Once a witch, Carolyn MacCullough

Name: Once a witch

Author: Carolyn MacCullough

Series: Witch 1
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format: Paperback
Pages: 292 pages.
Website: http://www.carolynmaccullough.com/
About the author:Carolyn MacCullough received her MFA in creative writing from the New School and lives with her husband in Brooklyn.
Where can you buy it:
Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Book depository

What goodreads says:
Tamsin Greene comes from a long line of witches, and she was supposed to be one of the most Talented among them. But Tamsin's magic never showed up. Now seventeen, Tamsin attends boarding school in Manhattan, far from her family. But when a handsome young professor mistakes her for her very Talented sister, Tamsin agrees to find a lost family heirloom for him. The search—and the stranger—will prove to be more sinister than they first appeared, ultimately sending Tamsin on a treasure hunt through time that will unlock the secret of her true identity, unearth the sins of her family, and unleash a power so vengeful that it could destroy them all. This is a spellbinding display of storytelling that will exhilarate, enthrall, and thoroughly enchant.
My opinion:
I read this book as the Book Nerd Choice of Thanksgiving and I think it was an excellent choice.

I love books about witches and in my opinion there aren't enough, well not good ones anyway.
Tasmin our main character who by the way has an amazing name, is born in a big family of witches, all of who have some kind of talent, except for Tasmin, even though they were expecting big things from her when she was born, and she has to constantly live in the shadow of her sister Rowena, who not only has a talent but she seems to be good at everything she tries, even without trying. So at the age of seventeen Tasmin is studying in a boarding school in Manhattan and lives in the dorms with her friend Agatha. Until one summer day a stranger comes into her family bookstore and thinks Tasmin is Rowena, and asks her to find something for him and she agrees without bothering to correct him about her name.
And from there everything changes, including the way Tasmin sees the world around her, and the people she loves.
I loved the characters, Tasmin is a great heroine she has an attitude and feels like the outsider of her family (I know how that feels) but in the end she'll do anything she can to save them, including her sister Rowena who she doesn't like.
Then you have Gabriel, sigh, Tasmin's best friend from childhood, whom she hasn't seen for years reappears in her life, and he doesn't seem disturbed by her lack of powers like the rest of her family and who has the most amazing power!! So of course we get to see more of him, personally I cheer that part :)
And the person who completes the book is Professor Alistar who is the "bad boy" yes you can guess I totally fell in love with him ^^ He asks Tasmin to find a clock, a family heirloom, that is more than it seems.
The secondary characters liked Rowena (who eventually grew on me), Aunt Beatrice who is a bit loony, grandma and mum are great and give the story that push that every story needs to be good.
The story is fast paced, has witches, time travel and more, check it out you won't be dissapointed.
I give it 5 stars.
Next weekend I'll post the review of Iron King as I can't post it today as I'm running out of time.

Nathiel

Image, Jamie Magee

Name: Image
Author: Jamie Magee
Series: Insight 3
Publisher: Lulu.com
Format: Pdf (ARC)
Pages: 244
Website: http://www.insightjamiemagee.com/
About the author: Jamie Magee has always believed that each of us have a defining gift that sets us apart from the rest of the world, she has always envied those who have known from their first breath what their gift was. Not knowing hers, she began a career in the fast paced world of business. Raising a young family, and competing to rise higher in that field would drive some to the point of insanity, but she always found a moment of escape in a passing daydream. Her imagination would take her to places she’d never been, introduce her to people she’s never known. Insight, her debuting novel, is a result of that powerful imagination. Today, she is grateful that not knowing what defined her, led her on a path of discovery that would always be a part of her. 
Where can you buy it:
Barnes and noble
Amazon

What goodreads says:

There is an ominous darkness, one that that is so dense and mind numbing that you can feel the chills race across your skin as the energy of the hatred behind it hovers near you. They thought that it was over…that he was dead….they never imagined that he was more powerful dead than he ever was alive. 
A war is on the brink of erupting in the dark dimension of Esterious, the victory Willow had a few days ago was nothing less than vague memory. With each thought she has she fights the images of Drake’s dark eyes, his words… his promises. Doubt seeps into her soul as she stares forward and what could only be the hardest battle she has faced thus far. 
Venus is meant to be the planet of love and peace….but when it falls into retrograde its influence changes. Matters of past relationships will surface; choices will be made with the mind and not the heart. Gateways to an evil that cannot be fathomed will open. Willow and Landen’s only defense is to hide their family away, and lock themselves in the palace that was once ruled by Donalt. The energy is heavy and dark within these walls…there is a presence that lingers and strikes at will. Cruel illusions are placed before Willow, but that is not even hardest part…what is hard is standing in room with Drake and Landen and listening to others tell you of lives that you cannot recall…for them to tell when and how you are going to die. 
Every prediction and theory is about to be proven wrong…and the choice before Willow’s heart holds the lives of millions at stake. The question is will be she be able to see through the illusions before her and make a choice…she can live with?

My opinion:

I recieved an ARC copy of this book from the author in exchange of an honest review and as a thanks to my reviews of her previous books.

I have to say I love Magee's style and writing, she has a way of keeping your attention none stop, and surprising you when you least expect it in both a good way and a bad way, characters make both good and bad choices and I'm really mad at one of them, let's hope they redeem themselves in the next book. The choices they made were heart gripping and took my breath away, especially when the demon appeared.

We get to see more of Willow's, Landen's and Drake's relationship and the way they can decide to work together when and if they want to.

Also we see more of Willow's past lifes, which were really interesting.

I have to repeat that although I love Willow and Landen I hope, really hope there is someone out there for Drake he sooo... special, I can't think of another word to describe him, he's the kind of character that will fustrate you a lot of times but in the end you'll learn to love.

And Libby, Preston and Allie, I love them and their happiness and their conection to Willow and Landen.

I can't wait to read the next book in this series and I'm sure it'll be as good if not better as this one and all previous.
I give it 5 stars ;)

Nathiel

Posses by Gretchen McNeil

Name: Possess
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Series: None
Publisher: Balzer and Bray
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 384 pages.
Website: http://www.gretchenmcneil.com
About the author: Gretchen is a former coloratura soprano, the voice of Mary on G4's Code Monkeys and she currently sings with the LA-based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk. She is a founding member of vlog group the YARebels where she can be seen as "Monday," and she is an active member of both The Enchanted Inkpot, a group blog of YA and middle grade fantasy writers, and The Apocalypsies, a group blog of 2012 children's debut authors.
Where can you buy it:
Amazon
Barnes and noble
Book depository

What goodreads says:
Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her mom, by the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from.
Terrified to tell people about her new power, Bridget confides in a local priest who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her new power, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the demons' plan before someone close to her winds up dead – or worse, the human vessel of a demon king.

My opinion:

I read this book as part of the BNC of Halloween. And yes I can't believe how far behind I am this month!!

This must be the second book about possessions that I've read in my entire life, the first being the exorcist... yes sad really. But as I didn't really enjoy the exorcist I was somewhat reluctant to pick up this one, it just isn't my type of book, or that's what I thought.

Possess isn't your typical possession book. The main character is Bridget Liu, half Chinese-half Irish (amazing combination... and I thought I had a weird one I'm part English part Spanish part Irish and part Moroccan...) and she's also a exorcist, well kind of, she's got the power to listen to the demons but has to follow five simple rules, which I have to say she doesn't really follow (you tell them girl!!) Bridget also has a smart mouth and some amazing friends :) That's always important right??
And then you have the love interest: Matt Quinn, the local policeman's son who's father also happens to be seeing her mother, sort of.

I love how for Matt and Bridget it isn't love at first sight, as they were friends, and then they kinda fell apart only to find each other once more.

Father Santos is a great character who isn't all that he appears, and Bridget's stalkerish friend gave me the creeps.

But my favourite character and the one that had me in tears of joy and sadness was Sammy, Bridget's eight year old brother, who is a genius and is soo cute :)

Sometimes Bridget can be immature, but we have to remember that she's only 15.

I give it 5 stars and I can't wait to read next months BNC which hopefully I'll start tomorrow :)

See you all soon
Nathiel