Book Review: Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey

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Witch Eyes (Witch Eyes #1) by Scott Tracey
Release Date: September 8th 2011
Book Format: Library Book
Rating: Four Stars

Braden was born with witch eyes: the ability to see the world as it truly is: a blinding explosion of memories, darkness, and magic. The power enables Braden to see through spells and lies, but at the cost of horrible pain.

After a terrifying vision reveals imminent danger for the uncle who raised and instructed him, Braden retreats to Belle Dam, an old city divided by two feuding witch dynasties. As rival family heads Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe desperately try to use Braden's powers to unlock Belle Dam's secrets, Braden vows never to become their sacrificial pawn. But everything changes when Braden learns that Jason is his father--and Trey, the enigmatic guy he's falling for, is Catherine's son.

To stop an insidious dark magic from consuming the town, Braden must master his gift—and risk losing the one he loves.

A teenager boy named Braden has been staying with his uncle for as long as he can remember. It's there that he learns magic and how to control his own sort of magic: a rare gift that he calls 'Witch Eyes'. It's something that he never learned how to really control so he's forced to wear sunglasses everywhere he goes lest he finds himself with a painful headache.

But, one day, it's the same magic that leads him to a new town away from his old home: Belle Dam. His intentions were to save his uncle from what trouble might befall his old home but he slowly realizes the trouble he found himself stumbling into the moment he walked in. There's a feud between two witches, Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe, and both of them are willing to do anything to get their hands on the magic Braden owns in his sight and he's forced to figure out the truth for himself.

This book has such an interesting basis to it that, when I found it somewhere online, I was convinced that I had to read it. Just about under a month when I found it, I got a hold of the copy from the library and made it one of my first priorities once I had the chance and, wow, I'm so glad that I did.

It is quite clear that the author did his homework, so to speak, cause there was so much history behind Belle Dam that I felt convinced that it existed in the current US. I can't find the proper words to explain, really, cause it just made me so happy to see so much thought put into the town's back story and it just made things that much more intense. I can't wait to learn more about its history in the next book, that's for sure.

The main character, Braden, grew a lot during his time in this town (and, if I'm not mistaken, he was there for probably half a month? Please correct me if I'm wrong). With everything that's going on in this town, however, he didn't have much of a choice. He's very intelligent (even though he didn't apply some of it towards his teaching with his uncle) and quite determined. I also loved his relationship with Trey. The story was well-balanced between the romance and the story line that it didn't feel forced at all and I loved every minute of it.

I love the side characters, Riley and Jade, even though there were not that much of them throughout the story (but it's not their story, of course... maybe some side stories of them would be nice, though?). It's interesting to see how the two of them interact and perhaps there'll be more of those two interacting with each other? I probably sound sadistic saying that, however, haha.

Overall, though, a wonderfully creative book that holds out on its promise and if you like magic and the paranormal (and a little bit of history), I highly recommend this book.

Originally released and posted on December 16th, 2013