Review: Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles #1) by Jessica Spotswood
Hardcover, 326 pgs.
Published Feb. 7th, 2012 by Putnam Juvenile
Source: Borrowed

"Blessed with a gift..."cursed" with a secret."
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 one of those books I would have read just for the cover.  Seriously, I love this cover!  But when I heard it was historical and was about witches, well- I was sold!  And this book really lived up to my expectations!


It starts out just a bit slow and the entire story is slower paced.  I thought it worked fine in the second half but the first half could have used maybe a bit more action.  However in the whole scheme of things this ended up feeling rather minor to me by the end of the book.  The second half I read in pretty much one sitting.  It was getting to where I was dying to know more as more and more things we were revealed and I felt like something big was going to happen any moment.  There was romance that had me swooning left and right (okay, that sounds kind of funny...) there were twists that I never saw coming and events revealed that could bring about some major catastrophe.  


Cate took a bit to get used to.  The story is told in first person present tense and I think her voice was just rather different.  I can't pinpoint what it was because I'm fairly certain I liked her quite well from the get-go, but there was something about it that took me just a few chapters to adjust to.  While Cate does have her faults (she's a bit over-protective of her sisters), it all felt real to me.  That's how she should be because her mother placed this responsibility on her and the slightest slip up and they could all be sent away for being witches.  I did love that Cate didn't deny herself her true feelings.  She would contemplate what she should do and what she truly wanted to do.  And she never denied herself the truth.  I hate a character that goes on about how they will just force themselves to want something that they don't really and you know it never works out. 


The way the romance plays out was pretty sweet.  I wished for maybe a bit more time with Finn and Cate together but honestly I don't think we could ever get enough.  I liked that they knew eachother for quite some time but as they run into the other time and time again they realize there's something there.  And when placed in great danger your deepest, truest emotions come out.  And this was one of those romances that I can honestly say was sweet.  Yes it was forbidden, but it was still as sweet as they get.  


Finn is a big reader and his mother owns the town bookstore.  This puts him 'beneath' Cate, who really couldn't care less about that, and under the radar of the Brotherhood who suspect that unapproved books are being sold there.  Which is not so good for Cate and her sisters since they are trying to stay off the radar of the Brotherhood.  But Finn is just a 'good' guy.  He's not good as in he believes in the Brotherhood, but he's scholarly and very smart and isn't about causing trouble.  I liked that for once the smart guy gets the girl.  But does he really get her?  Well, you'll have to read the book to find out!

I very highly recommend you pick this one up!  I can't wait for the next one!


4.5/5 stars!