Burn Mark - Laura Powell

Well, I definitely powered through this book - less than 24 hours I think.
I hadn't read any books by this author before. I picked it up because it had a really interesting premise: the modern world but with public awareness of witches.
The setting definitely proved interesting and well thought out: witches weaved into different parts of history and modern society. I also loved the way magic is actually described and used - not with ease as is often the case. Some parts of the plot were a little unbelievable for me: leaving the breaking and entering to one teenage boy, with the risk of arrest and torture, didn't make any sense to me (classic example of splitting-up and failing).
As far as the characters went; most ended up feeling fairly flat and stereotypical to me. There were the Thugs, the Well-Meaning Officials, the Bigoted Idiots and plenty more. Luckily I didn't really have time to focus on them with the fast  pace of the story. As for the main characters, I loved Lucas. You understood perfectly the struggle he was going through and really rooted for him. Glory, on the other hand, grated after a while. She started off quite interesting but became, if not arrogant, then certainly overly cocky. Still, she wasn't your average teenage heroine and I did manage to stand her until the end of the book.
It's definitely fast-paced and with plenty of drama, but it didn't quite have me on the edge of my seat. There aren't many things I could pick out that I found I didn't like about it; it just didn't quite seem to pack enough of a punch. Certainly readable but not memorable.

Until I Die - Amy Plum

Okay, normally I'm not a huge fan of Paranormal Romance and I get very annoyed if the whole story just becomes about the romance rather than the supernatural element. Thankfully, Amy Plum has managed not to do that: certainly the story does focus around the romance, but the supernatural is by no means lost amidst all the fluffiness.
I originally picked up the first of this trilogy, Die For Me, a year ago when I was short of things to read. I thought it would be interesting but not necessarily my cup of tea. How wrong I was. It seemed to tick all my boxes while still being mainly a romance: there was action, there was mystery, danger, a wondefully constructed romance (obviously), fun characters, witty exchanges - the lot. Overall I wouldn't say I was completely overwhelmed by it, but I certainly enjoyed reading it and was eager for the next installment.

Sadly, despite an awful lot of searching, I didn't manage to find a copy of Until I Die until nearly two months after it was released (which lost me the chance to win a signed bookplate). My heart nearly leapt out of my chest when I finally spotted a copy, standing on a shelf in Smiths next to Die For Me. Needless to say, I grabbed it before any other pesky reader could. Within half a hour I'd found a cafe and started reading.
The stakes had definitely been upped in this book and you got quite a few shocks as you went along. I started off fairly certain that the book would go in one direction, but then it veered off in a completely different one. The characters are just as I remembered from the previous book, exactly how I liked them, and I got to hear new stories from some of them while I learned about the new characters as well. The new characters were intriguing and - until a certain twist - you grow to love them (or dislike them) along with the protagonist.
Kate, the main character, is still a normal girl that you can relate to, but she is slowly but surely coming into herself and you can see the kick-ass heroine beginning to emerge. Vincent is as charming as ever and I really wish he was real at times. Jules and Ambrose are ever the flirts, and Jules is still being wonderful by keeping tight-lipped about his feelings for Kate.
The book ends on a massive cliff-hanger that left me gasping for more, but sadly I'm going to have to wait until May next year to get my answers. It's clearly setting up for the sequel, leaving plenty of questions, but is still a fantastic book in its own right.
Thank you, Amy. I can't wait for If I Should Die.

A Witch In Love - Ruth Warburton

I read the first book in the Winter Trilogy, A Witch In Winter, a few months ago and completely loved it; from the British coastal setting, to the magic, to the steamy romance brewing throughout. So I was naturally eager for the sequel to come out and quickly checked the publishing date: luckily I only had a few months to wait (February to July 5th).
I was actually fortunate to find a copy on sale a week early and snapped it up immediately. I had it devoured in less than 24 hours.

These were my thoughts:
This book is a lot darker than the other at points and there's an awful lot of drama (torture!!). As in the last, the writing is vivid and fun and Anna's voice isn't at all whiney or irritating; just an ordinary teenage girl with some extra-ordinary powers. Her lack of faith in her and Seth's relationship did begin to grate, especially as he was trying so hard to convince her and really putting himself out there in the open. I completely understood his decision at the end (which I will not share - spoilers!), though it still was very upsetting: Anna needs to sort herself out. Hopefully they can work things out in the next book.
The intrigue has certainly stepped up in this book and, as a reader, I've got no idea who Anna should trust and who she shouldn't; this definitely made things very interesting and unpredictable. It's also nice that we're finding out more and more of Anna's background as she does, though there's still more for her to find.  There's still an awful lot of unanswered questions at the end, but that's going to keep me hanging on for the last book in the trilogy.
I liked seeing more sides to some of the characters that we met in the last book: Emmeline's girly side and Anna's Dad's angry side, for example. They're feeling a lot more 3-dimensional now. And then - one of my personal favourites - we references to things like A-Levels: things that ordinary girls have to worry about and that I've just gone through myself. It grounds the whole thing a little bit.

My only negative thing to say, is that I'm sensing a love triangle being set up. In some situations I do like them and they add levels, but I think in this book there are loads of those already and this might just be too much. For all I know it could be really good and play out well, but - for now - I'm a bit wary.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and I look forward to A Witch Alone.