Trish Milburn
Expected publication: March 1st 2012 by Bell Bridge Books
Witchcraft Is Her Family’s Business.No One Quits The Family And Lives To Tell About It. “Jax” Pherson has power, enough power to know her future will end in service to the dark coven her father controls. Unless she can stay hidden in a small community in the mountains of North Carolina. She must find a way to live without magic and deny the darkness she feels welling up inside her—the same dark power that fuels the covens around the world. All she wants is a normal life. A boyfriend. Friends. Some place to belong, but all too soon Jax’s barely begun new life hangs in the balance when she discovers that the boy she’s attracted to is sworn to kill her kind. He’s a hunter with good reason to kill everything that goes bump in the night. Even the most fleeting use of her power is tantamount to signing her death warrant and will bring both hunter and coven down on her. But can she walk away when her friends are threatened by an old evil? Something created by the magic of witches? Jax’s only hope of survival is to convince the boy she loves to forget everything he’s ever been taught and help her find a way to fight the covens. To believe there is some good in her.
Sixteen-year-old Jaxina Phearson, a.k.a. Jax Taylor just wants to be a normal girl., with a normal life, normal friends and a normal school. But she is as far from normal as a person can get. She's a witch, running away and hiding from her coven. They want her to grow up to kill humans, getting revenge for all the witches that were killed by humankind in the past. But Jax doesn't want to kill anyone, she just wants to control her powers and dark impulses and live her life. The problem is, nobody leaves the coven and lives to talk about it.
So, she leaves Miami and heads over to the mountains in North Carolina (after making sure to leave fake trails to Alaska, so her family won't find her). There, she intends to start her new life. She has a trailer, a used car and was just enrolled in her new school (even if she had to use mind control on a tourist so she would pose as her mother and guardian). Everything looks peachy, until she meets a hunter. A human hunter with a bloodstone that can kill supernatural beings in his hand. She's able to hide from him, but, surprise, surprise, his name is Keller and he goes to the same school she's now going to. And he's the most attractive guy she has ever set eyes on. And he seems to think the same about her.
Jax has trouble reigning her powers in, disturbed as they are by her very strong attraction to Keller, and even more because of all the bullying she's receiving at school, for being the (super pretty, super perfect) new girl. The darkness inside her wants to be freed, and Jax needs to control it, else she might murder her bullies. And the more she uses her powers, the bigger the trail left for her family to find her gets. Or for Keller to discover what she really is.
When I saw Sherrilyn Kenyon's praise on the cover of this book, I knew I had to read it. I mean, I'm a super fan of hers, so I should trust her judgment, right? No. Not really. I don't know what she was on when she read it, but I wish I had some, too. This book is filled with stereotypes. Completely.
From the Mary Sue perfection of the main character (flawless long blond hair, beautiful clear blue eyes, killer body and face, everybody wants her, poor thing wishes she wasn't so pretty...blah,blah,blah), to her lovely 'weirdo' best friend/sidekick, who automaticaly isn't jealous or hates her like every other girl at school does, to the impossibly handsome 6'4" (couldn't this 16 year-old be a bit taller? >.> ) ADOLESCENT everyone wants, wanting her. Oh, and, obviously, he's her 'natural enemy', so they can't be together. Which is the same as saying they fall in love with each other from the very beginning.
*sighs* I apologize if I sound bitter, but I'm a bit tired of always reading the same thing. What's wrong with a bit flawed heroine? And even a bit flawed hero? Sure, this is fantasy and we don't want to read about ugly people, but how about something more believable? How about friends that take a while to really become friends with you? And a couple that doesn't turn out to be star-crossed lovers? Sure, it's much less dramatic, but every relationship has hardships, I just think that they don't have to be doomed from the very first page. O.o
What I did like (and found to be very creative), was the story of all the undocumented killings in Salem, and how the witches got so mad they turned against mankind. That was just brilliant.
If you like your YA with witches and lots of supernatural and high school intrigue, you'll enjoy White Witch.
*I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
Great review! I pretty much had the same problems with this book! But it was enjoyable once I got over the stereotypes!
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