The Witches of East End by Melissa De La Cruz

Title: The Witches of East End
Series: Beauchamp Family Series Book #1
Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal
Author: Melissa De La Cruz
Published: 2011 by Hyperion
272 Pages
I Got It: http://www.bn.com
I Read It: August 5 - August 7, 2014
I Rated It: 4/5 Stars


Joanna Beauchamp and her two daughters, Freya and Ingrid, live in a quaint coastal town in New York. The three women seem to lead average lives yet they actually harbor a long-standing secret: they are powerful witches who have been banned from using their magic. Over the course of the book events happen that slowly encourage all three women to break the rules and begin using their magic again to unlock a centuries-old secret. 
I really liked this book. I found it to be very reminiscent of Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman which is one of my favorite books of all time. It was a fun, fast-paced and compelling read. Over the past few weeks I had been sliding my way into a reading slump. I was not enjoying anything that I was reading and I was not excited to start anything new. I realized that I was craving something in the paranormal/fantasy genre and this book hit the spot.
I liked all of the characters in the book. I especially enjoyed the three Beauchamp women and I really related to Ingrid. I felt like all of the characters were fully fleshed out and i am excited to see how they will continue to develop over the next few books. 
This book series has been turned into a TV show on Lifetime. I started watching the television show which is actually pretty different from the book, at least it is different from this first book, but the show is still good in its own right. 
I liked the beginning a lot more than I liked the ending. It took a weird spin towards the end that I didn't enjoy. There were too many references to events in the previous lives of the women that didn't get fully explained or resolved which was confusing and annoying. This was especially true in the last 1/3 of the book. 
I am excited to read the rest of the series and to start De La Cruz's Blue Bloods series as well. 
I would recommend this book to fans of witch stories, fans of paranormal books and to both young adult and adult readers. 
4/5 stars

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Sequels I Can't Wait To Get My Hands On

A weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

For this week's TTT I only came up with seven sequels that I can't wait to read. Usually if I find a series that I adore, I read them all in a quick row, marathoning the series to the end. However, in the past few years I have been really bad about picking up the first book in a series, and then neglecting to finish the saga. I really hope to start getting deeper into a lot of sequels soon. Here are the seven that immediately come to mind:

7. The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness. Book 2 in the Chaos Walking Series.
I finished book 1: The Knife of Never Letting Go, this month. Even though I didn't enjoy it at first, the ending really took me by surprise and made me want to read The Ask and the Answer.


6. Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Book 2 in the Caster Chronicles.
I read Beautiful Creatures in March of this year in preparation for the movie (which I really hated). Though I did not absolutely 100% love the book, I am excited to see what happens next.


5. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater. Book 2 in the Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy.
I read Shiver back in February which was the perfect time of year for a snowy, cold setting in a book. I liked the first book alright. Since it is only a trilogy, I do hope to sometime soon finish the next two books- maybe this winter?


4. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare. Book 2 in the Mortal Instruments Series.
I read City of Bones in May of this year and I enjoyed it. I hope to finish this series and then get started on the Infernal Devices Series.


3. Prodigy by Marie Lu. Book 2 in the Legend Trilogy.
I read Legend in June of this year. I remember reading the entire second half of the book on G's parents couch one afternoon while he and his dad worked on the car outside. I liked this book quite a bit and I am really excited for the next two books. The last book of the trilogy just came out (or is just about to come out this week) and it is pretty highly anticipated in the YA book blogosphere so I need to hop on this bandwagon and get it done quickly!


2. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin. Book 2 in the Game of Thrones Series.
I LOVE GAME OF THRONES!

1. Insurgent by Veronica Roth. Book 2 in the Divergent Trilogy.
I am so excited to finish this trilogy I can't stand it! This is the only book on this list that I didn't read book 1 of in the year 2013! I read it in March of 2012 so I really need to get going and finish this series up!

What sequels are you excited for? Have you read any of the ones on my list? Which ones do I need to read ASAP?

Happy Tuesday, readers! Yallfest is only 4 days away!!!