Prophecy of the sisters, Michelle Zink

Name: Prophecy of the Sisters
Author: Michelle Zink
Series: Prophecy of the Sisters book 1.
Publisher: ATOM
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368 pages.
Website: http://www.michellezink.com/
About the author: Michelle Zink lives in New York with her four children. Prophecy of the Sisters was her first novel, and was chosen as one of Booklist's Top Ten Debut Novels of 2009 and as one of the Chicago Public Library's Best Books for Young Readers. It has also been listed on the New York Public Library's Stuff for the Teen Age and the Lone Star Reading List.
Where can you buy it:
Book depository
Barnes and noble
Amazon

What goodreads says:
An ancient prophecy divides two sisters-
One good...
One evil...
Who will prevail?
Twin sisters Lia and Alice Milthorpe have just become orphans. They have also become enemies. As they discover their roles in a prophecy that has turned generations of sisters against each other, the girls find themselves entangled in a mystery that involves a tattoo-like mark, their parents' deaths, a boy, a book, and a lifetime of secrets.
Lia and Alice don't know whom they can trust.
They just know they can't trust each other. 
My opinion:
I loved this book from the first time I read it. It's a change from all the vampire books now a days. The story starts out at Thomas Milthorpe's funeral (Lia and Alice's dad) there we meet the different characters who at one point or another will have some role in the book. Their brother Henry, Lia's best friend James, their driver and friend Edmund and Aunt Virginia.
Later that night Lia looks at the strange symbol that has appeared on her wrist the night after her fathers death, a symbol that proves her part and Alice's in an ancient prophecy in which they have a choice to either save the world or destroy it.
But Lia doesn't know about the prophecy until James her best friend and love interest finds a book in her fathers library with only one page in it, this book is ruffly translated to the "Book of Chaos" the prophecy says this:

Through fire and harmony mankind endured
Until the sending of the Guards
Who took as wives and lovers the woman of man,
Engendering His wrath.
Two sisters, formed in the same swaying ocean,
One the Guardian, One the Gate.
One keeper of peace,
The other bartering sorcery for devotion.
Cast from the heavens, the Souls were Lost
As the Sisters continue the battle
Until the Gates summon forth their return,
Or the Angel brings the Keys to the Abyss.
The Army, marching forth through the Gates.
Samael, the Beast, through the Angel.
The Angel, guarded only by the gossamer veil of protection.
Four Marks, Four Keys, Circle of Fire
Birthed in the first breath of Samhain
In the shadow of the Mystic Stone Serpent of Aubur.
Let the Angel’s Gate swing without the Keys
Followed by the Seven Plagues and No Return.
Death
Famine
Blood
Fire
Darkness
Drought
Ruin
Open your arms, Mistress of Chaos, that the havoc of the Beast will flow like a river
For all is lost when the Seven Plagues begin.

Lia's and Alice's relationship evolves, breaks and mends through the book as do they, and little by little their personalities shine with their own light.
I love the setting of this book (the late 1800) and Michelle makes it all feel so real that I actually feel like I'm living the story rather than reading it, that I'm discovering the secrets with Lia, Alice, Luisa and Sonia (although some secrets I suspect before they find out), I feel like hugging Henry or telling James the truth (poor thing he's kept in the dark)
All the characters were well written and made you feel for them.
I loved Lia with her insecurities, and how she grows into finding her role and trying as best as she can to stop the end.
Sonia is the calm one, and the one that knows most about the prophecy and Lia's role in it as she's a spiritualist.
And then Luisa is a bubbly character, although I think her personality hides her insecurities.
And finally Alice, she is complicated, at some parts of the book I would label her as EVIL in capital letters, especially in at the end, what she did is unforgivable in my book, but then in other parts we see a part of her that is good, is capable of feeling friendship and compassion.
I can't wait to read Guardian of the Gate and I'm of to read it right now.
I rate this book 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction and paranormal.

On a second note my first ever giveaway is now closed and I'll be announcing the winner later today. Thank you to everyone who participated :)