Hello again writers and booksters,

As promised, I’m following up on my interview with Ashley Greathouse with a review of her short story Locked Away.

I’ve already shared all the fun facts about her in my interview, so there’s nothing else to do except get right into this review!

Blurb

In a world where witchcraft is thought of as a trend or just part of fantasy a 30 year old woman ventures out to change her destiny and bring the truth of magic out from the darkness.

The Review

I gave this short story four spellcasting stars!

This is my first time reading anything by Ashley Greathouse, and I had fun with this story.

Without giving too much away, this story is about a witch who is on a special visit out to a lake cabin. At first it seems that she is simply there to enjoy her time, but it turns out to be much, much more than that.

The concept of this story was great. I am a sucker for witches, having rewatched Charmed I don’t know how many times over the years. So when I saw the word witch in the blurb I automatically said yes. There are a lot of great witchy elements displayed in a short time, and I really enjoyed the alternate history that Greathouse provided. It really kept my attention.

The main character was intriguing, and there was more to her than met the eye. It’s hard to pull off mystery in such a short time, and I think Greathouse did a great job.

I want to say more, but I would give too much away so I’m gonna zip it.

All right, so in the name of being equitable and fair I will elaborate on my scoring and why I didn’t give it a five out of five.

The story was really great but in small spots I felt the execution could’ve been handled a tad bit better. We get a lot of info in such a short time, and in little bits it felt that there might be a little too much explanation going on for it being a short story. Just my personal opinion.

I also feel that there were instances where I was catching some editing fixes, not enough to discourage anyone from reading, but enough to mention briefly.

These cons are minor if you ask me, and they didn’t truly take me out of the story, so I’m sticking by my rating of a strong four stars.

I did feel that there was so much more to this story, and it could’ve been made into an even bigger story. I didn’t take any star power away from this point, it’s merely an observation.

Ultimately, Locked Away was a great witchy tale of mystery, power, and sacrifice, and I can’t wait to read more from this author!

That’s A Wrap!

Well that’s it for this short story review. I hope you enjoyed it!

Have you read this story? Are there other short stories you’ve read that you simply have to gush about? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!

Have a great day!

***Can’t get enough of Jaunts & Haunts? Subscribe to my Chills and Thrills Newsletter on my home page so you don’t miss a thing! Newsletter emails go out every Sunday! Also, feel free to check me out at the social media links below!***

Facebook | GoodReads | Tumblr