The Secret Cirlce: The Initiation

So, let me go on the record to say that this is the first time ever that I haven't liked the bitch. I always like the bitch/ villain of the story, just so happens I love the main character -- naive as she is.

The story by L. J. Smith begins with a girl, Cassie Blake, on vacation with her mother, Alexandra. She's bored out of her gourd as she sits next to a local Cape Cod girl, Portia Bainbridge, babbling on about everything that Cassie is not interested in. She just keeps reminding herself that she only has one week left on vacation and then it's back home to sunny California.

Then she meets a boy, a visitor to Cape Cod as well, and something strange happens. A strange connection. She feels as though she knows him, as if he is someone she is to protect and he is someone to keep her safe. This is tested when Portia's brothers and a few of their friends are chasing this poor boy and his dog. She helps him to hide and he repays her by giving her a stone of protection. She thinks it's a lovely gesture but doesn't believe in its hocus pocus. That being said, she still couldn't keep him out of her mind.

Even as her mother drops devastating news into her lap, news that will flip her life upside down, she still thinks that at least she might see him one last time. But this still does not change that she will never see California again as long as she is a minor because her estranged grandmother has taken a turn for the worst and needs the care of her family. So, Cassie and her mother move to New Salem in hopes of helping her grandmother all the while being scared to death of the fresh start she has been given.

She begins school and is accosted by the most beautiful and frightening girl in town. She is shunned and feels as thought she is an outcast. No one will talk to her, sit with her at lunch or in the classroom, won't even look at her. Her mother has taken ill and her grandmother is still on the mend, she is alone. Until she meets a girl named Diana, a kindred spirit, a confidant. She is the girl who makes the difference and accepts Cassie for who she is. In doing so Cassie is no longer shunned at school, but welcomed. This is where Cassie's new life beings.

She is thrown into a world of secrecy, witch craft, and lust.

This is the second time I have read this book. I give it two thumbs up and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a fast read and a good secret. I will be rereading the rest of the series because there is a new book out and I can't wait to get there. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I do and if you are basing your opinion off of the television series, don't. They are nothing alike.

Darkest Powers Book Two: The Awakening

This book pretty much picks up right where the other book left off.  Chloe and Rae have been caught and shipped back to Dr. Davidoff, only this time it's not in a nice, cozy home like the Lyle House. It's in a hospital/prison setting. It's not looking good for Chloe and her friends.

Derek and Simon are still on the outside. They never made it to the rondevu point before Chloe and Rae decided it was time to seek help elsewhere. So, the beginning of this book basically tells how Chloe and her friend plan their escape and execute their plan. Derek and Simon don't enter the book until around page 130 but don't worry, Kelley never disappoints. There is a short story I will be reading in a bit and reviewing on here that gives a back story on the boys and then tells what happens to them during the first part of this book.

Back to the story =) Chloe has been betrayed by one of her friends, she's being haunted by a Demi-Demon who has been trapped at this institution she is locked up in.  She tries to do what is right and not accept any help from this Demi-Demon, but doesn't dismiss that she might actually need to use her for just that. HELP!

The best part of this book is the Chloe-Derek time =) And once Chloe and Tori, yeah I do mean Tori, get out of lock-up and meet back up with the boys there is oh so much Chloe-Derek time. I guess I just love that she is finally the one to break through his big, dumb, thick skull and teaches him how to be a human, not a wolf. So, the kids meet up and decide their best plan of action is to head to Simon's Dad's best friend Andrew's house. Tori and Simon make it there without a hitch, Chloe and Derek... not so much.

When the bus they are on stops for a rest and wash Derek feels the change coming on and goes to get off the bus. Chloe won't let him get off alone and decides she will go with him so he doesn't have to possibly complete the change alone. This lands them in a steaming pile of "shit out of luck" when it comes to getting to Andrew's house. But they eventually figure it out, well... kinda.

By the time they get there they realize there is a problem. They can't find Simon and Tori even though Derek can sniff out that they had been there. The front door to Andrew's house is open and it looks as though Andrew disappeared as well, since there is sludge in the coffee pot and uneaten food left out. 

So, before I give the entire book away... because I can do just that, lets just say THIS BOOK IS EVEN BETTER THAN THE FIRST. You learn the personalities of these characters in the first book. You learn their gifts and talents. But in this book you learn to love them as they learn to trust each other with their secrets, their hearts, and above all else... their respect for one another.

I have read this book 3 times now in the past 3 years. I'm sure I will continue to read it throughout the years. I love this series and I love this author! Way To Go Kelley Armstrong. You are an inspiration to myself as well as to many others. Two thumbs up =)