A Master of Spells

There are many things in L.J. Smith’s series, Night World that would appeal to modern teens. It has gorgeous vampires and thrilling fight scenes (more so later on) and, for the girls, some romance. But, my favorite thing about the series aren’t the vampires or the romance scenes, it’s the witches. The next novel in the series is Book 1’s Spellbinder, which takes place in the heat of Las Vegas and surrounds a family of witch royalty.

The Harman witches are treated like royalty, at least. Their name, meaning Hearth-woman, makes them a direct female descendant from the greatest witch of all time, Hellewise Hearth-Woman. The Crone of the witches is a Harman witch, and her two granddaughters are the last to Harman girls left alive. Blaise and Thea Harman, who we met briefly in Secret Vampire, are back, have grown up like sisters. Even though they are cousins, they both lost their parents and have lived together forever it seems like.

The reason they are is Las Vegas is because they are in trouble. They have been expelled from their old school because Blaise did something bad, and Thea stood by her. This is their last chance to be good or they’ll be sent to the convent, a place that no one seems to like even thinking of. The witches believe that if their grandma, and the crone of witches, can’t straighten them up, no one ever will. But, Blaise hasn’t learned her lesson yet, and she’s ready for destruction again.

What Blaise loves is making human boys fall madly in love with her via charms and spells that she illegally creates, and then destroying their lives. Thea doesn’t want Blaise to keep doing it, especially when Blaise sets her eyes on Eric Ross, a sweet boy who saved Thea’s life on her first day and with who she has a strange connection. Blaise gives Thea the choice of standing aside and letting Blaise work her magic, or doing some magic on Eric herself.

For Eric’s own safety, Thea pretends to follow in Blaise’s footsteps, even going to Homecoming with him. But it turns out a disaster, and when they go somewhere more private, sparks start to fly. But it’s too dangerous for Thea and Eric, and if Blaise finds out about her and Eric, he’s dead. This is a thriller with a lot of emotional highs and lows. So many things just go wrong that you want to go crazy, but it gets better in the end, somehow.

RED’S ALL STAR REVIEW: 4 out of 5 stars. Personally, my favorite out of the three novels in the first book, but it is also written with clear details. I feel I can relate to it more and therefore I enjoyed it more.

MASS APPEAL: Same as before, but more romance and more scary gory detail, especially when you get to talking about Randy, Kevin and Suzanne. There is action, there is romance, there is supernatural feats. This one will be enjoyed. Guarantee. 

Get Book 1 on Amazon. Click here!