L. J. Smith

Keep your enemies close. . . . For the first time since moving to New Salem, Cassie Blake feels normal. She's dating her soul mate Adam and making new friends in town. But between the secret coven of witches she belongs to and the incredible power she holds within her, Cassie is leading a far from ordinary life. When tragedy strikes the Circle, Cassie realizes being extraordinary can be a curse. The Circle is being hunted by an unknown enemy—and anyone could be the next victim. As they struggle to protect themselves, alliances are formed and relationships are tested. No one knows who to trust or who to fear. Will Cassie be able to save the Circle . . . and herself? Or will her choices break it apart forever?

The Secret Circle: The Divide

There's no turning back. . . . For Cassie and her Circle of witches, it's hard to imagine life in New Salem getting any worse. A band of powerful witch hunters is targeting the group, determined to destroy them one by one. And Cassie's half sister, Scarlett, won't rest until she has a spot in the Circle—even if she has to kill Cassie to get it. The Circle's only hope against their enemies is Cassie's father's Book of Shadows—an ancient guide to the world of dark magic. But Cassie soon discovers that opening the book has grave consequences. Cassie's drawn in by the book's sinister spell, and it starts controlling her emotions and impulses, unraveling her relationship with Adam as it takes over her life. Cassie fights against the darkness inside her as the threats against the Circle grow. But once evil is let in, she may never escape. . . .

The Secret Circle: The Hunt

Courtney Gendreau

I WILL not read these book! How can they just fire someone from writing these books!!!! L.J. Smith makes the series, with out her they are crap. I gave it one start because Alloy you guys suck!

I REFUSE to read this book it isn't even by L.J. Smith! its really stupid to take books away from someone else Alloy should be ashamed of themselves!!!! I can't stand them!!!!!!

Jade Flynn

It does upset me that L J Smith lost the rights to write these stories, but that doesn't mean I'm going to rate the book anything less than I think it deserves.

I'm just going to say the exact same thing I said in my review of 'The Divide' - It does upset me that L J Smith lost the rights to write these stories, but that doesn't mean I'm going to rate the book anything less than I think it deserves.

The Temptation - March 12th 2013.

Jessica 

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Ah, yes. The Divide.

The first of a planned expansion to the previous trilogy. The Secret Circle came back in a misguided attempt to speak to the groups of newer fans who, perhaps, had watched the television adaptation. We’ve all heard the horrors of what happened to L.J. Smith and her two most prominent works: The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle.

If you haven’t, long story short, Smith’s publisher didn’t like where she was taking the stories and due to their contract, she lost the rights to continue both series in the way that she had hoped. It’s a low blow that is very, very common in contracts like the one Smith signed back in the day and an unsurprisingly tacky move for them.

So it will come as no surprise to anyone that I, a fan of the original series, was skeptical when it came down to the new trilogy; penned by Aubrey Clark. Let me start with one thing. Clark isn’t a terrible writer–she just isn’t L.J. Smith and she certainly doesn’t understand the characters.

Like… at all. My first complaint isn’t that, though. It’s the fact that story felt forced and inconsistent with what we already knew. And yet oddly enough it also felt like we were rehashing different things from the series original run. 

Continued: BOOKEDJ.

In a surprising turn, The Hunt improves on the mess that was The Divide and almost, almost, almost echos the original trilogy in tone and suspense. Not quite, but at least it’s an improvement. Just not enough to save this hot mess before it falls flat once more because honestly, that’s all it did–it will build readers up only to drop them in a pile of boring mush.

In some ways, Aubrey Clark almost resembles L.J. Smith in heart and prose this time around; far more than she did previously.

So original readers will at least have that to rejoice in, if they should decide to continue the series. But that’s about all it has going for it. We have a few heartbreaking moments in this installment as well as a couple times were it is almost terrifying to see what can happen next.

Especially the ending! If there’s one thing that made my rating go up a bit for this installment, it’s the ending and the spooky tone it took on in one full twist.

But enough of that.

Let’s start with the basics. Cassie Blake is now on the hunt for answers and spells to take her half-sister, Scarlett down a few pegs before she inevitably kills her. Even worse, the witch hunters that moved to town are making it their mission to destroy the circle and mark its members for death. 

Continued: BOOKEDJ.

The Secret Circle: The Divide

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