Once A Witch

From Goodreads:
"Tamsin Greene comes from a long line of witches, and on the day she was born, her grandmother proclaimed she would be one of the most Talented among them.

But Tamsin's magic never showed up.

Now, seventeen years later, she spends most of her time at boarding school in Manhattan, where she can at least pretend to be normal. But during the summers, she's forced to return home and work at her family's bookstore/magic shop.

One night a handsome young professor from New York University arrives in the shop and mistakes Tamsin for her extremely Talented older sister. For once, it's Tamsin who's being looked at with awe and admiration, and before she can stop herself, she agrees to find a family heirloom for him that was lost more than a century ago. But the search - and the stranger - prove to be more sinister than they first appeared, ultimately sending Tamsin on a treasure hunt through time that will unlock the secret of her true identity, unearth the past sins of her family, and unleash a power so strong and so vengeful that it could destroy them all.

In a spellbinding display of storytelling, Carolyn MacCullough interweaves witchcraft, romance, and time travel in a fantasy that will exhilarate, enthrall, and thoroughly enchant."


This was a surprise. I picked the book up on a whim, and the sequel, since nothing else at the library was grabbing my attention. I don't really know what I was expecting, but Once A Witch surprised me and made me laugh out loud more than once. Each character, from the main character Tamsin to Uncle Morris, who teleports to amuse the children, is lovingly and skilfully drawn. Tamsin's snark is FIRST RATE. I really appreciated that the witchcraft involved wasn't about auras or crystals, but involved supernatural talents instead. It felt a little more grounded. The suspenseful plot has just the right amount of tension and the romance is superb. Tamsin's struggle to belong in her family while lacking what makes the family special was also well-done, and it added to Tamsin's character without becoming whiny/angsty/woe-is-me. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and I'm already 3/4s of the way through the sequel!

Gentle Reader Alert:  There are a very few strong swears sprinkled in the text (nothing beyond a PG-13), but that is all.