Wicked: Witch and Curse by Nancy Holder and Debbie Vigiue is Action Packed

Title: Wicked: Witch and Curse

Author: Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Published: September 9, 2008

Format: Paperback

Pages: 672

Source: Library

Read: September 24-26 2012

In  A Few Words: Action Packed, 

My Rating:  5 Stars

Goodreads:   Add This To Your TBR Shelf

Goodreads Synopsis:

Holly Cathers's world shatters when her parents are killed in a terrible accident. Wrenched from her home in San Francisco, she is sent to Seattle to live with her relatives, Aunt Marie-Claire and her twin cousins, Amanda and Nicole. In her new home, Holly's sorrow and grief soon give way to bewilderment at the strange incidents going on around her. Such as how any wish she whispers to her cat seems to come true. Or the way a friend is injured after a freak attack from a vicious falcon. And there's the undeniable, magnetic attraction to a boy Holly barely knows.

Holly, Amanda, and Nicole are about to be launced into a dark legacy of witches, secrets, and alliances, where ancient magics yield dangerous results. The girls will assume their roles in an intergenerational feud beyond their wildest imaginations...and in doing so, will attempt to fulfill their shared destiny

Melissa's Musings:

This book starts off immediately with action. Usually, I like a lot of background and setup, but diving into the action works well in this case. The metaphors and just the scenery, dreams, senses and feelings that the characters experience are all described really well. So well that I found myself cringing at certain parts including a lot of the sacrifice scenes.

That is one warning I would put out there to anyone who may pick up this book. There are a lot of scenes of sacrifices, including the drowning of a cat, so if you are sensitive to these kinds of scenes be forewarned. As a comment on the cat sacrifice scene in particular, I did find it disturbing, but I can also see why Holly felt she had to do it. Not saying that I agree with it, just that I understand why it was done. 

I really liked the different levels of the exploration of magic in the book. There's the lighter side, where we see Amanda and Holly slowly trying to learn everything they can about white magic, and the innocent magic that Nicole does with her mom. Then there's the Deveraux family which is full of dark magic. It's nice to see both sides. I also enjoyed the fact that they took a more traditional route with some of the scenes with the rituals in that the coupling of a man and a woman creates the most powerful kind of magic. But, they were also open minded in that there is a gay couple in the book who can create extremely powerful magic together as well.

It's obvious to me anyway that Holly is the most powerful character, since she is so connected to her past (to the point of possession). I'm curious to see just how much she changes as she explores her power even further and as it grows.

I have a soft spot for books about witches, and Wicca, so I really enjoyed this. Plus there's a Charmed reference (pg 267 for anyone who's curious) so I had to like it. No, just kidding, but I'm really glad I did enjoy it so much because I had to read it in the span of a day and a half because I left it too long and it was due the next day at the library. Someone had already checked out the next book in the series otherwise I would have picked it up right away.

I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a great book that explores different elements of magic and Wicca in an action packed story, with a little romance thrown in.