Vanessa Schierman PhD Witch - Sandy Nathan

              Vanessa Schierman PhD. Witch is a short book of around one hundred and thirty pages on my ereader that contains three short stories about a character previously introduced in other Sandy Nathan novels. That character is Vanessa Schierman, a renowned theoretical physicist who also happens to be a witch. She is also the richest person in the world and, due to a small bit of narcissism, wants the world to know it. After an article stating that her nemesis (also the man she loves), Will Duane, is named the richest person in the world, she enlists the help of a journalist to write about her and tell the world the truth. The article written is not very flattering so she deals with the journalist in a rather unprofessional manner. The first story in the book is about all of these aspects and introduces a bit of Vanessa’s back story, although not nearly enough for me. I haven’t read any of the novels Vanessa has shown up in so I wasn’t familiar with the character at all. For those readers, like me, who aren’t familiar with her as a character, it would have been nice to have a bit more of an introduction about her and her past. A little about her background and some more of who she is and what makes her tick would have made the first story more enjoyable. Instead I felt like I opened the book in the middle and just started reading. The other two stories are much better and I was able to settle in to these stories and enjoy them much more. The second one, The Talisman and the Witch’s Code, was my favorite of the whole book. The writing has a faster pace and the characters were given more depth, in particular Vanessa and her niece, Adriana, who is not only a witch but also a vampire. The last story, How Did You Become a Witch, answers some questions about Vanessa that I had from the first story so it was a nice way to tie the book up. Plus there is a nice little door left open for another book involving Vanessa, Will, and Vanessa’s entertaining family. I would love to read a full length book involving all of these characters. They are fun, quirky, and just a little bit dark. I read this book on my ereader and the formatting and editing was well done. The cover is intriguing and does draw the reader’s eye to it. Overall, this is an entertaining read.