
Set during the reign of Mary Tudor, Witchstruck follows the story of Meg Lytton, who serves the Lady Elizabeth while she is imprisoned at Woodstock. Meg is special though, the gift of witchcraft has been passed to her by her aunt. Lady Elizabeth uses their special powers to attempt to foresee herself on the English throne despite the fact that witchcraft is a deadly offense; especially with her very Catholic sister, Queen Mary on the throne. With Queen Mary betrothed to Philip of Spain, A Catholic priest and novice are sent to Woodstock to make sure Elizabeth and all of her ladies are practicing their Catholic ways. Trouble brews when Meg is caught practicing witchcraft and the famed witch hunter Master Dent is brought in, Meg's family also wants a favor from Queen Elizabeth to begin an uprising in favor of restoring Elizabeth to the throne. With all this going on Meg must protect herself from being implicated as a witch, protect Lady Elizabeth from being accused of treason, and try not to fall in love with the Spanish novice priest.
I pretty much love anything set in Tudor England and pretty much anything involving witchcraft, so this one was an easily likeable read for me. I loved that Meg was a 'real' witch and felt it her duty to practice her craft, not just a woman good with herbs and curing illness. Although, Meg was not exactly careful about when and where she practiced, which ended up getting her in trouble in this perilous time period; but I definitely did like that she was powerful. The romance with almost-priest Alejandro was a little quick for me, but in the YA world this is often the case; nevertheless, I was still entranced by their romance. I really did enjoy this fast-paced, suspenseful and magical adventure in Tudor England. While she may not have made the smartest of decisions, Meg's character was still very likeable and I will be reading the second book of the series, Witchfall, next!

"Well, you may not have noticed this, but I'm not very good at being good."
This is the second book in the Tudor Witch Trilogy, we pick up right where we left off from Witchstuck. Lady Elizabeth along with Meg Lytton and their spiritual advisor, Alejandro are installed in the treacherous court of Queen Mary and King Philip while the Queen awaits the birth of her child. The Spanish Inquisition is going strong and not even those at Court are safe. Meg and Alejandro must also keep their betrothal hidden since Meg was accused of Witchcraft once already. Fear rises as the Queen's pregnancy is elongated, the Inquisition comes into Lady Elizabeth's chambers for evidence in conspiring with John Dee, Meg keeps thinking that she sees Marcus Dent in the form of a rat and a suspicious shadow keeps appearing ever since Meg conjured the spirit of Lady Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn.
This is another action-packed and suspenseful installment of the Tudor Witch Trilogy. More emphasis is placed on Meg, her powers and her relationship with Alejandro in this book. We get to see Meg's powers grow, even though I didn't think it was too smart to keep practicing her powers at court with the Inquisition going on. There is less history in this book, for any fans of Tudor Court life, but the history that is there goes along with what happened; Mary was believed to be pregnant and close to the time she should have delivered, Elizabeth was recalled to court. King Philip was also rumored to have plans to wed Elizabeth if Mary died in childbirth. After it was determined that Queen Mary would not deliver a child, Elizabeth was released to Hatfield House. Once at Hatfield House in Witchfall, the attention is turned towards Meg and her powers. The strange shadow is still lurking and is now visible to Elizabeth. We also find out more of the history of Marcus Dent from the wonderful character of John Dee and his apprentice, Robert. This information leads Meg and Alejandro down a dangerous path that will lead to a spectacular ending. I can't wait to see what happens next with the restoration of Kat to Elizabeth's household.
This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.