Release Date: April 1st 2013

Salem is the bewitching backdrop to this lush, fast-paced tale of one girl discovering the source of her powers.

It is during a routine school project that Abby Silva–sixteen and nearly friendless–makes a startling discovery: She is descended from women who were accused of witchcraft back in 1600s Salem. And when Abby visits nearby Salem, strange, inexplicable events start to unfold. Objects move when she wills them to. Candles burst into sudden flame. And an ancient spellbook somehow winds up in her possession.

Trying to harness her newfound power, Abby concocts a love potion to win over her longtime crush–and exact revenge upon his cruel, bullying girlfriend. But old magic is not to be trifled with. Soon, Abby is thrust headlong into a world of hexes, secrets, and danger. And then there’s Rem Anders, the beautiful, mysterious Salem boy who seems to know more about Abby than he first lets on.

A reckoning is coming, and Abby will have to make sense of her history–and her heart–before she can face the powerful truth.

Having read a lot of the other reviews of this book just before I started it I was a little bit worried, but I liked the sound of the book when I asked for it on Net Gallery and so I was going to read it and form my own opinion about it. So my first thought is that it is a fast read and it is most certainly a young adult book like it states. There is plenty of teenage angst and plenty of silly teenage drama wrapped into the paranormal side of it. So keeping that in mind it was an alright book.

The characters had some depth although really over all they seem like your typical teenagers. There are your usual mean girls that you would expect and the main character Abby must overcome a lot of issues with the mean girls, and other torments in order to come out on the other side. I could guess most of the plot twists well before they happened and a lot of the witch stuff was your typical run of the mill, witches for dummies kind of stuff. However it was still a fun book with some nice descriptions and if I was younger I would probably have really loved it so it is good for the target audience. I would feel alright recommending this one to friends with a firm warning that it is a young adult book, you might not like it and a lot of the turns are very predictable but it is still a pretty decent story.

My Gemstone Rating: