Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word...especially after she finds her mother's diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.

Born Wicked is another book selection for the BlogHer Book Club. When they sent the request out  I didn't read the description quite as well as I could have and was taken by surprise to discover that it takes place around 1900. This detail alone made it a slow start for me, as typically the only historicals I read are romances. After a few chapters I was able to into it a bit more and from around page 50 it (or I) sped up and zoomed through the rest in a matter of days. As regular readers know I'm a big fan of paranormal, though usually more of the vampire/witches/werewolves variety than the presented-as-actual-historial-reality variety. (And only readers of paranormal will likely get that distinction, if even they do.) Born Wicked is also a bit of an alternate history book, taking place in a different New England from the one that really existed, with a much heavier religious setting and different country borders. There is a romance and a love triangle (though it is very clear who the true romance belongs to) and some fairly intense moments all around.

If you're interested in reading more about the book you can find the BlogHer discussion of the book here, and the first discussion question here. The author can be found online here and on Facebook here.  You can also watch the book trailer on her website, and it's really a lovely trailer (tho I could do without the sketchy moustasche). This is the first book in a series, but book two will not be released until next February.


This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.