Wicked (Witch & Curse) by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

Series: Wicked
Author: Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie
Page Count: 672
Published: September 9th, 2008
Publisher: Simon Pulse
  4 Stars ★★★★

Holly Cathers is devastated when her parents and best friend die in an accident. Expecting to move in with her dead best friend's mother, her aunt comes forward, and her friend's mother falls ill suddenly. With no where else to go, she moves to Seattle to live with her aunt, uncle, and two cousins.

When it seems that life can't get any more bleak, she discovers that she is a witch from a powerful magical bloodline....and that her bloodline has a magical feud with the Deveraux going back hundreds of years. The family of warlocks are ruthless....except for Jer. Now Holly must navigate a world of magic, forbidden romance, and revenge, and hope to survive to see tomorrow. 

I wasn't sure I would really enjoy this series, but I wanted to give it a try. I actually quite liked it, and I will be continuing reading the series!

The characters made up an interesting cast of good and evil and somewhere in between. The Deveraux warlocks were essentially the villains with the Cathers witches the protagonists, and Jer, a wayward Deveraux finding out which side he wants to be on. Jer and Holly were more than just contemporary witches caught in a forbidden romance....they were essentially reincarnated or embodied versions of their ancestors, Jean and Isabeau, who fell victim to a curse. The pieces of themselves that were contemporary Jer and Holly mixed well with the spirits and legacy of the historical Isabeau and Jean, and their love story spanned centuries. 

Michael and Eli Deveraux were bloodthirsty warlocks, with Michael especially out to kill Holly. Holly and her cousins were all very believable characters, teenage girls discovering who they are, but never really cliche.

I think my favourite part about this book was the chase between Michael and Holly. It felt very cat-and-mouse at times, just with dangerous magic and lots of collateral damage. The second book in particular featured lots of death! At times this book was very grim.

I also like the diversity of the witches and magic-users in these two books. There were witches that were more pagan like Holly's coven, then there was a few people who practiced voodoo, a Native American shaman, and even Catholic witches. That was really neat! It kept the book from being monotonous and repetitive.

I do have to say that at times the book was pretty cheesy. Some of the incantations and spells seemed a bit strange, almost like the authors were just looking for words that rhymed and went together in any way at all. There were little poems or passages before each chapter from the Deveraux and Cathers covens, and those were cheesy and a bit random at times too.

Overall I did really enjoy this bindup! I loved the characters and the danger, and I loved the diversity of magic traditions in this book. While some bits were kind of cheesy, I will definitely be continuing the series.

I recommend this book to people who love books about magic. If you're interested in young adult novels about feuds and discovering who you are, you may like this one.

Find Wicked on Goodreads

Bookish Unhauls

Hey everyone. So I wanted to have a discussion about bookish unhauls.


If you don't already know, unhauls are basically when you get rid of books that you own. They're essentially the opposite of book hauls.


Recently I have started watching book unhaul videos on youtube. For some reason, I can just binge watch them! I watched an unhaul challenge, and I actually decided to clear out my shelves a bit as well.


I want to talk about how readers decide which books to keep, and which books to give away or sell. For myself, I tend to give away books I didn't enjoy, books that I am no longer interested in, or books that I did actually like but feel no personal attachment to.

     

These are a few books that I enjoyed, but I am still unhauling them.

I also unhaul books because while I may have enjoyed them, other people may enjoy them even more. I also currently have limited room on my bookshelves, so I am a bit more generous in my unhauling. I'm assuming that when I get my own apartment or house and have more room, I will be doing less unhauling.


I've seen some videos where readers unhaul books because they have multiple copies! I have two copies of Mask of Shadows, however I'm keeping them because one is an ARC and the other is a finished hardcover that I won in a giveaway. But if I had two of the same editions of a book, I would definitely unhaul one of them.


Something else I do when I unhaul books is offer them to my friends. Depending on if there is a need at libraries, youth centres, or other institutions, I may someday donate some of my unhauls. I've heard of programs that promote donating books to prisons, and while none of my unhaul books are in demand in these programs at the moment, in the future, if I have some that I think they may like, I might go that route as well.



Finally, I may unhaul certain books because while I liked them, I feel no need to purchase the rest of the series, and find borrowing the library copies a sufficient option. Some series, I absolutely must own all of the books, while for others, while I liked the first book, I don't feel compelled to spend money on a personal copy of the second book. In this case, I often feel like there is no need to keep the first book, as I won't be completing the collection. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, however I've found this to be the case for many books.



So these are my thoughts on unhauls! Why do you unhaul books? What do you do with your unhauls?

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

Series: Darkness Rising
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Page Count: 359
Published: April 12th, 2011
Publisher: Harper
  4 Stars ★★★★

Maya is an adopted teenage girl living in a medical research town in Canada. It's a really small town, but she's surrounded by nature and happy with her life. She has an interesting paw-print birthmark on her hip and she's Native American....and she's started having strange visions when she touches the rescue animals that she shelters. 

After being called a skin-walker by an old lady in a nearby town, Maya finds herself unable to shake the various happenings around her town. A reporter has appeared and claims to be researching small towns, but many people believe that she's actually researching something else... A new boy and his sister move to town, and she finds herself attracted to him. With his help, and the help of her best friend, will Maya find out what's going on?

So I didn't enjoy this as much as Kelley Armstrong's Darkest Powers series, but it was still a good start to a new trilogy. First off I have to mention that I love that this was set in Canada! I also found myself intrigued by the idea of living in a small medical research town.

The characters were all developed quite well, with Maya the star of the book. I thought her interest in her background was definitely relatable and understandable, considering that she was adopted. However I think that her response to some revelations about her past and heritage later in the book were a bit over-dramatic. I did love her journey discovering who she was on a supernatural level, though. 

As usual, Kelley Armstrong's writing was super easy to read, yet not so simple that it was boring. I found myself reading the book non-stop, almost swallowed up whole by the book. I needed to know what was going on....especially when the dead body showed up! 

I hope that the next book will be at least as good as this one! I recommend this for fans of paranormal young adult fiction. If you're interested in books about shapeshifters and small towns, you might like this one. If you'd like to read a book featuring a Native American main character, with Native American legends featured, this would also be a great choice for you.

Find The Gathering on Goodreads

Beautiful Book Cover of the Day

Hello all. I haven't shared some beautiful book covers in a while, so I thought I would today!


Today I am featuring Silent Alarm.

What I love about this cover is that the flower is made out of smoke/fire. At first you may think it is just a normal flower, but upon looking closer you get a surprise! The reddish-orange of the flower looks lovely with the spring green of the stem, and the black background makes the smokey flower just pop!


What do you think of this cover? Have you seen any similar covers?

Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

Series: The Body Finder
Author: Kimberly Derting
Page Count: 355
Published: February 15th, 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins Childrens Books
  4 Stars ★★★★

Violet is able to sense the "echoes" of the dead, often leading her to dead bodies and the people who killed them. When she discovers an echo that belongs to a young boy, she is tracked down and approached by an FBI agent. While few people know of her gift, it seems that this FBI agent is catching on, and that she may possibly not be the only one with these abilities. 

Two new teens enroll at her high school, and her boyfriend Jay makes friends with Mike. He seems nice enough, but when threatening notes and even animal corpses show up, Violet becomes suspicious.  Who is targeting her? And does Mike's family have something to hide? These questions haunt her, and might even tear her and Jay apart. 

The second book in the Body Finder series was mysterious and filled with supernatural intrigue. Reading about Violet's abilities once again brought me back to the enjoyment of the first novel, and I liked most parts of this one as well. Violet being approached by the FBI agent added a new sense of danger to the story, I was worried that people were interested in Violet for all the wrong reasons and that she might end up a lab rat! That definitely kept me reading. I needed to know why she was being approached, and how this would turn out for her.

I liked the mystery of Mike's family, and the notes and animal corpses. I kept switching between who was the culprit, - Mike, his sister, or his father, - and his family history made for an extra mystery for Violet to solve.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was the way that Violet and Jay's relationship were challenged. I think that they both overreacted severely to what was going on, and that they were super overdramatic.

If you liked the first book in this series, you'll enjoy the second one as well! If you're looking for a good young adult paranormal story free of vampires and werewolves, this is a good pick for you. 

Find Desires of the Dead on Goodreads