The Trouble With Spells (Of Witches and Warlocks #1)- Lacey Weatherford

Portia thinks she is a normal teenager until she reaches her sixteenth birthday and is informed point blank by her grandmother that she is in fact a witch. She also discovers that high school bad boy Vance Mangum is a member of her coven and that they are inexplicably linked. The two begin a passionate relationship, which is soon threatened when Vance's dark past threatens to catch up with him. Portia must harness her budding powers to protect the one she loves and keep him from falling to the same darkness that consumed his father.

First an apology: This book is going to take the brunt of my ranting about YA Paranormal, even though it was not inherently that terrible. I've pretty much had it up to my ears with this genre and I need to yell about it or I'm going to end up snapping at Vervain and losing an eye in the process.


Overall Merit: This book was definitely a mushy teen romance, so if that's your thing then go for it. I mean it wasn't terrible, my feelings are just very lukewarm. There was nothing new done in this book, all the same motifs were rehashed in exactly the same way they've been before. To add to the lukewarm factor, Portia and Vance were not all that interesting and Vance had a major Edward Cullen complex going on (brooding, stalkerish, etc.). If you have nothing else to do then go for it, I guess. It won't make your eyes bleed or anything, but it's pretty bland and lacks the novelty and characters to keep the trite story afloat. Score- 5/6

Characters: In Vance, Weatherford promised me a bad boy. However, she spent a ton of time telling me how he was so badass instead of showing me. Riding a motorcycle and wearing a leather jacket does not make someone a badass. Portia was nothing special. Yea, she had a weird mental connection with Vance that was never properly explained, and yea she turned out to be super powerful, but making the protagonist powerful is not a substitute for giving her a personality! They weren't horrible characters, but again, nothing worth taking note of. Score- 6

Blush Factor: Ok this might actually be the thing to make me go completely mental. Why is it that in EVERY SINGLE FREAKING YA PARANORMAL there's some ridiculous scenario in which the girl wants to have sex and the guy makes up some lame-ass excuse as to why he won't have sex with her. Unless you make it clear that the guy is very religious or that he'll spontaneously combust if he has intercourse out of wedlock, I'M NOT BUYING IT! First off, it makes it seem like teenage girls are all super horny and want to screw and that teenage boys are all saints who want to respect the girl and wait for marriage. I'm sorry, but we do not live in Jane Austen Land! This is 2012 and the average age a girl loses her virginity is SEVENTEEN. Would it kill an author to have the girl be the one to say no? Making the female protagonist into a little nympho is NOT ORIGINAL! Score- 4

Structure: Ok, why the Hell sixteen? I'm getting so, so, so sick of that being the magical age. What's wrong with seventeen? Eighteen? I feel like sixteen works because it makes it socially acceptable for the female to be in a serious relationship (which is wasted if you refuse to make it a proper relationship to begin with). Nothing new here, standard, I'm magically in love with you after 24 hours, when can we get married and spend eternity together? Also, Weatherford definitely should have put more effort into the magic system. It seemed very slapped together almost laissez faire and would have helped the book instead of hindering it if it had been more solid. Score- 5

Plot: Eh. This was sketchy. So much effort was focused on the irritating romance that the plot sort of fell by the wayside and resurfaced when it was convenient. I did not like the ending, I thought it was predictable and kind of stupid. The problem with this genre is that the conflicts seem to have such easy resolutions that it's laughable. This category was a little bit pathetic and I didn't buy it for the most part. Weatherford should have focused on making a stronger story, rather than relying on the mediocre romance to keep the novel going. Score- 4

 Vervain says: "The weird thing about the magic in this book was that it was very self-determined. For example, when Portia wanted to design a spell for protection she pretty much got to make up the entire thing, which didn't ring entirely true."