Always a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

I picked up Always a Witch on NetGalley. I was really excited to see it since it won’t be published until Summer 2011 and I have read the first book Once a Witch. If you haven’t read Once a Witch you may want to pick it up before reading the rest of this review as it will contain spoilers.

The book follows Tamsin as she realizes that her family is still in danger from Alistair. Alistair has gone back to the past and is trying to change the course of the future. Tamsin is the only one that can go back and stop Alistair. However, she has to protect the ones that she loves and keep them from going back.

I really enjoyed this series and found it to be somewhat like a cross between paranormal literature and a bit of a superhero story. Each member of the family has a “talent” that reminds me of superpowers. While they still observe Wiccan guidelines the “talents” themselves remind me of superheros. I found this to be a nice twist that isn’t used too often in this genre. It kept me interested as there is so much literature out there on witches right now.

The writing is extremely fluid. I read the book in one sitting and found myself sad when the book was over. I am not sure if there are to be any other books in this series because the plot is resolved at the end.

The romance between Tamsin and Gabriel is refreshing because they were best friends growing up. I really liked that it wasn’t a love triangle between someone she grew up with and a “hot” new comer. It’s good to see the nice guy win out every once in a while. They have a relationship based on equal footing where they are balancing each others wants and needs. This is seen at several points in the book where they go back and forth about not telling the other person what to do.

Overall I give this book a 5/5. I really enjoyed the storyline and found the plot to be very unpredictable. I never saw the ending being what it was. I also found that the characters really spoke to be as everyone doesn’t fit in at some point in time. I hope to see more coming from Carolyn MacCullough in the future!