Title: Once a Witch
Author: Carolyn MacCullough
Pages: 292
Version: Hardcover
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Title: Always a Witch
Author: Carolyn MacCullough
Pages: 276
Version: Hardcover
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
So I just finished the second book of this series today. I originally read the first book because I read a review on Katie's Book Blog. The series consists of two books (Once a Witch and Always a Witch). I figured it would be best if I did a combined review for both of them. First of all, here's a bit about the books. Tasmin Greene comes from a family of witches and the night she was born, her grandmother predicted that she would be the most powerful of them all. However, Tasmin's Talent (specialized magical power) never showed up. She was somewhat of an outcast in her family because of this. Since she is "normal" she decided to go off to a boarding school in Manhattan to get away from all the magic. One day while she is at home working in her family's shop, a man comes in looking for her talented sister, Rowena. He ends up mistaking Tasmin for Rowena and asks her to find an old family heirloom for him. This strange request ends up sending her on a journey through time that unlocks secrets about her family and herself. I absolutely adored these books. I would say the second one was my favorite out of the two, but is definitely a lot more sinister and dark than the first one. I really liked the characters in the book which was nice. Tasmin is quite dynamic and I found her very interesting as a main character. The enemies of her family were also quite good even though they were truly evil people. Tasmin's sister, Rowena was also a really strange sort of antagonist to Tasmin. She was crazy and bitter, but did end up being important at the key times. And she also proved to be a major problem in the first book (not that it was her fault). As far as the story goes, I loved it. The first book was a lot of background and building up to everything in the second book. I would definitely say that the second book is much more exciting because most of the key events happen in that book. Once a Witch was necessary and also great though. The second book goes faster overall. I couldn't put it down. I actually had to make myself stop reading it so I would still have something to read while I was waiting to get my next book. It was fantastic. It has romance, time travel, magic, and some great enemies. I really did love this series. I also really like the covers quite a lot, the colors are nice and reflect the feeling of each of the books rather well I would say. I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a pretty fast read and likes the things I mentioned above. I don't know if I can say much more without giving away some of the plot so I'll just leave it at that. It's a great series. I love it. Read it.
I think I'll definitely check this out! I've always loved witches, I know that sounds weird, but not just the fantasy stuff, I think modern wiccan culture is really interesting as well. This definitely sounds like a wonderful read for Autumn, though I'll likely begin with the first in the series. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not really a huge fan of books about witches personally, but this does sound like a good series. I love it when books have strong characters. I like that there are only two books so it would be quick to get through, maybe I'll add it to the books I want to read.
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