Life's a Witch

June 15, 2013
Geragotelis' Wattpad project-turned-series continues with another underwhelming entry. In this, the second novel in the Life's a Witch series, the heroine is the unrelentingly perfect Hadley. She's beautiful, popular, smart, head cheerleader and queen bee. She's also a witch, member of the Cleri coven, which dates to the time of the Salem witch trials. Since she cares more about ruling her school than her natural magical power, Hadley doesn't have much time for magic lessons with the other teenagers in her coven. But then the adults in the coven are killed, gruesomely, by their ancient enemy, Samuel Parris. Hadley will have to harness her power, become a leader and every other cliche you can think of to save the day. But is that possible with the inevitable distracting hot boy, the equally predictable traitor among the teens, and Hadley's own shallow, vapid personality? Hadley is so self-absorbed and undeveloped a character that it's difficult for the reader to care about her plight; she name-checks her Jimmy Choo's even as she sifts through the wreckage that contains the ashy remains of her mother. Geragotelis shows more than tells and liberally sprinkles dei ex machina to make the plot work. There isn't enough magic in the world to make this a good book. (Paranormal chick lit. 12 & up)

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November 1, 2013

Gr 9 Up-Hadley Bishop, 17, and her parents are members of the Cleri, Salem's secret group of witches whose existence dates back to the 17th century. Hadley is a witch, but she lives a perfectly normal life for the most part. She is class president at Astor High, captain of the cheerleading team, and super popular. Her spells are usually limited to changing her coffee from plain to vanilla or her outfits so that she never has to wear the same thing twice. Hadley regularly meets with other Cleri teens to practice a variety of spells, which seems completely irrelevant, until now. When the adults in the coven all disappear on the same night, the teens believe that they have been killed by the Parrishables. No one has seen or heard from these longtime rivals in decades; however, they have been gaining strength in numbers and power, and now Hadley and the other teen Cleris must fight against them to survive. This is an enjoyable read, particularly for fans of Sarah Mlynowski.-Jesten Ray, Seattle Public Library, WA

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