Title: White Witch
Author: Trish Milburn
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Category: Young adult Fantasy & Magic
I loved this book so much that I found myself saying “I wish I could write as well as that.” It’s got everything I like in a book, an intriguing storyline with just the right amount of action and romance, and a satisfying ending. It had me hooked from beginning to end and left me wanting more. Underlying this book is also one of my favourite themes – empowerment.
Jax Pherson comes from a coven that is a kind of witchy version of the Mafia, gorged with power and bent on revenge for the witch hunts of Salem, the punishment for trying to leave the family is death. When she was a child, Jax watched her father deliver the punishment on her mother, a slow sucking away of her powers, then her life itself, so she knows what she’s up against when she runs away to avoid service to the dark coven her father controls.
From the blurb
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.
I loved Jax from the beginning, her battle with the darkness she feels welling up inside her when people are cruel to her parallels everyone’s battle with their anger, but Jax has more to lose if she lets it out. Any use of her power is like a beacon for her family who are surely looking for her. She’s got a lot of guts to even try to run from her family and that same strength of character shows all through the book.
If you’re in to excellent YA urban fantasy or paranormal romance then this is a must read.
