Wicked

Gr 9 Up—There is something unnatural about the tragic river rafting accident in which 17-year-old Holly Cathers lost her parents and best friend. Being forced to live with her Aunt Marie-Claire and twin cousins Nicole and Amanda in Seattle is not how Holly planned to spend her senior year in high school. It turns out that Holly has a history going back hundreds of years, and the past is about to catch up with her. Reincarnation, dark witchcraft, and blood sacrifice make for an intriguing story concept. However, the pretentious, stiff, and unbelievably clunky prose is further complicated by overly dramatic dialogue, unnecessary, meandering flashbacks, and the high school play of Romeo and Juliet. All of this lessens the impact of the core story of a supernaturally star-crossed pair of lovers from medieval France, reincarnated in the bodies of two modern teenagers. An earnest performance by Cassandra Morris of Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié's first title (Simon Pulse, 2008) in the series tries hard to rise above the pitfalls of the story, but falls short.—Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI