Erin’s Thoughts
Star Cursed by Jessica Spotswood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
After reading this book there are a few things I have realized. First, I love, love, love this series. Second, Jessica Spotswood may be evil (probably not but after that ending I’m not really sure). And finally, I have to wait until 2014 (most likely) to read the next book of the series and I don’t know how I am going to make it that long – let me just take a second here.
I would probably sell my soul to the devil to get a copy of book 3 tomorrow if offered – don’t judge me for this.
Be warned – If you haven’t read any of this series, you may want to stop and back away from this post. I am going to do my best to not put any spoilers out there but I can’t promise anything.
Star Cursed picks up shortly after Born Wicked leaves off. Cate has moved to New London and is living with the Sisterhood who is training and protecting her. It is clear she regrets not being able to say goodbye or explain anything to her sisters and Finn and even after 6 weeks with the Sisterhood, she hasn’t really made any friends or made an effort to become close to the people around her. It is clear Cate is becoming a stronger witch and although everyone still believes she is the witch mentioned in the prophecy, she still hasn’t had any visions. On top of all of that, everyone recognizes that the Brotherhood is becoming more and more dangerous, not only to the Sisterhood but women in general and there is a real fear that things can only get worse.
As always, the characters are what draw me into a story and help me fall in love with it. This is no different. She has written a strong main character in Cate, a swoony male lead in Finn, and some truly bad, bad guys.
Throughout the story I was able to see how Cate struggled balancing what she wanted to do with what she needed to do. She also thinks things through and although some people criticized her for “over thinking” I thought that is what made her stronger. She wasn’t always reactive and thought about the consequences vs. just jumping in without caring about the end results. Add to this the fact that she truly loves her family and Finn and I wanted her to come out of this book with everything she wanted.
Finn definitely provides the swoons in this book again but he also does more than that. He is the support that Cate needs and helps her to realize she isn’t alone in all of this. Whatever she does, she does with him and he will do whatever he can to keep her safe. He loves her and definitely still wants to marry her…somehow. Now back to the swoons…I will just drop this little snippet from the Conservatory scene here:
“You worry about what the prophecy means for them, but I worry about you, Cate. Someone’s got to. You’d sacrifice yourself in a second to keep them safe. You’d sacrifice us.”
His words hand there between us, a reminder that I already have.
“I don’t know if I could do it again,” I say truthfully. “I know being here is dangerous for you. I should send you away, but I don’t want to give you up. It’s selfish of me.”
“Good. Be selfish.” Finn’s mouth claims mine in a searing kiss, and my mind empties of everything except his hands, his lips, his tongue.
SEE WHAT I MEAN???
Once Cate requests that Maura and Tess join her in New London, the plot moves along. With all of the sisters under one roof, the dynamic is somewhat back to what it used to be. Tess and Cate are still very close and Maura feels left out. I will take a second here to say, I don’t feel sorry for Maura at all. She essentially creates this tension between her and Cate that doesn’t need to be there. If she were my sister I probably would have told her off and not let her get away with the way she acted. Really all I wanted to say to her the entire time was:
By the end of the book, I was happy to see the way Cate responded and honestly, one of the things I am most excited about in the next book is to see how she reacts and interacts with Maura. Maura is selfish and annoying and I’m glad Cate has finally come to her senses with her.
I highly recommend this series to anyone. It has an interesting story and some great characters (both good and bad). I will say that if you prefer a full story without feeling like “Holy Crap did that just happen and now I have to wait a year for the rest of the story” you may want to wait until the third book comes out. If this is you, definitely add this series to your to read pile for later. Anyone who doesn’t have a problem with books that give you that feeling, what are you waiting for…get this now and dive right in.
Well Jessica Spotswood… you wanted “brutal + awesome, with kissing”… you delivered.
In the second book of the series, Star Cursed dives right in shortly from where the end of book 1 left off. Cate is now a part of the sisterhood, having left Paul and Finn and her sisters with no explanation in order to protect them. Sister Cora, is gravely ill and it’s expected that Cate will be leading them at some point. But even though Cate is becoming stronger as a witch, she still hasn’t shown any signs that she is the witch mentioned in the prophecy.
As usual, characters do it for me in a story, and Spotswood delivers.
I honestly am struggling to think of characters I have despised and loved more than the ones in The Cahill Witch Chronicles. The only time I’ve had such a visceral reaction to characters was when I was reading My Life Next Door and I wanted to crawl INTO the book, find Nan and kick her in the babymaker.
I wanted to do that with several of the characters here.
Let’s start with The Brothers.
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