Witch Creek - Book Review

Witch Creek (Wildlands #4)
by Laura Bickle

What is it about:
In the backcountry of Yellowstone, evil moves below the surface . . .

As the daughter of an alchemist, Petra Dee has battled supernatural horrors and experienced astonishing wonders. But there’s no magic on earth that can defeat her recent cancer diagnosis, or help find her missing husband, Gabriel. Still, she would bet all her remaining days that the answer to his disappearance lies in the dark subterranean world beneath the Rutherford Ranch on the outskirts of Temperance, Wyoming.

Gabe is being held prisoner by the sheriff and heir to the ranch, Owen Rutherford. Owen is determined to harness the power of the Tree of Life—and he needs Gabe to reveal its magic. Secretly, the sheriff has also made a pact to free a creature of the underground, a flesh-devouring mermaid. Muirenn has vowed to exact vengeance on Gabe, who helped imprison her, but first . . . she's hungry. Once freed, she will swim into Yellowstone—to feed.

With her coyote sidekick Sig, Petra must descend into the underworld to rescue Gabe before it's too late . . . for both of them.

What did I think of it:
Laura Bickle is an auto-buy author for me, and with Witch Creek she once again shows why she is.

This is a cool read, and I finished it in one sitting. I just didn't want to put it down. Now I'll have to reread her books to get my fix until her next book releases.

Petra is seriously ill and Gabe has been imprisoned. I must say I wondered how things ever would turn out for them. It seemed a very hopeless situation. Luckily there was Sig to cheer Petra up a bit, and Petra also gets help from her friends Maria and Nine.

Where I could sympathize with Owen in the last book, I didn't much care for him in this one. I also couldn't bring myself to feel for the mermaid, however long she might have been trapped before Owen finds her. She is seriously creepy! There was one other viewpoint character who I really liked, and his storyline was interesting and sad.

All in all this is a great read with lots of things going on. The ending was satisfying, but also hints at lots more trouble coming Petra's way. I'll be stalking Laura Bickle's feeds for news about the next book in this series.

Why should you read it:
It's a really intense and cool UF read.


Buy from bookdepository