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Book reviews for "Hawkes,_Judith" sorted by average review score:

The Heart of a Witch
Published in Digital by Signet ()
Author: Judith Hawkes
Amazon base price: $6.99
Average review score:

Reader From the Heartland
This is my favorite book, and I read a LOT of books. It's an awesome and scary novel that's magic and surprises won't let you put it down. It grips right down to the last page. The Lockley Arms Inn, full of mysteries and secrets stands at the center of Green Hollow, and twins Kip and Shelley Davies live right across the street from it. As youngsters, they are fascinated by the world of the Lockley Arms, and as teenagers they begin working there and are drawn in to the secrets of the Arms. They eventually stumble upon a witch's coven--The Green Hollow Coven. They are admitted into the coven, and their experiences will surprise you. This book is a must read. Let yourself be submerged in the elegance and magic of the Lockley Arms. Not just 5, but 100 stars!

Witchs do have Hearts!
If you like "supernatural" stories about magic, spells and such,then by george this book is for you! The story is all about twins, Shelley and Kip, who live across the street from an old,Victorian-style two story house. And no matter what time of day it is, there always seems to be people coming and going from that old house! As they grew older they took jobs there and came to discover that their quiet little town is the home of a secret coven, a witch coven! Along with the weight of keeping the coven's existince underwraps, they experience things that are not quite considered normal to most church-breed believers. This book is quite slow at the beginning, but if you give it time, I promise that it'll keep you hooked! I've read alot of books in my time but I honestly have to say that this is quite possibly the BEST book I have ever read! So yes, I do highly recommend it to almost anyone, well almost anyone! And be prepaired for the ending . . not that nothing will happen or anything! :) :)

A 'must read' for horror fans in general
If you are looking for a suspenseful, thought provoking and very emotional tale that concerns witchcraft, then look no further. The Heart of a Witch delivers all this and much more. I can not praise Judith Hawke's enough for unleashing this intelligent and enormously entertaining tale for horror fans to enjoy. Everything, and I do mean everything, about this book is sheer perfection. The characters are so fully realized in every aspect, that you can't help but think they are real. The atmosphere just oozes from every page. The story she tells is so involving you will rediscover what the term "page-turner" really means. Where so many good novels fizzle out towards the end, this great novel actually retains it's momentum, and the ending is one of the best I have ever experienced. I highly encourage all horror fans who enjoy well structered and extremely satisfying books to seek this one out. This is a very powerful and unforgettable novel.....one that you will remember long after you finish reading it. Whether the actual events involving Wiccan beliefs are accurate or not is a moot point, for this is a fictional tale that delivers FICTION in the highest order.


Julian's House
Published in Paperback by New American Library (1991)
Author: Judith Hawkes
Amazon base price: $6.99
Used price: $0.95
Collectible price: $42.35
Average review score:

Good old fashioned ghost story appeals to modern sensibility
JULIAN'S HOUSE delves into history, parapsychology, mystery, and plain ol' Freudian psychology and emerges as a genuinely creepy, engrossing tale that is difficult to put down. You don't actually feel scared while reading it; it's after you turn out the lights and go to bed that the ghostly images begin to "haunt" you. This book doesn't hit you over the head. Instead, it gently creeps under your skin and stays there for a very, very long time. For good measure, two possible interpretations of the events in the story are put forth via different characters: is the Godfrey house haunted by family ghosts, or was it all in Sally's and David's sexually repressed minds

A terrific book, in a great tradition
I'll go out on a limb and say that this is the best book of its type since Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. That is, it's an excellent literary novel as well as a genuinely terrifying ghost story. Hawkes's account of the professional and erotic tensions in a young marriage would be worth reading even if it didn't have ghosts in it. But the supernatural elements don't just spice up the story; they're an integral part of it. The ghosts feed off the human tension in the book, and vice versa. It's a beautifully constructed book, too, one of the rare, successful novel-length ghost stories. The only book that comes close is Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, and this is better.

Developed characters and the science of the paranormal
I enjoyed reading this book because it was interesting to read the scientific theories around parapsychology. Additionally, the characters were well developed and quite human, and the story was interesting. Its best ghost story I have read since House of Echoes by Erskine.


My Soul to Keep
Published in Paperback by Signet (1997)
Author: Judith Hawkes
Amazon base price: $6.99
Used price: $0.05
Collectible price: $1.27
Average review score:

AN ALTERNATIVE TO SOMINEX
Judith Hawkes' "My Soul to Keep" could have been a good ghost story, but she's made it so long and contrived that it just didn't work for this reader.
Hawkes has a way in setting atmospheric scenes, but she doesn't go anywhere with them. Heroine (?) Nan alternates between being a shrewish wife, a doting but inattentive mother, and a nymphomaniac with her stud cousin Sky. Enter typical "woodsy" people like doomed Lucy; the psychic Flutie; the redneck moonshiner Jerry; the kindly bookstore owner, Cooper, and then worse of all, Nan's estranged husband Gabe. Seems like something terrible happened to Nan and her playmate Tucker back in 1968, that she just can't remember. Twenty years later, she returns to the family home in Tennessee and finds that the ghost of little Tucker has intentions on her eight year old son, Stephen.
While the ghost story itself is intriguing, the payoff is a real disappointment. And what's even more frustrating--what happens to Nan and Stephen? Do they stay in Tennessee? Does she continue her relationship with hunky Sky? What does Gabe do? Why is what happened in 1968 such a washout?
Not recommended unless you need something besides a sleeping pill to sleep.

entertaining, but not her best
I found this novel to be entertaining and creepy, but not as beautifully and subtly written as Julian's House and The Heart Of A Witch. Still, it's suspenseful and compelling, and a good, solid read.

Sleepless nights here
my favorite of her wonderful books - the characters are sympathetic and the suspense is honestly creepy


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