Spotlight on a few of my favorite...

Happy Halloween all! This week's spotlight shares a few of my favorite witch books - enjoy!

Cabot does not disappoint with this teen book. Jean (AKA Jinx) comes to stay with her wealthy aunt and uncle in NYC to escape her past, but her cousin Tory does not accept her with open arms. Cabot reminds readers how dangerous jealousy truly is. Although I found most of the plot predictable, I still loved taking the journey with Jean. This novel is a bit different for Cabot...it is a cross between The Craft and The Princess Diaries. But Cabot makes the transition flawlessly.

Nell was conceived on May Morning, making her a merrybegot. Nell is being raised as a healer; combine this with her wild nature in 1645, and you have a "witch". Grace is the Puritan minister's daughter - full of beauty, grace, and secrets. The merrybegot and the minister's daughter, a dangerous combination.. But when Grace and her younger sister begin to have "fits", the heat is on to find the witch that is causing it all, Nell. This is an amazing historical fiction novel. I could not put it down. Hearn has conducted thorough research, including the fact that Puritans believed in faeries, one of many reasons they feared the woods. 

17-year-old Sarah moves from California to a small town in Missouri. While adjusting to a new high school is tough enough, the most popular (and handsome) boy in schools asks her to pose as a fortune teller at the school's Halloween carnival. Sarah reluctantly agrees, but her performance is too convincing, and she is asked to continue the charade off campus as well. Then Sarah's predictions begin to come true, and her classmates label her as a witch. To top it off, she is having disturbing dreams about the Salem Witch Trials. What's a girl to do? Luckily she has one friend, Charlie, who, like her, is a misfit (and is also having the dreams).This novel is wrapped in mystery - is Sarah an accuser from the witch trials? Are her currently classmates her victims? Is reincarnation real? Duncan jumps right into the plot, leaving you turning page after page until the end; however, I was a bit disappointed with the ending. It seemed as if Duncan realized she needed to end the book and just did. But the book is so well put together that the ending is just a small mistake that is easily forgivable.

Others I recommend for this Halloween:

Bras and Broomsticks: Magic in Manhattan series
The Everyday Witch
The Worst Witch
Witch Child
Beyond the Burning Time
The Witche's Supermarket
The Lace Reader 
The Graveyard Book
Diary of a Fairy Godmother
Salem Falls
The Widow's Broom
Wee Witches' Halloween
The House of Seven Gables


The list could go on and on and on - what are YOUR favorite Halloween reads?