You know, I really don’t have any complaints about this book.  It’s well-written, cohesive and the characters are relatable.  I had a little trouble in the beginning trying to get used to the flipping of time periods but it’s something you get used to over the course of the book.

In terms of style, that was my biggest gripe.  It’s a little much in the beginning of the book to be tossed about like that, mixed in with info-dumping in order to get the backstory of the witches and warlocks in.  Considering that information was trickled throughout the book, I don’t think it was necessary to have it dumped on the reader all at once in the beginning.

And like I said, there were a lot of flashbacks.  The only indication you’d get one is a triple space in the paragraphs.  Jarring at first, maybe the first chapter or so but by the end of the second and into the third, I’d pretty much settled into the constant shifting and even came to like it.  In all honestly, I was much more interested in the historical plot line than the current one.

What I like about it is it’s a dark book that isn’t filled with floofy teen stuff.  Nicole is probably the closest the book comes to that but even she levels out.  It’s gritter in my eyes (granted these eyes are still trying to read up on the young adult market so my opinion is more than likely stunted).  Holly (the protagonist) loses her parents and best friend in a freak white water rafting accident.  She was originally supposed to live with her dead friend’s mother but then she gets sick, hospitalized, and Holly has to stay with family in Seattle.  Little does she know that her bloodline and that of her aunt’s lover have had a tendency to clash over the centuries and each want the other dead.  Unfortunately only the lover, who’s an evil warlock, knows this.  Until Holly and Amanda, and eventually Nicole, figure it out.

more…