Graphic Novel Review: Shakti

Shakti's used to movie and being the new kid at school - but there's something strange about this school. The mean girls have taken control. Shakti knows she has to do something, but she's not allowed to do magic. 

Shakti creates a friend group out of the kids the mean girls bully. But she wants to do more. She talks to her moms about magic. But there are two sides to magic - love and hate. For Shakti the line between love and hate is thin. Can she stop the mean girls without putting the world in danger? 

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this graphic novel. I love how Shakti made new friends out of the other kids who were having trouble with the mean girls. I love how her moms talked about magic. I loved the double magic entities of love and chaos. A great graphic novel for this time of the year! 

Cover Thoughts: Cool

Source: My Library

Library Recommendations: Highly Recommended!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Hauntings! 

If you're in need a few witchy ghosty books check out these:

Kids:

Monster Mash:  Awesome illustrations join this fun song.

Witch Way to Witch School: Magic combined with school. This one resembles Madeline.

Monster's Monster: A cute story about three monsters who hope to create the biggest baddest monster, but...things don't work out just right.

Tweens:

Witches: A childhood favorite

Wait til Helen Comes: Another childhood favorite - creepy!

Dying to Meet You:  Humorous fun ghostly tale 

Dial-a-Ghost: More fun than scary, but there are some gruesome bits!

Teen: 

Ghost Huntress: Spooky series about one girl coming to terms with her abilities. She starts ghost hunting with her friends.

Salem Witch Tryouts: Not spooky - but tons of fun. Cheerleading with Magic and trying to fit into a world where magic rules  and you don't!

Mediator series: One girl can see ghosts - most of the time she helps them or kicks their butts to make them cross over - except for that one dreamy boy. 

Bras and Broomsticks: Imagine your sister getting witch powers while it passes you by!

Sweep series: This is ONE of my favorite witch series - lots of danger, action, and romance.

Adult:

It Takes A Witch: Darcy learns of her family heritage - wish crafters. She moves to a witchy town....and gets involved in solving a murder.

Don of the Dead: Pepper faints, cracks her head, and suddenly she can communicate with the dead - or at least a dead mobster who wants revenge.

Veiled Deception: Maddie comes home to stay - while opening a shop and helping her sister get married. Her vintage clothing knowledge helps her get her store in order - but she can also feel the past from the clothes.

Trouble with Magic: Maggie's new boss is amazing, but when Maggie finds out about her Wiccan beliefs, she's not so sure anymore. Then Felicity is questioned for murder.

Mysterious Saturday Review: It Takes a Witch

Darcy and her sister have just moved to Enchanted Village after their father died. Upon his death, they learn the truth about their lives. They are Wishcrafters witches - which means they have the power and the obligation to grant wishes.

The town was created as a tourist destination to hide witchcraft. Part of the rules for Wishcrafters witches is complete secrecy. They can only tell another crafter of their secret.

Darcy's still learning the rules of her trade. She's still getting used to the town and the people. When a well known woman turns up murdered and her grandmother's boyfriend the main suspect, she dives into the deep end with an investigation.

Will she lose her craft through her lack of craft knowledge or her life from her lack of knowledge about the town and it's people?

My Thoughts: First in an new fun series with magic, romance, action, job issues, and family drama. I loved the twist at the end - I didn't see that coming, but it was so sweet. I love the small town feel. I love the secrets uncovered as Darcy and her sister get to know the townspeople. So looking forward to more in this series!


Cover Thoughts: Cute - love the swirls and the sparkle


Source: My Library


Fun Fact: Heather Blake is also Heather Webber


Up Next: Witch Before Dying comes out in August 2012

Witch and Wizard

Imagine a night where you go to sleep and everything's normal but you when you wake up, your world is completely changed and life as you knew it is gone. Whit and his sister Wisty wake up to discover police surrounding and entering their house to take the two of them away. Whit and Wisty are dangerous teens - who need to be stopped immediately according to the new government The New Order. The New Order now rules everything and has commanded dangerous criminals such as Wisty and Whit be taken into custody. Wisty and Whit discover that they're more than ordinary people in fact, Wisty is a witch and Whit is a wizard. Their powers are growing, especially when they're angry. Now they're stuck inside a cell awaiting their imminent death.Can they figure out what changed and how/if they're going to get out of this mess?

A fun start to a new series that comes out December 14th. It's a fun read, split into chapters between Wisty and Whit's perspectives. Lots of action, lots of questions to be answered, magic, friendship, betrayal, and tons of danger make this read fast, fun, and addictive. Patterson and Charbonnet are off to a great start.

Just discovered that Gabrielle Charbonnet writes under a pen name....in two AMAZING witch series. Any guesses? Ok I'll tell you. Cate Tiernan. (Sweep series and the Balefire series both excellent)
I LOVE HER!
Here's a little something from her website: "Currently I’m working on another Cate Tiernan project, a trilogy for Little, Brown called Immortal Beloved. I’m not sure when it will come out, since I haven’t even written the first book yet."

She's also collaborated with Patterson before on Sundays at Tiffany's

Above is the cover on my ACR (sent by the publisher) is the one above. However, the covers below are also floating around. Not sure if any of these are the final cover art. I can't say I'm in love with any of them, but I think I the bottom on the most. I'm not sure why, but it intrigues me. I also like the fireball shooting out of the hand. Which one catches your eye?

Witches Win!

The Poll closed and Witches were nominated as the favorite type of Halloween books to read.

Here's a listing of a few of my favorites: