Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey
This was read for the permanent floating YA diversity bookclub. Details here: rachelmanija.livejournal.com/976665.html
You can read other reviews here: http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/978339.html. (I have not read the other reviews.)
For whatever reason, Dreamwidth doesn't seem to want to actually create links for me today.
Braden is a witch whose powers give him constant migraines. He lives out in the boonies with his uncle, John, and several closets full of flannel shirts, and gets relentless homeschooling on magic instead of chemistry and math. Braden is also gay, completely comfortable with it, and "out" to his uncle, despite John's belief that you apparently can't be sure you're gay until you're an adult.
When Braden has a vision about John being in danger, he returns to John's hometown, where he almost immediately gets caught up in a decades-old feud between the Thorpes and Lansings, two families prone to producing witches and who have the town divided between them, as well as getting pulled into the secrets of the town's past and its founder, a woman named Grace who seems to have had some things in common, such as eyes that are always changing color. There are numerous "Romeo and Juliet" references, but not to the point of being obnoxious.
I like witches and warring families a lot more than I like immortal bad boy boyfriends and vampires, though this could have done with a few more ghosts and multigenerational family curses, just to indulge me. I like Braden, adore his friends Jade and Riley (and Jade's mother, Catherine, the head of the Lansings), could do with a bit more Uncle John in future books, am ok with Braden's love interest and the semi-mysterious semi-bad boy (actually, I just want to know what up with him and Jade) and don't care much for Braden's father, though I do think he's fairly interesting. On the flipside, I'm terribly uninterested in the villain of the book, who I suspect will be one of those characters who just never dies.
The town's secrets and mythology were very fun for me, and I look forward to see what happens with the feud, Unsurprisingly, I was deeply saddened when it was established than Jason (the head of the Thorpes) and Catherine did not a have a 20-year-old love affair that went bad. Though for once, I didn't want Braden to be their secret baby. The kid has enough on his plate without the whole mess of problems that would add to the mix.
You can read other reviews here: http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/978339.html. (I have not read the other reviews.)
For whatever reason, Dreamwidth doesn't seem to want to actually create links for me today.
Braden is a witch whose powers give him constant migraines. He lives out in the boonies with his uncle, John, and several closets full of flannel shirts, and gets relentless homeschooling on magic instead of chemistry and math. Braden is also gay, completely comfortable with it, and "out" to his uncle, despite John's belief that you apparently can't be sure you're gay until you're an adult.
When Braden has a vision about John being in danger, he returns to John's hometown, where he almost immediately gets caught up in a decades-old feud between the Thorpes and Lansings, two families prone to producing witches and who have the town divided between them, as well as getting pulled into the secrets of the town's past and its founder, a woman named Grace who seems to have had some things in common, such as eyes that are always changing color. There are numerous "Romeo and Juliet" references, but not to the point of being obnoxious.
I like witches and warring families a lot more than I like immortal bad boy boyfriends and vampires, though this could have done with a few more ghosts and multigenerational family curses, just to indulge me. I like Braden, adore his friends Jade and Riley (and Jade's mother, Catherine, the head of the Lansings), could do with a bit more Uncle John in future books, am ok with Braden's love interest and the semi-mysterious semi-bad boy (actually, I just want to know what up with him and Jade) and don't care much for Braden's father, though I do think he's fairly interesting. On the flipside, I'm terribly uninterested in the villain of the book, who I suspect will be one of those characters who just never dies.
The town's secrets and mythology were very fun for me, and I look forward to see what happens with the feud, Unsurprisingly, I was deeply saddened when it was established than Jason (the head of the Thorpes) and Catherine did not a have a 20-year-old love affair that went bad. Though for once, I didn't want Braden to be their secret baby. The kid has enough on his plate without the whole mess of problems that would add to the mix.