In the past few years I've really tried to get into the seasonal mood by reading books that feel cozy and inspirational - but not inspirational as in a weird sense - more like getting myself inspired to decorate or feel like it's "spooky" at night for Halloween. I found Cackle on a Halloween reads inspiration list, I think it was from Barnes & Noble. Normally there's so many lists for winter and Christmas reading that it's so easy to find books - but the wait lists are ridiculously long starting about this time of year. I decided to search out some Halloween reads. I have an Anne Rice book in my pile that I'm going to read after I finish my current book (The Sentence by Louise Erdrich).
On with the story - Cackle was ok. I think I'd give it 4 stars as long as you keep your expectations to making sure it just gets you inspired to read more books or to watch Halloween or spooky movies. The storyline is cheesy typical - young woman has horrible break up with boyfriend (with whom she had hoped she would eventually marry), she moves to a new city to start over, etc... The one thing that I really liked, surprisingly was that this wasn't an immediate romance novel. Instead it really followed how Annie became herself and how she learned how to not lose herself to other people and to not give and give and give, in turn emptying her bucket and not having enough left for herself.
I wish there would have been more storyline about the high schooler who would have lunch in Annie's classroom on the regular. I wanted more dialogue and more of a relationship between the two - because this becomes important at the end of the book and frankly, it doesn't seem like the author put in as much effort as she could with this relationship. I feel like this could have been a better storyline in the book and it could have gone a little deeper. The character admits she wasn't as great of a teacher as she could have been - but this admission by the character doesn't make up for the author's lack of writing about her character's teaching ability or style. Instead the author focused that part on the relationships that Annie had with other teacher characters and frankly, I think those could have been cut from the book without harming much of the plotline.
I always enjoy when authors go deeper into the personalities of the main character, especially when the character has self-reflected. I think for me, the author painting the picture of self-reflection is fantastic because you can relate to the story a little more, maybe relate to the character a little more. And the self-reflection aspect is really great in that you as a reader get to know that characters better even if the plotline is a little cheesy or not quite there. Going deeper into character's personalities always makes books better - even if maybe you don't like that character (think Gone Girl, I wanted to throw that book against the wall, I hated the story and characters so much, the writing was AWESOME that it made me have those feelings). I'm happy with the character writing and the depth in which the author goes.
Annie makes a new friend in the new town where she lives. Clearly from the title of the book, you can infer that this is a book about witches. Annie becomes friends with the town witch. And Annie enjoys her new friendship - learning about herself and how to be a better friend by the end of the book too.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and it quite inspired me to get more Halloween books from the library and gobble up all the spooky things I can find. I hope that if you read it, it inspires you too!
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