BOOK REVIEW: 666 Gable Way by Dani Lamia + Frederick H. Crook

I love books with witches and possession and rituals and the occult. I can’t resist a story line with protagonists moving into large old mansions, meeting strange characters, and finding secrets in forgotten rooms. I love plots with family drama and/ or dark history within bloodlines. That being said, I wanted to love this book so much. The premise had me so excited—young woman aspiring to be a successful writer falls on hard times and moves in with her great aunt in an old Victorian mansion. Oh and this great aunt is part of an evil coven! Sounds like good fun right?

Sadly the plot moved too slow for me in this one. I wanted MORE seances and evil magic and LESS of the protagonist having trippy dreams and doing housework. Plus, there were also some parts that felt—while not intentionally—homophobic. While I loved that the coven preferred the affections of women, the whole “villainous lesbian witches” trope just felt very problematic and harmful to me. There were some chapters where magic spells were used as a violation of many forms of consent, and though this is addressed near the end of the book, again, I feared this could still be a harmful portrayal.

There were still some good parts to the story that I enjoyed however, such as the underlying mystery of the House of Seven Gables, our protagonist Phoebe’s dig into the coven’s past, and even a strange boarder who specializes in disturbing paintings. If you still think you might wanna give this book a try, by all means give it a shot. Don’t let my opinion keep you from making up your own mind. It just wasn’t my personal cup of tea.

(2/5⭐)

(Thank you to the author for sending me this copy in exchange for an honest review.)


                                                                             xo Nina