those for yourself! There is a secret painting of Juliet that makes an appearance throughout the story, which I thought was another brilliant way of tying everything together. And in the present day, as Helen is coming to terms with what’s happening to her, she visits the Hanover Collection, Roger’s obsession and the real reason for their divorce, and sees the evidence from each of her lives gathered in one place. Some of these scenes were simply magical and gave me goosebumps.
Sayers picks time periods that really resonated with me, from the beauty of the French countryside and the excitement of turn-of-the-century Paris, to the dazzling lives of 1920s film stars in Hollywood, to the music scene in 1970s Los Angeles. Sandra and her band hang out on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood and rehearse and smoke pot (of course!) in the famous Laurel Canyon area, and there’s lots of name dropping of musicians of that time, like Janis Joplin, Elton John and Jimi Hendrix. You would think with so many different places and times, the story would become confusing or bogged down in too many details, but I thought the author did a masterful job of wrangling all these elements into a cohesive story.
I usually love stories about witches and the supernatural, but for some reason the scenes involving the curse almost felt out of place. The ritual that Juliet’s mother performs, which involves making a deal with a demon, was so odd and horrifying that it could have put me off the story completely. Luckily, though, it had the opposite effect on me. I was so shocked that I couldn’t tear my eyes away! There is also one jarring scene near the end that happens in Sandra’s timeline that was completely unnecessary, in my opinion. I can’t really talk about it specifically, because I don’t want to spoil anything, but it ends in a tragic and bloody way, and I think it could have easily been left out.
Which leads me to a few trigger warnings. I was surprised how dark this story was in places. For example, Juliet, a sweet and innocent young girl, is being forced to marry a boy named Michel Busson, who turns out to be a horrible bully and rapist. Because Juliet doesn’t have any power herself, she has no way to stop this abuse. And poor Nora! Nora also has a controlling bully to deal with, a truly vile man named Clint who manipulates her and dogs her every footstep until—you guessed it—Luke turns up to save her. I’ve got a full list of trigger warnings below for those that might be interested.
Overall, I’m so glad I read this book, and that ending gave me chills. If you are looking for an unusual love story that veers more towards the tragic, with a touch of the supernatural, then I highly recommend A Witch in Time.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
Trigger warnings:View Spoiler »
Great review! I keep hearing really good things about this novel, so I’ll have to check it out. I’ll probably have to wait until I’m in the mood for it, though – I find sexual violence quite difficult to read.
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Luckily the sexual violence is very short, it only really occurs in Juliet’s story, and then it’s over. But it’s something you should be prepared for.
You know- I wasn’t even much interested in this one until I read your review. Apparently it’s not what I was expecting either… lol. But the multiple lives and historical aspect all seem like something I could get behind. Great review Tammy!
I was surprised how different it was than what I had in my head, in a good way!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this one so much. I definitely plan on reading it. I’m also glad to hear you say it’s not typical of the romance genre because you know me and romance 🙂 That’s a pretty high rating so I’m definitely looking forward to reading it soon.
Yasss! I’ve been waiting for your review of this book. To be honest, I’ve read my fair share of books that somehow involve multiple lives and I never did like that but it’s not putting me off or anything. I think I’d like it with this one. Also am very glad to know the story jumps back and forth among different time periods because I always love that. So yeah totally convinced now that I need to get my hands on this book!!
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…My Favorite Audiobooks
Oooh have fun reading it, Stephanie! I hope you can, I’d love to hear your thoughts:-)
What a clever title, too, with its play on proverbial words.
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…Guest Post: How Urban Legends Shaped My Newest Story by Yawatta Hosby
Yes! I do think the title is great for the story.
Very good review! I have an arc of this and your review makes me want to pick it up.
Now I’m very curious to hear a man’s point of view! lol
Beautiful review! I loved this book so much, and you really capture so much about what’s special and fascinating about this story. I especially loved Nora’s story too, but really, the author did such an amazing job giving each of the women a distinct life and capturing her time period.
Yes, she did a fantastic job with all the stories, and made them all feel so real:-)
I’m totally fascinated by this book’s premise and by your review: even though I understand there will be some huge emotional hurdles (or triggers, or whatever we want to call them) to oversome, I think this kind of story deserves a little effort.
Thank you so much for sharing this! 🙂
Maddalena@Spaceandsorcery recently posted…THE LAST SMILE IN SUNDER CITY, by Luke Arnold
It’s so good, surprisingly good in fact! And I don’t think the cover is quite right for the book, although I’m not sure what else would work better.
Great review. I’m really intrigued by the concept for this and definitely had my beady eye on it but simply wouldn’t have been able to get to it this month so decided I needed to be good. One for the future and the wishlist.
Lynn 😀
Definitely for the future, I can see you loving this Lynn!
Thanks for the trigger warnings. I didn’t realize how dark the story would be, but I definitely still want to read it. It sounds incredible.
It’s so good! I hope you get the chance to read it. The triggers don’t overtake the story, but I felt like I had to mention them.
I will admit I mostly overlooked this book based on the cover, assuming it’d be a certain type of story. But it appears there may be more to it than I’d thought. Great review, Tammy!
I feel like the cover isn’t quite right. Yes, it’s a beautiful cover, but it makes the book feel more like a fantasy romance, and it really isn’t that.
I’m so glad to see such a positive review for this one! I have my copy I’ve been meaning to pick up but haven’t gotten around to, so I’m happy to have such a positive review in the back of my mind going into it. I always enjoy slowly discovering connections between characters in books like these, so that aspect sounds really enticing to me, and I’m so interested in all the time periods!
You will love this, I thought the way all the time periods and characters were connected was one of my favorite things:-)
I had a feeling you’d like this! I don’t know why, but I just really enjoyed reading about her incarnations in all the time periods, even though time skips and disjointed “stories within stories” don’t always work for me. I was just so entertained by this one though!
Exactly, I loved all the different time periods, and she did such a good job with each one!
This book is not my cup of tea, on so many levels, but your review almost made me change my mind! 🙂 I won’t read this one,because my TBR is in dire need of some control, and I am trying so hard to not add new titles to it, especially when I know that they won’t be very great for me, but I had a good time reading your words about this book! 🙂
Thank you Susy, you’re so sweet:-)
This sounds like an amazing debut!!
It was so good, I really cannot wait for her next book:-)
This sounds intense! Thank you for the trigger warnings. I’d much rather know a few of those things before digging in!
Definitely, I was caught off guard by some of them!
I really appreciate the trigger warnings, Tammy, and your thoughtful review. I’m seeing this book everywhere and am always intrigued by a witchy book. Lovely review!
Thanks Jennifer, you wouldn’t expect those trigger warnings from the cover, so I just had to add them.
Oh, this sounds fascinating! Thanks for the TW as well. Great review, Tammy, glad you liked this one so much.
I really shouldn’t be adding more books to the TBR but you make this sound so interesting. Ty for the TW too, good to know I might need to squeeze it in between two comfy reads.
I was about to say, keeping track of a trio people across 4 different timelines definitely sounds like it would be a lot to handle but I am glad to see that the author manages to do the transitions and jumping around in a seamless way that doesn’t make it too confusing! My current read includes witches as well, so I might just be in the mood for a story like this one.
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What an interesting debut! I like the premise.
Lovely review!
What an amusing premise! Great!