The Coven by Cate Tiernan

 Series: Sweep
Author: Cate Tiernan
Page Count: 185
Published: March 22nd, 2007
Publisher: Speak
  3 Stars ★★★

Morgan is a blood witch with strong magickal powers and a personal tie to witchcraft. After Samhain, she and Cal become a couple and, as a result, she finds herself targeted by her former friend, Bree. Aside from all the drama between current and former coven members, Morgan has to deal with a startling revelation, a revelation that may change her life forever: she's adopted. But who were her biological parents? And are the ex-coven members planning something against her and Cal?

I can confidently say that this book was a disappointment. I enjoyed the first book so much, but all of the things that I liked from the first book weren't enough to redeem the second. Unfortunately, I won't be continuing the series. 

Any previous connection I felt to the characters was gone. Instead of seeing Morgan as curious, brave and likeable, I found her rather irritating. Her narration seemed almost whiny at times, and I was always counting the pages left until I could finish the book. Cal seemed empty, like a shadow as opposed to an actual character. I lost any sense of who Cal was as a person. Also, all this drama with Bree being angry that Cal went out with Morgan....Couldn't Cal have stood up for Morgan? He really didn't do much to help the situation, while as the whole reason for the issue between the two girls in the first place, he probably could've done a lot. 

My hatred for Morgan's parents grew. I didn't like that they kept her past from her, that they continued being stuck-up and close minded to Morgan's beliefs and that they almost seemed to play the victim at times. The author seems to try to redeem them near the end of the book, where they explain all to Morgan and try to convey why they kept secrets from her, but I couldn't feel any positivity towards them. I just hate them, plain and simple. As with Morgan, they irritated me, just in a different way.

I also feel like this book was super slow compared to the first one. I feel like this was less of a novel and more of an introduction to a larger book. It seemed incomplete. Of course, as part of a series, cliffhangers, questions, and other things are to be expected. But the way that The Coven was written seemed less like an installment in a series and more like a group of chapters plucked out of a larger book. 

I did enjoy a few things about this book. Firstly, there is the more "realistic" portrayal of magic. Unlike the fantasy magic of other books, this one contains more of a contemporary witchcraft, as the characters are Wiccan witches as opposed to creatures living alongside vampires and werewolves and any other number of paranormal beings found in young adult witch stories. However, this installment of the Sweep series did take on a bit more of a fantasy element than the first book.

I did like the discussion of religious intolerance, that is, people who judge religious minorities or don't allow others around them to practice their religious beliefs freely. As somebody who has personal experience with this issue, I greatly appreciated that this subject was approached. 

While I liked the idea of the book overall, I really do think that it could have been better. I don't feel the need to continue the series, so, as mentioned, I probably won't be. 

Those who like non-fantasy portrayals of witchcraft in fiction may enjoy this novel. Readers looking for books which explore issues such as religious intolerance, friendship and romance, and adoption might want to give this one a try.

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Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

 

 Series: Pretty Little Liars
Author: Sara Shepard
Page Count: 286
Published: October 1st, 2006
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  3 Stars ★★★ 

Aria, Emily, Spencer, and Hanna are four girls with one thing in common - they were all friends with Alison DiLaurentis, who went missing. Now, several years later, in their junior year of high school, Aria returns from Iceland where her father moved their family right after Alison's disappearance. The girls have drifted apart, Hanna shoplifts, Spencer is an over-achiever and Emily is struggling with her relationship.  

They begin to receive texts from someone who calls themself 'A'. And this 'A' knows about some of their most personal secrets, secrets that only Alison knew. But she can't be back, can she?

The thing that I liked the most about this book is the way that the chapters tell the stories of each of the four girls separately, yet describes the ways that they are still tied together. While in third person, the narration of some of their thoughts gave a great insight into how they were dealing with their various issues and where the story would go next.

However, I can't help but to think that this book seems almost unfinished. I understand that it's a series, but there wasn't a whole lot of action really going on throughout the book. There were smaller things, with personal tensions and a few more major incidents, but nothing too exciting or mysterious. Even the description of 'A's texts were disappointing. I was hoping for more thrills and more close calls, but this book didn't really deliver on that expectation.

It actually seemed almost like an extended beginning of a book, like a really long introduction. I can say, though, that the big reveal and 'A's message at the end definitely sets up some interesting ideas for the next book. For a short read, this was enjoyable, however I feel like it went too slowly and was too short. 

Fans of contemporary YA novels will like this. If you're interested in YA mysteries this could be a good read for you.

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Blood Red Road by Moira Young

 

 Series: Dust Lands
Author: Moira Young
Page Count: 459
Published: June 7th, 2011
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
  2.5 Stars ★★

Saba lives with her father, her brother Lugh, and her sister Emmi. Their home is in Silverlake, where they live alone beside a drying-out lake and face sandstorms regularly. When Lugh is taken by strange men on horseback, Saba vows to rescue him and she starts on a journey to get him back.

But her journey is anything but smooth, and she must face harsh weather, dangerous creatures and people with evil intentions. With the help of some friends along the way, she's hopeful to get Lugh back before anything happens to him. But what if she doesn't make it in time?

I feel a bit conflicted over this book. There were some things that I liked, but the things that I didn't like are quite significant and affected my reading experience greatly. I hate giving books a low rating, but I can't find any way to justify rating this over a 2.5 out of 5 stars.

So the best thing about this book was the story. I loved the concept of a dystopian wasteland and the thing that really kept me reading was the events and struggles that Saba faced, and the hope that she would find her brother. I had trouble putting this book down because I wanted to hurry up and read it to find out what happened to Lugh, I wanted to see if she would save him. 

Saba's journey was an interesting one, filled with fights and scheming and making new friends. However, while I enjoyed the story, I can't say that I enjoyed the book itself.

The big issue for me was the writing style. The author decided not to use punctuation such as quotation marks when someone was talking, so that made for some confusion when there was a conversation between several people. I'd have to go back and read the page over to make sure I knew who was saying what. Sometimes I couldn't tell if something was being said out loud, or only in Saba's head. 

To add to the confusion was the deliberate misspelling of words to convey an accent or style of speaking. I understand wanting the reader to know what Saba sounds like, but this along with the lack of proper punctuation just added more confusion. I get that the author was probably trying to make her book unique, trying to make Saba seem more real and genuine, however it didn't work for me. 

I felt a bit distanced from the events that took place. In many books I feel like I'm actually there with the characters, and I find that makes a story all the better. But I felt more like just a spectator in this one, and I found that disappointing. If not for my interest in the ending, I probably wouldn't have continued reading past the first one hundred pages. 

Overall, a unique read with a great concept, but the writing style didn't work for me. 

Fans of futuristic and dystopian novels may like this. If you like action-packed stories and the writing style doesn't seem like it would bother you, I think it would be worth a try. 

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Empress of the World by Sara Ryan

 

Series: Battle Hall Davies
Author: Sara Ryan
Page Count: 215
Published: May 26th, 2003
Publisher: Speak
  4 Stars ★★★★

Nicola is taking a summer course in archaeology at the Siegel Institute, because she wants to make sure that archaeology is really a field she wants to go into. She expects that confirming her dream of becoming an archaeologist will be the focus of this summer, until she meets Battle. 

Battle is beautiful, a minister's daughter, and soon captures Nicola's heart. While helping her new friends deal with their own issues, Nicola has to come to terms with her sexuality, and face her attraction to another girl. 

I thought that this was a nice twist on the YA summer romance trend. It has a lot of the same elements as others in this branch of YA, including spending time at another location, in this case an academic camp or institute, it includes making new friends and helping them deal with their struggles, and of course experiencing attraction to a beautiful peer. The twist is that two girls are the love interests, which is a welcome change.

Nicola is a great main character, I find her very relatable and believable because I feel like a lot of her struggles mirror those that teenagers face in real life, and therefore making a connection with her was very easy. Understanding a character's feelings and where they're coming from with their thoughts is important to me because it makes for a more emotional or a deeper read. 

Nicola is the kind of character you'd like to be friends with, the kind of person you'd be able to have a chat with and enjoy being around. Battle seems a bit more intimidating or untouchable, with Nicola's descriptions of her beauty and family issues, but she's still a generally likeable character as well. The rest of  Nicola's group of friends, Isaac, Kevin and Katrina, make the whole situation seem more plausible as well with their own issues, for example dealing with divorce. They were a great group of characters to read about and I like that over time they changed or evolved, even if only a little bit.

The author's approach to sexuality was well done, with Nicola's struggles and internal dialogue being extremely believable and realistic, and avoiding some of the stereotypical LGBTQ tropes I've come across in other books. The word bisexual was even used, and in a fairly positive way as well, which really impressed me because I feel like multisexual identities are so rarely discussed in an outright manner. The addition of homophobic characters was necessary, in my opinion, to mirror real-life issues that LGBTQ people face and the author delivered on this platform as well. Overall, I am very impressed with this book.

I do take issue with the length of the novel! The author did such a great job, but the book was so short. I wish it had been longer, and that maybe certain issues could have been expanded upon, such as Battle's family life. I'm going to be looking for the sequel and I really hope that it lives up to Empress of the World. 

I recommend this book to people looking for realistic portrayals of LGBTQ struggles in YA novels. If you want a short contemporary romance, this book is for you.

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