Black Candle Women

Are you in the mood for a truly spellbinding novel? If so you would do well to get your hands onDiane Marie Brown's Black Candle Women.
The women are several generations of the Montrose family: Augusta, the matriarch; Madelyn, her daughter; Victoria and Willow, her granddaughters; and Nickie, Victoria's teenage daughter.
Bet you've noticed something strange. There's obviously been some procreating going on. So where are the men?
A little back story here. Although the women reside in California, they're transplants from New Orleans. In her earlier years Augusta had apprenticed herself to a practitioner of hoodoo magic, Bela Nova. The relationship had ended badly when Augusta seduced Bela Nova's son. Bella Nova had pronounced a generational curse. Augusta and her descendants would never know love because everyone they loved would die. Even Bela Nova's own son. The adults in the family, except for Willow who was deterred by the curse, have lost husbands.
Now for the first time Nickie, who knows nothing about the curse, brings home a boy she really likes. When Victoria tries to keep them apart without explaining why Nickie reacts like just about any thwarted teen. When she finally runs away Augusta is forced return to the place where the curse was born, a place she's sworn never again to set foot in, for a show down with her former mentor turnoff nemesis.
Black Candle Women is a perfect stormy night read and so much more. In addition to serving up a riveting plot, it offers up food for thought on family relationships and the toxic power of secrets.
On a purrrsonal note, I've been having more trouble with weight. Since my visit with my primary care physician when she blew off my concerns about weighing 98 I've lost even more. My ambitions are modest. I just want to get up to and stay at three figures.
A great big shout out to the friends who are helping me figure out how and Eugene who is doing all the cooking.
Jules Hathaway