Book Synopsis:
As Spitfires roar overhead and a dark figure stalks the village of Woodville, a young woman will discover her destiny . . .
Faye Bright always felt a little bit different. And today she’s found out why. She’s just stumbled across her late mother’s diary which includes not only a spiffing recipe for jam roly-poly, but spells, incantations, runes and recitations . . . a witch’s notebook.
And Faye has inherited her mother’s abilities.
Just in time, too. The Crow Folk are coming. Led by the charismatic Pumpkinhead, their strange magic threatens Faye and the villagers. Armed with little more than her mum’s words, her trusty bicycle, the grudging help of two bickering old ladies, and some aggressive church bellringing, Faye will find herself on the front lines of a war nobody expected.
For fans of Lev Grossman and Terry Pratchett comes this delightful novel of war, mystery and a little bit of magic . . .
The Crow Folk is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy from the link below or through your local indie bookstore.
My Review:
The Crow Folk was a very absorbing, intriguing and original book that I thoroughly enjoyed. It helped take me away from reality for a little bit which I really needed.
This book appealed to me from the off with its intriguing combination of historical fiction and magic which was brilliantly done. Events from WW2 are seamlessly combined with magical events in a really realistic way which made me think it could actually have happened. I found it fascinating to see these two worlds come together and I soon found myself absorbed into the wonderful world the author had created.
I loved the main character Faye who was an easy character to get behind. I really liked that she was different from other girls her age and that she aspired to more that just getting married. She’s a strong lady who isn’t afraid to say what she thinks even when it could get her into trouble. It was fascinating to learn more about magic alongside her and I found myself cheering her on, hoping she’d succeed.
The Crow Folk were interesting villains who were actually quite terrifying in their own way. I certainly would not like to meet them in the dark and would probably run away screaming at the sight of them. I thought it was very clever of the author to create such a scary, every day villain as it helped increase the tension in the book for me as I kept reading. I will definitely be avoiding scarecrows in future!
Overall I absolutely loved this book, which I will be recommending to all fans of both historical fiction and magic. The storyline was quite fast paced and there always seemed to be something happening to keep me reading. I have been in a bit of a reading slump recently and this was one of the books that helped pull me out of it as I couldn’t wait to escape back to Woodville to find out what was going to happen next. The cover hints that this is the start of a new series and I am very excited to read more!
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Simon and Schuster for my copy of this book. If you are a fan of historical fiction or magic then you must read this book!
About The Author:
Mark Stay got a part-time Christmas job at Waterstone’s in the nineties (back when it still had an apostrophe) and somehow ended up working in publishing for over 25 years. He would write in his spare time and (he can admit this now) on company time, and sometimes those writings would get turned into books and films.
Mark is also co-presenter of the Bestseller Experiment podcast, which has inspired writers all over the world to finish and publish their books. Born in London, he lives in Kent with Youtube gardener Claire Burgess and a declining assortment of retired chickens.
Come and say hello at markstaywrites.com
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Thanks for the blog tour support Jo
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