Reviews

This book is set in Regency England and the main action takes place in Bath. The main characters are Kat and Angeline, who can both use magic. Kat inherited her mother's ‘guardian power', pure raw magic that uses emotion to work whereas Angeline used her mother's spell books to learn witchcraft and become more powerful than Kat. Life is looking up for the sisters as Elissa, the oldest sister, is getting ready for her wedding day when disaster strikes. Angeline's sweetheart is forbidden from marrying her by his mother when she finds out that Angeline is a witch. After Elissa moves in with her husband Angeline is taken to Bath to find a fiancé. But there is a powerful magic brewing in Bath, and it is threatening to kill Kat and Angeline's brother. Is the water in Bath more powerful than anybody knows?

I found this book alright, though clearly aimed at a younger audience. Angeline is my favourite character as Kat is too young for me to find interesting, even though she is the narrator. I really liked that we could actually go to where I was set and that they used the famous Bath ‘pump-room' as a major setting. I found this book accurate in attitudes and ideas of Regency England but not always in language.

I personally didn't like the fact that Kat was the main character but had the most trivial problems; I think it should have been told by Angeline as she had problems that would interest more teenagers.

I think this book suits 9-11 year old girls who maybe couldn't follow books like ‘Pride and Prejudice' or ‘Little Women'; it is a younger person's version of those books and is aimed at younger readers.

by Millie