review: Always a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

pub date: August 1, 2011
publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
pgs: 288
source: NetGalley
appeals: contemporary, supernatural, witches, time travel  
content: some torture, most of which wasn't seen; 


thoughts:
Though I enjoyed Once a Witch a lot, I enjoyed this book more.
 I really liked the world of contemporary magic MacCullough created. The Talents that the Greene and Knight families possess were awesome. The way the magic worked and intereacted, also cool. Tamsin's abilities I especially liked.


The story had a good pace. An interesting plot. Great characters. I loved Tam and Gabriel's relationship. (Though I wouldn't have minded a few more kisses). And Tam's relationship with her family, though imperfect, was very relatable. The Greene's as a family, though a good family, are not The Good Family. They're concerned with themselves, not necessarily with people outside of their circle. Which I liked because they weren't painted as saints. I mean, who is?


Though I must say that it was serendipitous that Tamsin just happened to be where she needed to be to overhear important conversations. It didn't happen just once, but three times. And she never got caught easedropping. Which worked well for the plot and kept it moving. I just found it implausible, but it didn't really bother me, just made me smile.


I did guess the decision that Tam would have to make, though it happened in such a different way than I expected. It was rather cool. But also sad.


The book ended abruptly. Tamsin and Gabriel return home and all we get are two pages with just a glimpse of how things are, then it's over. I was disappointed, I wanted more of a conclusion. I wanted to see how things had changed.

summary:

The adventures of Tam and Gabriel continue with more time travel, Talents, spy work, and of course, the evil Knights.

Since the gripping conclusion of Once A Witch, Tamsin Greene has been haunted by her grandmother's prophecy that she will soon be forced to make a crucial decision—one so terrible that it could harm her family forever. When she discovers that her enemy, Alistair Knight, went back in time to Victorian-era New York in order to destroy her family, Tamsin is forced to follow him into the past. Stranded all alone in the nineteenth century, Tamsin soon finds herself disguised as a lady's maid in the terrifying mansion of the evil Knight family, avoiding the watchful eye of the vicious matron, La Spider, and fending off the advances of Liam Knight. As time runs out, both families square off in a thrilling display of magic. And to her horror, Tamsin finally understands the nature of her fateful choice.