Review: Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Title: Born Wicked
Author: Jessica Spotswood
Series: Book One in the Cahill Witch Chronicles
Published By: Putnam Juvenile (Feb. 7, 2012)
Source: Mindy's ARC Blog Tour, ARC paperback copy
Genre: YA Paranormal
My Rating; 4.5 Stars!


Goodreads Description:

Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word . . . especially after she finds her mother's diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.

My Review:

  Isn't the cover on this book just fantastic?

Reading about ghosts and witches has always been a favorite of mine since I was very little, so much so that I am almost always guaranteed to buy a book if it is about witches, just to try it out. But, here is the catch, I don't like dark witches, or at least I don't like the MC to be a dark witch, that just freaks me out. Because whether I like to admit it or not, I am sort of a chicken and have an imagination that is sometimes a little too active for my own good.

This book was actually pretty perfect for me. It gave me the witchiness that I adore but wasn't too dark or disturbing that I had to repeatedly look over my shoulder while reading to make sure I wasn't being watched. It didn't make me sleep with my lights on and that is always a good thing. There is only so much my husband is willing to put up with after all.

The Salem witch trials have always fascinated me, since I first learned about them as a little girl. They always seemed so sad to me, all those innocent woman that were killed out of jealousy or hate or revenge or just because someone had an issue with you.

And while this book wasn't necessarily about the Salem trials it was like it in the sense that it takes place in a time very much still leery of witches, only in this case, witches are very much real and very much feared by the Brotherhood.

I love the time period that this book takes place, if I am dong my math right it is around the early 1900's in New England. A time when woman were still suppose to obey the men in their lives and go along with whatever they told them to do. When education wasn't really for woman, unless that education was centered around how a young lady was suppose to behave and appear in society.

A time when woman didn't have a whole lot of say in anything and were really rather repressed.

I think I liked this book because Cate wasn't like one of those woman. She stood up for herself and her sisters and would have done anything to protect them and to protect their secrets, in fact she does do anything. She has to sacrifice a lot for them. She has to learn her legacy and she has to overcome a prophecy that she doesn't even fully understand in a time that woman are most at risk and witches? Well witches even more so.

I really think this will be a series that will show a lot of promise if it is handled right. The ending kind of left it open to many possibilities and while my heart broke over the choice that Cate had to make, I understood it and just really hope, that no matter what, Cate and her sisters do get their happily ever after. I really hope it doesn't turn into a series that will make me want to chuck my book across the room in frustration over the ending.

Starting new series that I somewhat become vested in always leave me nervous because, I am always a sucker for HEAs and am so sad when I don't get them.

Hopefully the next book will be even better. I really do look forward to reading more about the Cahill sisters and seeing what Cate and the Sisterhood do next. And I hope, we get more Finn and Paul to because, even though I know where Cate's heart is, I couldn't help but fall a little in love with Paul as well.