Spotlight and Giveaway: It's witchcraft...

Today we are featuring two books that have a similar theme in common...witches! Two of our US readers will each get a copy of one of these books!

The Witch's Market by Mingmei Yip
November 24, 2015
Kensington

The Witch’s Market is the story of a young Chinese-American professor, Eileen Chen, who specializes in folk religion at a San Francisco college. Though her grandmother made her living as a shamaness, as a professor Eileen publicly dismisses witchcraft as mere superstition, until one day she accidentally discovers that she has supernatural abilities.

To learn more about real witches – and herself – Eileen travels to the Canary Islands, long rumored to be home to these mysterious women. As she travels around, Eileen is struck by the lush beauty of Tenerife and its blend of Spanish and Moroccan culture. Hearing about the mysterious death of the young woman in the notorious Past Life Lake, Eileen becomes preoccupied by her tragic fate and resolves to discover how she met her end in this lonely place.

Gradually Eileen is drawn into her exotic surroundings, unexpectedly finding romance with a handsome young furniture maker. But the real witches have discovered her and so Eileen must learn to make her way in this new world, seductive but ominous, where love, greed, and vengeance can be as powerful, or as destructive, as any magic.


"Yip combines legend, mythology and Gothic elements into a magical coming-of-age tale."
~Bobbi Dumas, The New York Times

Mingmei Yip believes that one should, besides being entertained, also get something out of reading a novel. Her new novel is The Witch's Market, by Kensington Books. Her other novels include: Secret of a Thousand Beauties; Skeleton Women ; The Nine Fold Heaven; Peach Blossom Pavilion, Petals from the Sky; and Song of the Silk Road. Besides writing, Mingmei is also a children's book writer and illustrator, a professional player of the Guqin, calligrapher and painter. Visit her at her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

The Witches of Cambridge by Menna Van Praag
February 9, 2016
Ballantine

Be careful what you wish for. If you’re a witch, you might just get it.

Amandine Bisset has the power to feel the emotions of those around her but it’s a secret she only shares with her friends—all professors, all witches—when they gather for the Cambridge University Society of Literature and Witchcraft. Lately though, Amandine senses the ties among her colleagues beginning to unravel. If only she had her student Noa’s power to hear the innermost thoughts of others, she might know how to patch things up. Unfortunately, Noa regards her gift as a curse and so when a seductive artist asserts he can cure her, Noa jumps at the chance, no matter the cost – the price she’ll pay is a high one.

Noa’s not the only witch in over her head. Mathematics professor Kat has a serious case of unrequited love but refuses to cast spells to win anyone’s heart. Her sister, Cosima, is not above using magic to get what she wants, sprinkling pastries in her bakery with equal parts sugar and enchantment. But when Cosima accidentally bewitches Kat’s best friend George, she conjures up a dangerous love triangle.

Photo by Jeffrey Santos

Menna van Praag was born in Cambridge, England, and studied modern history at Oxford University. Her first novella, Men, Money, and Chocolate—an autobiographical tale about a waitress who aspires to be a writer—has been translated into twenty-six languages. Her first work of fiction, The House at the End of Hope Street, was inspired by an idea van Praag had to set up a house for female artists to give them a year to fulfill their artistic ambitions. You can learn more about Menna on her website, Facebook, and Twitter.



Thanks to Mingmei Yip and Ballantine Books for sharing a copy of these books with our readers. 

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

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US only. Giveaway ends February 23rd at midnight EST.