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“Since I was a little girl I’ve been labeled a freak in my small town. There’s no blending in when your mom practices an ancient pagan religion and everyone believes she’s a witch. On my 15th birthday my secret wish is the same as always — to just be normal. But that’s not what I get. Not even close.” — Brigit Quinn
Circle of Nine: Beltany is a story of a young girl, Brigit, whose mother has always seemed weird to the people of their community because she practices the Celtic religion. Upon turning 15, Brigit is given a book of family secrets and learns just how weird her mom really is … and that she is just like her mother.
Being a part of the “Circle of Nine,” the women charged with maintaining the old ways, comes with special powers and certain responsibilities. As the daughter of one of the Circle, Brigit has to decide if she wants to carry on the family tradition or walk away. With the help of her friends and a really cute senior boy, Brigit attempts to learn who she is and, more importantly, who she wants to be.
I wanted to read this book basically because of the awards it has received. As an indie writer, I love to support those of us who do well and represent our craft with excellence. This book met most of my expectations … but not all.
First, I loved the story. The author obviously did her research and put a lot of time into crafting the family history of the protagonist, Brigit. The characters are also well written. I had no trouble believing them, and I felt as if I were a part of their world, even if only for a while.
Now for the not-so-great. When I finished writing my first book, I had two of my middle-school students beta read for me. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to hear how much they loved it. And, they did … except the ending. They told me that they had invested in the characters and the story but were disappointed that the ending just “fizzled.” I now know how they felt. This book drew me in to the story, then just kind of stopped. There was never the major conflict that I kept expecting, and the smaller conflicts were resolved in just a few paragraphs. I was able to rewrite the ending to my book, and I wish this author had done the same. It was anticlimactic, to say the least.
Another problem was the formatting. Although it was not the worst Kindle book I have read, there were still a lot of blank spaces on several pages, and there were words left out of sentences. The blank spaces could have been prevented by using a tool like Kindle Create to format, and the missing words should have been caught in proofreading. This kind of thing is what makes it hard for indie books and the stories they tell to gain the respect they deserve.
Overall, I did enjoy the book and have put the rest of the series on my TBR. I just hope they are a little more exciting.
Rated: Moderate. This young adult book contained several uses of mild and moderate language. It also contains several suggestive scenes, but no graphic intimacy.
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