BOOK REVIEW: Witch’s Kiss by Katherine & Elizabeth Corr

Amy Briggs | 30 November 2016 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Witch’s Kiss by Katherine & Elizabeth Corr

Pan Macmillan
June, 2016
Paperback, $29.99
Reviewed by Amy Briggs

YA Fiction

9/10

She was desperate to be normal. At least, she’d thought that was what she wanted. It was what she’d wished for. Well maybe she was finally getting her wish. Maybe her magic was going crazy and finally draining away. Leaving her. And that was a good thing. The best thing that could be happening to her.
Wasn’t it?

Merry is a teenage girl who has inherited witchly abilities but is tentative about using them. This all changes when Merry and her brother Leo find an old forgotten trinket box. Finding this trinket box awakens the family curse of defeating a very powerful wizard that has been lying dormant for a thousand years. Despite Merry’s resistance to her inheritance as a witch, we soon discover that she is the only witch with the ability to defeat him.

“There is a powerful wizard, a master of dark magic, sleeping under the Black Lake. His servant- that boy- is already awake: he is responsible for the recent attacks. If the wizard himself awakes and escapes the lake, he will create an army of such servants: humans, possessed and controlled by dark magic drawn by him from the shadow realm. An army whose purpose is to destroy all love in the world…your life Merry… your life is linked to an oath made by one of our ancestors… to destroy the wizard…”

As we move through this story’s pages with Merry trying to balance her ordinary teenage life with her supernatural one, we also meet a dishy young man named Jack, who turns out to be the King of Hearts. He is also cursed to kill Merry. Although Jack is evil and out-of-control, Merry sees the young boy he once was before the wizard’s curse and decides to help free him. But this proves difficult as Jack and the wizard are fatally linked together.

This book was enjoyable mostly thanks to the characters, who were extremely entertaining and lovable. Merry, especially, is easy to like; she is a typical teen with all the complications of a teenager, very sweet and also quite mature, especially with her way of handling her sudden and huge responsibility of defeating the wizard. Her grandmother is a wacky but wise witch, young at heart, and only shows her age through her powerful witchcraft. And Leo, Merry’s brother, is a commendable character. Despite not being a witch himself he helps and supports his sister with working on breaking the curse and defeating the wizard.

“There’s no way you are doing this alone. I’m coming with you.”
“But Gran said only one witch could enter Gwydion’s evil lair or whatever he is calling it. You heard her.”
“Screw what Gran said. You’re going to be in charge, but every hero needs an assistant.”

All in all, this story was very sweet and this reader will endeavour to read more by these authors.