Title: Beguiled
Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Betwixt and Between #3
This trilogy wasn’t her best
Thank you to Darynda Jones for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review, and big thanks to the friendly Dana Crawford, who provided me with the ARC. Apologies for not reviewing before the release as I’d promised; delaying the release a week at the last minute threw off my own schedule, but I got to it as quick as I could!
All right, so . . . in large part, this trilogy fell flat for me. The first book, Betwixt, was awesome because it introduced us to hilarious, relatable characters, an intriguing mystery, and an interesting world of magic. The second book, however—Bewitched—didn’t accomplish much by way of the plot, did little to build on the world, and barely touched the overarching mystery. It felt like a “filler episode.” Beguiled, to its credit, accomplished a lot. But there are still unanswered questions.
Jones’s books are rather fast-paced, so while reading I felt like I barely had time to absorb everything as one thing happened after another, which was a pro considering it was rather a longish book, but also a con because that meant little time was taken for character reflection/development. But let’s unravel the threads a bit.
1. There was the obligatory small subplot mystery of Joaquin Ferebee—which was actually my favorite part of the book.
2. There was the romance between Deph and Roane, which I believe was resolved, more or less. I could have done without the rather explicit blowjob, but whatevs, they’re still a cool couple. I was prepared to dislike Roane when he gave her the ultimatum, but he apologized for it later and let her decide her own destiny, so I forgive him. And I love that they seem to have started a family by accident, lol.
3. We finally got to spend time with the all-important yet back-burnered coven, which I suppose you could call a subplot; that of Deph finding her place as a witch. Charmling. God. Same diff.
4. We learned the answer to the mystery of what Deph had locked in the attic when she was a child, and while Olly was an adorable, welcome, arguably unnecessary addition to the team, we didn’t get a complete explanation for him—what was child-Deph protecting him from? How did she first encounter him? Just . . . How? Why?
5. We finally sorted out what happened to Ruthie and saw that resolved. Boy, was that anticlimactic. I wonder if that was what Jones planned on the entire time, because it sure felt like a half-assed conclusion to me. She kept twisting it like a bread tie to make it seem shocking and clever, but view my deadpan. I don’t buy it. I don’t buy that those two idiots could have outwitted Roane and a magical house to pull off Ruthie’s murder.
6. Relative, we learned what the deal was with the caves beneath the house. I think? Kind of? The passages formed a pentagram and Percy sat smack dab in the middle of it, meaning he was a coveted hub of magical energy? Or something like that? *shrugs* Sure, why not? There are several holes to poke in that, but moving on.
7. The big’un—the evil, power-hungry warlocks and tragic history of the charmlings. Of witchcraft in general, really. Don’t hold your breath, there was no final showdown, we didn’t even meet the warlock(s) who supposedly wanted Deph so badly. Instead, a hunter came to town to search for charmlings, and confronting him without gaining much of anything from the encounter was as close as we got to the end of that thread. There’s a lot left to do with this overarching plot, which is why the once-trilogy will become a series and continue in Annette’s POV.
Related, in Beguiled we got a lot of exposition trying to explain the history of the charmlings and why they’re rare, how their powers work, etc., and to be honest, I didn’t understand most of it. It felt more complicated than it needed to be, totally seemed like Jones was explaining herself in circles to retcon information she’d given us previously. More than once someone referenced what someone else said in the past—a.k.a. the first book—and we got a lame “from a certain point of view” explanation.
8. Finally, and also related to the big’un, there’s a mystery subplot involving explosives and poison that I won’t spoil, though you’ll probably see its big reveal coming. Not sure how I felt about that development; felt rather forced. And I have a bad feeling Jones created another OP god-like character that she’ll struggle to present with true conflict. I mean, the ability to change anything to anything else? Did I understand that correctly? Might as well just say she has powers of ex machina.
There might have been other plot threads—Deph and Annette’s business, perhaps? Elle?—but I’ve covered the major ones. And jeez Louise, look at all that. Jones weaves it all together seamlessly; I have to give her that, because that takes major talent. But I’m not sure how I feel about continuing the story from Annette’s POV, whether just one book is planned or more (I think it might be an entire second trilogy, but not completely sure). It really feels to me like Jones could have wrapped everything up in this trilogy if she hadn’t squandered her time indulging in the antics of the quirky characters and veering off into arguably irrelevant subplots. I’m not sure I need or even want more from Annette’s POV; she had her moments, but I can’t say I loved her.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll inhale Annette’s book as soon as possible because it’s Jones, but I’d rather have Beep and Osh, or Sunshine #3.
Overall, I enjoyed this book for what it is, and I’m glad we got some answers, even if those answers were unimpressive; but I’m bummed that we still don’t have all the answers, and I’m not particularly eager for the next installment.
Oh, P.S., I can’t not mention this; could be that I misunderstood, but as far as I can tell this is a glaring error: So Defiance and Annette are 45 years old. Yet Deph makes a joke that Annette’s been convinced she’s psychic since the 7th grade, when she predicted the “rise and fall” of a boy in their class; apparently he lost his popularity when the other kids figured out he wasn’t really a prince of Genovia—he’d apparently been a big fan of The Princess Diaries.
The typical 7th grader is around 12 years old, which puts Deph and Nette in the 7th grade in 1988, give or take a year. But the book The Princess Diaries wasn’t released until 2000, the movie in 2001. I’m terrible at math, but that joke is off by about 12 to 13 years, right?
