Book Thoughts: White Cat

Title: White Cat
Author: Holly Black
Series: Curse Workers #1

The first book in a proposed trilogy, WHITE CAT was full of amazing characters and intricate plots, and oh my goodness it was wonderful. Everyone should go read it, right now.

The novel is set in the United States, basically as we know it but with one major difference: everyone wears gloves. Always. That's because of the curse workers. About one in a thousand people can work magic with just a single touch. Each one has a different gift: changing emotions, messing with memories, changing dreams, giving luck, causing death, even transforming things (although that one's really rare).

Cassel Sharpe has always been the only member of his family not to be a worker. And since the age of fourteen, he has carried the burden of knowing that he killed the girl he loved. Now, Cassel is trying to blend in and forge a new life for himself at a boarding school. He can't quite stay away from the life of a con artist, but he's more normal than he's ever been before.

When he wakes up on the roof of the dorm building and starts seeing a mysterious white cat everywhere, even in his dreams, everything starts to change. Cassel is wrapped up in a mystery only he can solve, and the stakes are high: the lives of almost everyone he cares about.

Go read this book. Right now. You guys, the Curse Workers series (or at least, the first installment of it) is FANTASTIC. Readreadread.

Book Thoughts: Invisibility

Title: Invisibility
Author: Andrea Cremer & David Levithan

Wow. That's the first thing I have to say about this book. Wow.

Stephen has been invisible his whole life. It's part of a curse placed on his mother before he was born. No one - not even Stephen himself - has ever seen him.

And then Elizabeth moves in, and she sees him plain as day.

As they start to fall maybe-in-love, Stephen and Elizabeth (and Elizabeth's brother Laurie, who might just be the most fun character in the book because of all his snark) are plunged into a whole new world of cursecasting and spellseeking in a desperate attempt to unravel the curse on Stephen - before it kills one of them.

The emotion in this book is just incredible. Ever wished you could just be invisible? You won't anymore. It's kind of a haunting look at the downside of one of those go-to "superpowers," as well as what it means to really care about somebody.

The writing is beautiful, the characters are kick-butt, and the story - well, I couldn't put it down. Seriously, read this ASAP. This is a truly fantastic book.