I rate this YA novel with a four out of five stars. I knew, before I began the story, that Ms. Larsen owns a candid voice that is all her own. You can read her guest post for this blog here. I liked our witchy heroine, Sydlynn Hayle from the beginning. She struggles with her independence, self-esteem, and battles trying to fit in vs. being true to herself. Too many young adult novels misrepresent teenage girls as maudlin and self-serving. Sydlynn is an imperfect witch in an imperfect, magical world; but readers may learn a thing or two about integrity from her.
What I most enjoyed about this book was its freshness and lack of condescension. Ms. Larsen’s prose is cheeky, charming, and polished. The story is fun, youthful, and masters a world where good magic and dark forces collide without taking the reader to a place of all doom and gloom. This is the first of the Hayle Coven series.
You can find Patti:
www.pattilarsenbooks.blogspot.com
and her work on Amazon.com.
Nice review. Sounds like an intriguing book. My non-fiction “to be read” pile is so large, I haven’t touched any YA.
Awesome review. I will be adding this to my to be read list.
Sounds great. I also like characters that are not always about the teen who is so caught up in the angst. A lot of them aren’t. Thanks and have a great holiday!