Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: Publisher
Publication Date: May 5th 2015
Publisher: Tor Teen
Point of View: 1st Person & Female
Recommended Age: 11+
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Witches

BLURB:

The only thing worse than being a witch is living with one.

Camellia’s adopted mother wants Cam to grow up to be just like her. Problem is, Mom’s a seriously wicked witch.

Cam’s used to stopping the witch’s crazy schemes for world domination. But when the witch summons a demon, he gets loose—and into Devon, the cute new boy at school.

Now Cam’s suddenly got bigger problems than passing Algebra. Her friends are getting zombiefied. Their dragon is tired of hiding in the RV garage. For being a shy boy-band boy, Devon is sure kissing a bunch of girls. And a phoenix hidden in the school is going to explode on the night of the Halloween Dance.

To stop the demon before he destroys Devon’s soul, Cam might have to try a spell of her own. But if she’s willing to work spells like the witch…will that mean she’s wicked too?

REVIEW:

A teenage girl living with a witch focused on world domination who adopted her when she was a baby? A teenager girl who, by the way, wants nothing to do with spells, magic and other witchery things imposed by her adopted parent?

Well that’s a first. Camellia had enough judgement to see that what Sarmine wanted was absolutely wrong and immoral. I mean, thank god. In order to be able to dominate the world, Sarmine summoned an elemental (demon) but the latter escaped from her clutches; he had s his own plans in mind. He decided that it would advantage him best to possess a living body: Devon, whom Camellia just came to befriend.

Poor guy. He wanted to help Camellia but ended up with a demon inside of him. Oops! This is a story that is to be read for sheer entertainment. I absolutely did not take it seriously. Should I have? I mean, there was drama and ‘‘important’’ stuff, but Camellia’s vivid and rather wry tone kept a light enough (never brooding) atmosphere up. I liked her for that and because she wasn’t self-centered but authentic and caring.

The secondary characters weren’t as well portrayed as I always hope for them to be in books. It’s capital to have some secondary characters who we become attached to and who don’t just become props in a story, there to save a hero/ine when the latter is in trouble, impede them in any chosen way or fill a plot hole. They have to be individuals who don’t just trail behind the main protagonists. But I can see that the reason why they may not have been stoutly shaped from head to toe may have to do with the fact that this was a relatively short story; the author probably didn’t want to include too many descriptive paragraphs or too much background on characters (or any at all) in order to focus on the main action. That’s what made this so fast-paced, honestly.

I thoroughly enjoyed how the author took a modern world setting but changed some things here and there and especially words and expressions so we could feel that this is a novel about WITCHES and not mundane humans. It’s one of the things that added originality and entertainment to the story, too. I just loved Camellia’s quick-witted lines and her obsession for the dragon.

Recommended, especially to fans of Rebel Belle!