Elizabeth Lenhard

“I almost feel sorry for her, the Oracle thought gleefully. Here it is the last night of her young life and she’s dancing.”


All the warmth and charm — no pun intended — of the fun television series is captured nicely by Elizabeth Lenhard in this breezy novelization of the two episodes, All Hell Breaks Loose, and, Charmed Again, both written by Brad Kern. It’s a good novelization, not trying to do more than the series did, and is much like watching the show itself. Any fan will show more recognize these episodes because it was a changing of the guard, with Prue being killed, and the sorrow over that blended with the discovery that there existed a half-sister who could not only give back to Piper and Phoebe the Power of Three, but also help them heal after the loss of their sister Prue. Because just about anyone interested in the book has no doubt seen the series, I won’t mark anything as a spoiler, but if you don’t want to know what happens, this might not be the review you want to read.

Crushed by the loss of Prue, the oldest and the lynchpin of the sisters’ magical abilities, Piper is taking the loss even harder than Phoebe as this one begins. There is frustration as well, because Leo chose to save Piper over Prue — he could only save one. The Source is after Phoebe’s love, Cole, and he’s shadowed by the Source’s bounty hunters everywhere he goes. A plea from Piper to the Book of Shadows brings back — at least briefly, in ghost form — Grams, and then their mother, but not Prue. But when a lovely young woman who reminds Phoebe a bit of Prue shows up unexpectedly at Prue’s funeral, something strange happens. As Phoebe takes Paige’s hand in hers, she gets a vision, and knows Paige is in danger from the demon bounty hunter, Shax. But why would the Source be worried about Paige?

Well, we know, of course, but as yet Paige has no inkling that she’s part witch, part whitelighter. Paige only knows that she feels close to the Halliwell sisters, and was drawn to Prue’s funeral. It’s only during a battle on a rooftop as Cole and Phoebe attempt to protect her from Shax that Paige’s power to whitelight kick in. It freaks her out. As the remaining two sisters attempt to figure out what’s going on, while grieving the loss of Prue, Inspector Cortez is very intent on taking down the Halliwells. The Charmed Ones’ cop friend Darryl Morris, tries to help, but Cole has a very hot solution!

Paige wants to get away from all these crazy people, and the arms of her boyfriend Shane seems as good a place as any. Eventually, however, the Source decides to use to his advantage the 48 hour period during which Paige can choose of her own free will whether to be good or evil. And to that end, he takes over the one person Paige trusts, Shane, using Paige’s work as an assistant to a social worker, and her good heart, against her. But Phoebe has a trick or two as well, including some pink glasses which allow you to see the evil. Seeing evil and defeating it is an entirely different matter, however.

Someone doesn’t survive going up against the Source, but it’s best not to forget that Leo’s not the only whitelighter in the family now. There is a nice, warm ending to this breezy and enjoyable narrative, as Piper and Phoebe get a new sister, and begin moving forward after a terrible loss. At 181 pages this is a light and easy, yet extremely enjoyable read anyone who loved the show will like. It doesn’t go further, since it’s a novelization based on the two aforementioned episodes, but it’s nice to read, and a good way to get you back to San Francisco, and the magical world of the Halliwell sisters. Really nice for fans. show less

Scottie is going through a hard time after the death of her beloved aunt. She also feels disconnected from her school friends, who are more interested in boys and clothes than she (and also have more means to afford designer things). She discovers solace in knitting and through a twist of fate, her estranged bestie and two other girls from their school show up at the same LYS (Local Yarn Store). The girls bond through love of yarn.
The prose is sprinkled with both teenage jargon and show more fiber-speak, and while I'm familiar with the latter, it almost seemed as if the author was trying too hard to capture the dialogue of her young characters. I wonder whether an actual teenager would find it more authentic than I did, because I really don't know how teenagers talk nowadays (or in 2005 when this book was written). The Chicago setting, however, is very authentic and several local landmarks as well as the Metra system are accurately portrayed. I am interested enough to try to track down the other two books in this series, though they seem rather difficult to come by. show less

Scottie has gone boy-crazy. All her friend have or have had boyfriends and she feels left out. Unfortunately, when she likes a guy, she kind of goes crazy, which, generally, boys don't like. How can she manage to stay sane around the new guy who's moved into her apartment building?
This is a sweet YA title with good friendships, age-appropriate life lessons and a lot of knitting. Although, I don't know how Scottie and her friends are affording all the crazy-expensive yarn they talk about in show more the book! show less

An interesting addition to the W.I.T.C.H. series though it suffers by not being a full graphic novel. At the start and ending of the book, there are comic book sections but they sort of highlight how the author seems to be thinking of the story in visual terms. Certain chapters also seem to lack even more by not being in a graphic format which is a shame since the story itself is one that many girls will enjoy with the five friends and their struggles as growing young women and also being show more Guardians of the Veil. Since this is the seventh book in the series, many parts of the plot will not be clear unless other books of the series have been read and it might be more difficult for a new reader to tell the girls apart. The writing style is accessible to most nine to twelve year olds and would not be seen as too childish for someone in Middle School especially with the addition of the comic book pages. So for a reader who is curious about manga and graphic novels, but worried about what they might find there, this series creates a useful bridge with a few comic pages and then a book. Also other editions of the series are done in full graphic novel form where its quite clear that the authors are working to appeal to young girls with an interest in fairies, anime and friendship.

Though this does mean that some of the art styles and the girls' focus is much more on looking pretty for boys and at times the heroics take second place to having the boy you like, like you back. At one point in the series, they actually overlap as one of the girls meets a boy she's been dreaming of during an adventure. This can be appealing but also promotes a slightly worrying message that being like by boys can be more important than being a strong heroine. Overall this is a sweet series but an awareness of which readers are reading it and why would be best going into it. show less