Title: Blood Magic (The Blood Journals #1)
Author: Tessa Gratton
Published: May, 2011 by Random House
Pages: 405
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

It starts off simply.

Draw a circle… place a dead leaf in the center… sprinkle some salt… recite a little Latin… add a drop of blood…

Maybe that last part isn’t exactly simple. Yet somehow it feels right to Silla Kennicott. And nothing in her life has felt remotely right since her parents’ horrific deaths. She’s willing to do anything to uncover the truth about her family—even try a few spells from the mysterious book that arrived on her doorstep … and spill some blood.

The book isn’t the only recent arrival in Silla’s life. There’s Nick Pardee, the new guy next door who may have seen Silla casting a spell. She’s not sure what he saw and is afraid to find out. But as they spend more time together, Silla realizes this may not be Nick’s first encounter with Blood Magic. Brought together by a combination of fate and chemistry, Silla and Nick can’t deny their attraction. And they can’t ignore the dark presence lurking nearby—waiting to reclaim the book and all its power.

Final Thoughts:
There’s just something about witches, magic, it’s just so much fun to read. I mean, who hasn’t grown up imagining they had their own powers, flinging their hands about, casting spells. It’s fun. Blood Magic throws us into a world full of secrets, yet does it in a way that doesn’t try and choke you with information up front. It allows you to grow with the main character, Silla, as she discovers the magic an actually care about the people in her life. Yes, it’s another ‘dead parents’ book, but their deaths play a strong part in building Silla, rather than it done just to let her roam free for the span of the book.

Title: Demon Eyes (Witch Eyes #2)
Author: Scott Tracey
Published: October, 2012 by Flux
Thanks: Flux
Pages: 395
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Demons don’t die without a fight…

After destroying the demon Lucien, Braden—son of Belle Dam’s most powerful warlock, Jason Thorpe—doesn’t need the power of his witch eyes to see that everything in his life is turning against him: friends, family, and even his visions. When disturbing nightmares of Lucien’s return haunt him, Braden discovers that the simmering feud between the city’s two witch dynasties is fast approaching its explosive boiling point.

While struggling to come to terms with his attraction to Trey, Catherine Lansing’s son who should be his mortal enemy, a diabolical plan starts to unveil before Braden’s eyes. Young women are disappearing from Belle Dam, and as he investigates, Braden is forced to explore the dangerous unknown power within himself. But when the truth about his family is revealed, Braden must pay a terrible price.

Final Thoughts:
This book drained me. I wanted to like it. I really, really did. It just didn’t click for me. I enjoyed Witch Eyes a great deal, but with this one, it just fell flat. I felt like I was reading one big epilogue for basically the first half of the book. Nothing happened. The characters avoided each other, or if they did interact, it was incredibly stilted. As for the ‘plot’ of the book, it seemed like it wasn’t going anywhere. Read a hundred pages of characters whining, throw in few lines about the creepy voice in the main character’s head and repeat. How I managed to finish this one is beyond me.

Title: Moonlight Mayhem (Spellbound #2)
Author: Sherry Soule
Published: July, 2012 by Moonlight Publishing
Thanks: Sherry Soule
Pages: 325
Rating:  
Purchase: Amazon

Otherworldly Creatures. Dazzling Magic. Fiery Romance.

Shiloh Ravenwolf thought she was getting used to the strange events in Whispering Pines, until the full moon brings another surge of supernatural threats to her coastal town. Ferocious wolves, deadly necromancers, and shambling zombies have descended upon the neighborhood, so Shiloh needs to gain control of her magical abilities—fast!

It sucks that she has a crippling fear of the dark, which for a demon hunter can be an epic problem. But she spends so much time wallowing in the darkness, how can she not become a part of it?

When her classmates are attacked by a mysterious creature and her father is murdered, Shiloh vows vengeance. Forcing her phobias aside, she forms an unlikely coven of supernaturally gifted teens to help her eradicate this menace. Except that’s not all Shiloh has to worry about. She’s battling a different monster within herself and struggling not to become the very thing she fights: evil.

But with demon blood inside her—anything can happen…

Final Thoughts:
It took me a couple weeks reading on and off to get through this one. While I enjoyed the book, it didn’t capture me in the quite same way that the first instalment did. Gone were the hidden secrets and gothic undertones that we got exploring the Ravenhurst Manor, instead, replaced by a not-a-werewolf wolf infestation story. Unfortunately, in that regard, there wasn’t a lot of mystery to keep me guessing. So, if you’re one for big twists, you might be a little disappointed.

Title: Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1)
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Published: December, 2009 by Little, Brown Books
Pages: 563
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that’s what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.
Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.
Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.
In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Final Thoughts:
I don’t think I’ve ever wanted a book to be over as much as I did when reading Beautiful Creatures. Before I even reached the halfway point, I felt as if I’d read enough, that I could put it down and not care what happened. It was just so slow moving—and with almost six hundred pages, that’s definitely not what you want. It has a lot of descriptive scenes, adding in things that aren’t essential to the plot, or even at least a little interesting to the reader. I had no desire to learn about the town’s civil war re-enactments—I just wanted to find out about the curse. It’s basically a big chunk of Ethan and Lena thinking that they love each other but can’t say it, the townspeople obsessively hating them, and the threat of an evil curse coming to tear them apart. If it had been 300 pages, then maybe I would have enjoyed it more, but as it stands, I just can’t stop shaking my head at this book.

Title: Witch Hunt (Witch Hunt #1)
Author: Nick Chivers
Published: October, 2011 by Dreamspinner Press
Thanks: Dreamspinner Press via NetGalley
Pages: 200
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Mike thought he could escape his past. He renounced his crown as High Mage of The Council, had the Bands of Binding placed on him, and tried to start over as a normal human.

It didn’t work. And now a part of that past wants him dead, and Mike is running for his life.

With his best friend, Andrew, and Andrew’s soulbound partner along for the ride, Mike can’t help but feel lonely until he meets Rick, an all-around gorgeous man who might just be the wrong guy—again—especially since Mike can’t shake an ex-lover who’s hoping for a second chance. It’s a lot to deal with as demonic forces pursue him from Mongolia to Brazil, but Mike has to make it to the safety of The Council if he doesn’t want to be the prize trophy at the end of this witch hunt.

Final Thoughts:
I wanted to like this one, but I just couldn’t get into it. I persevered through it all and made it to the end though. I suppose it follows the title, with the three witches constantly on the run from whoever is chasing them, but personally, I don’t think adventure books are my thing. I did enjoy some of the scenes in the beginning as we were introduced to the boys and their magical heritage, but the second half was a mess with way too many supernatural abilities brought in, sudden (and unbelievable) love proclamations and resolutions that came too easily.

Title: Witch Eyes (Witch Eyes #1)
Author: Scott Tracey
Published: September, 2011 by Flux
Pages: 332
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Seventeen-year-old Braden was born with witch eyes. He has the ability to see the world as it truly is: a blinding explosion of memories, anguish, darkness, and magic. The power enables Braden to see through spells and lies, but it comes at the cost of horrible pain.

After a terrifying vision reveals imminent danger for the uncle who raised and instructed him, Braden is lured to Belle Dam, an old city divided by two feuding witch dynasties. Rival family heads Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe are desperate to use Braden’s powers to unlock Belle Dam’s secrets, but Braden refuses to become their sacrificial pawn.

To stop an insidious dark magic from consuming the town, Braden must master his gift—even if the effort destroys him.

Final Thoughts:
It goes to show what not reading blurbs can do to you. Based on the cover alone I was expecting something heavy in fantasy, but instead found a book full of teen drama, town-wide family feuds and an underbelly of magic. That’s a good thing, though. It was exactly the kind of book I felt like reading. It was actually lucky that I skipped the blurb, too. The last few lines of it have some of the twists detailed (I’ve removed them from the blurb above). I loved that I managed to fly through this one, staying up til 4am because the chapter endings just wouldn’t let me put it down. With a fun collection of characters including new friends, new boyfriends and frustratingly power-crazy adults, Witch Eyes is one series I’ll definitely be coming back for.

Title: Legacy
Author: Molly Cochran
Published: December, 2011 by Simon & Schuster
Thanks: Simon & Schuster GalleyGrab
Pages: 432
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

When her widowed father dumps 16-year-old Katy Jessevar in a boarding school in Whitfield, Massachusetts, she has no idea that fate has just opened the door to both her future and her past. Nearly everyone in Whitfield is a witch, as is Katy herself, although she has struggled all her life to hide her unusual talents. Stuck at a boarding school where her fellow studens seem to despise her, Katy soon discovers that Whitfield is the place where her mother commited suicide under mysterious circumstances when Katy was just a small child. With dark forces converging on Whitfield, it’s up to Katy to unravel her family’s many secrets to save the boy she loves and the town itself from destruction.

Final Thoughts:
Going into this, I was expecting another boarding school story. I’ve read a fair few of them this year and they all had a lot of things in common, so what actually came out of this one surprised me. Beyond the first few chapters, there are hardly any mentions of the school, instead, focussing on the fog-ridden town full of magic and darkness. I enjoyed the premise, but felt like the book dragged on for far too long. Spanning almost nine months in only the first half, things moved quickly, but it still lagged somehow. Thinking back, I enjoyed everything that happened throughout the book, I just felt depleted reading it.