Combined Book Review: The Hanging Tree by Michael Phillip Cash & The Adventures of Loriel The Wood Fairy by C. J. Walery

Book Information

Synopsis: Seventeen year old Arielle is at a crossroads in her life. Disenchanted with her father, she is testing the boundaries of his trust by dating someone he does not approve. Under the moonlit sky in Long Island, Arielle and her boyfriend meet beneath the infamous hanging tree. The couple’s destiny is rooted to the five spirits in the tree whose lives and deaths are determined by an ancient curse. Will her future be determined by the past or will Arielle’s choices alter the course of her life?

About the Author:  Michael Phillip Cash ‘s first book Brood X- A Firsthand Account of the Great Cicada Invasion is presently under consideration for a film adaptation. His well received second novel, Stillwell- A Haunting on Long Island, has stayed on the top of Amazon’s “100 Best Seller” in it’s genre since its release earlier this year. He is currently working on another ghost story. He lives on Long Island with his wife and children.

Review

First and foremost thank you very much to the author for allowing me to read this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

The story is based around a tree with a haunted past on the North Shore of Long Island when I read the synopsis for the book before requesting it from the author I thought it sound like it was going to be a well written and intriguing story, and I wasn’t wrong.  It tells the stories of two young girls from different times, one a girl in 2013 and the other a girl/ghost in 1649 – hung as a witch.

I loved the way that Michael intermingled the Story of Claire and her ghostly group with Arielle’s story. Arielle was the typical teenage girl rebelling against her father as a way of punishing him for her mother leaving them, who thinks she’s ready to have sex with her boyfriend but soon realises she isn’t. While Claire (the ghost witch) was a young girl who lived with her eccentric grandmother ‘Goody Bennete’ the local healer.

The Adventures of Loriel the Wood Fairy by C.J. Walery

Book Information

Synopsis: Loriel is worried by the lack of communication from her Grandfairy Cyce and makes a journey to her cottage in the Forest of Echoes, to find it empty. Upon arrival she finds Grandfairy Cyce has been kidnapped by a goblin. This part of the story tells how Loriel, Padra (the house mouse) and Anya (the pet hummingbird) all help to save Grandfairy Cyce. Loriel is frantic with worry because she knows that goblins must be dangerous (not to mention smelly) and she will need to make a plan that does not endanger Grandfairy Cyce.