Just Finished Reading ... Born Wicked

Born Wicked
by Jessica Spotswood

Putnam Juvenile
February 7, 2012

Source: bought from amazing charity book sale

I can't wait to say it: I loved this book! Okay, back to the proper order of things.

My summary: Cate and her two younger sisters live with their widowed father in a society in which women have two life choices: marriage or the Sisterhood. Cate's father has just hired a governess to assure that his daughters make appropriate decisions. Cate's family assumes she'll marry her lifelong friend Paul, who's visiting from New London, where he's  pursuing a career as an architect.

But Cate has two huge secrets: her growing attraction to Finn, the family's gardener, and the fact that she and her sisters are witches.  Magic is a punishable offense in Cate's world, and women who are accused of witchcraft face banishment, confinement to an asylum, or death.

Cate is already worried about her sisters' safety when she learns hat the three of them may be the subject of a ominous prophecy. When she's drawn into a battle for their lives and their future. will she choose to sacrifice love, her sisters, or herself?


My take: There were so many things about this book that I loved!

Witches. If I had to pick my favorite paranormal beings, witches would be right up there. Witches aren't creepy predators. Plus, they have all the crucial body parts. Witches are powerful, and just the perfect amount of scary.

Alternate History Okay-- nerd alert -- but I've always thought alternate history is cool. (If you've never heard of it, that's when a writer takes a major historical event and writes as if it turned out differently, exploring the political, economic, technological and social ramifications of the change.) What if the Americans had lost the Revolutionary War? What if JFK hadn't been assassinated? What would the world be like?
Jessica Spotswood uses alternate history to create an intriguing, familiar-yet-foreign setting. Her story is set in late 1800s New England, but in her version of history, Indo-China colonized the Western United States, while Spain settled the South. Even more intriguingly, the Daughters of Persephone, a group of witches, were among the American colonists. Then witches had to go underground as society turned against them.

Sisters.  Ever since Little Women, I've loved stories about sisters. Cate, Maura and Tess are exactly like real sisters: loving yet competitive. I loved all of them.

The Right Kind of Cliffhanger. There are a lot of online grumblings about cliffhangers and trilogies, and, yeah, I get it. That kind of thing is becoming a little too ubiquitous in YA fiction.  But as I got to the final pages of Born Wicked, I was thinking that I could see where the author was going with the story ... and it was going to be amazing. I didn't think, "Oh, great, I have to buy the next book to find out what happens." I thought, "Oh, wow, I can't wait to get to the next part of this story." That's the way it should be!

I have one small wish for the next book: that Cate can conjure herself up a brand-new love interest, someone with enough ... oomph to keep up with a witch. But either way, I'm excited for the next installment of this series.

Try this book if you loved:

Have you read Born Wicked? Are you planning to read it? Let me know what you think!