Book Review: Once A Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

*e-copy of the ARC provided through NetGalley*

Once a Witch is what Tamsin has never felt.  Growing up in a family of talented witches, she has been notably without Talent.  But, when a mysterious and handsome man comes in asking for her sister, Tamsin takes a chance at impressing him and finds herself and all her family caught up in an age-old family battle.

Things I Liked:

I loved the quirky characters; they definitely seemed like not your average people. Tamsin's family was so much fun, especially the crazy aunts and uncles. I also got sucked into the witch family history and lore - I like the ideas of Talents and Domani. I loved (for the most part) the writing and descriptions:

"She smells like the tinctures and poultices she's forever making, a mix of something sharp and sweet, like the first breath of spring. Tonight she's dressed all in white, diamond clips skewering the silvery bundle of hair piled atop her head. But despite the obvious effort, I can't help but notice that her skin has the yellowing sheen of old satin and her eyes seem to have sunk deeper into the hollows of her face." p 40 (page # from the e-copy of the ARC)

Things I Didn't Like:

I was a little surprised at the smoking and drinking throughout. I'm not usually that annoyed by that stuff, but for some reason Tamsin's smoking issue bugged me. It seemed like the author put it in to maybe try to make Tamsin seem like a real teen? Also the descriptions of the "big climactic scene" were really hard for me to visualize - I kept wishing I could see what was happening, but it was a little too vague.

Read-alikes:

I hate to relate all things "magic" to Harry Potter, but it was a bit like that

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:

s-factor: !@

some

mrg-factor: X

mostly jokes and innuendo

v-factor: ->

a little bit of fighting, some stuff that might be scary

Overall rating: ***

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