BOOK REVIEW-Poison

POISON
By Molly Cochran
368 Pages
2012
Simon and Schuster
Synopsis by Goodreads:
After the riveting—and romantic—events of Legacy, Katy has won Peter’s heart and is now claiming her place in the magical world. Though half the students at her boarding school come from witching lines, the use of magic is expressly forbidden at Ainsworth, so as to keep the witching world hidden from the blue-blooded preppies, aka Muffies, who also walk the halls.
But the Muffies have at least a notion of magic, because Katy catches them staging a made-up ritual—and to her astonishment, the girls collapse at Katy’s feet and fall into comas. When Katy is blamed, she becomes desperate to clear her name and finds herself battling all odds to harness her growing magical powers in order to save the Muffies and dispel the Darkness once more.
My thoughts:
Poison is the exciting sequel to Legecy and author, Molly Cochran wastes no time picking up where we left off.
Katy is a full time student at Ainsworth School where she does she best to hide her magical abilities from the Muffies who are normal kids who attend the same school.
Katy has adjusted well to small town life with friends, family and sweet boyfriend, Peter. But bad luck finds Katy as she stumbles upon a few mean Muffies trying to cast amateur spells. Unfortunately they unwittingly unleash the Darkness that has been lying in wait for the opportunity to spread death and chaos.
My favorite character in this story would have to be Morgan-a new character to the trilogy with a interesting and complex past. Is she friend or foe to Katy?
Katy and Peter's relationship also reaches a new level of difficulty and maturity as he establishes a relationship with his biological family who can give him wealth and security-but at what cost?
One small annoyance I did have with the story is minor character-Hattie. I was very confused by her role and relationship to Katy. I feel like Hattie(Peter's surrogote mom) was thrown into Poison because she was in the first story but didn't really have a place in the sequel-when she was present she seems to dislike Katy-hissing or snapping at her-why?
All in all I really liked Poison and I've enjoyed the series so far. I would definielty continue to read about the adventures of Katy Ainsworth.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster for providing me with this ARC to read and review.

Book Review- LEGACY

LEGACY
By Molly Cochran
2011
432 Pages
Simon and Schuster
When her widowed father dumps 16-year-old Katy Jessevar in a boarding school in Whitfield, Massachusetts, she has no idea that fate has just opened the door to both her future and her past. Nearly everyone in Whitfield is a witch, as is Katy herself, although she has struggled all her life to hide her unusual talents. Stuck at a boarding school where her fellow students seem to despise her, Katy soon discovers that Whitfield is the place where her mother committed suicide under mysterious circumstances when Katy was just a small child. With dark forces converging on Whitfield, it's up to Katy to unravel her family's many secrets to save the boy she loves and the town itself from destruction.
My Thoughts:
Although Molly Cochran is credited for writing 26 previous books, Legacy is her first Young Adult title. This tale combines magic, romance and relationships in a story I found interesting and entertaining but also sometimes confusing.
The plot speeds along as Katy is abandoned at a boarding school by her cold, distant father who is more interested in his girlfriend than the needs of his teenage daughter. She meets love interest Peter who is also cold and distant in the beginning but soon the two are madly in love and destined to be together no matter what.
I enjoyed that Katy discovers long lost family in the form of a grandmother and aunt who are great side characters, as well as a mysterious past that reveals that Katy's mother had committed a horrible act before supposedly killing herself. This bit of information made me understand why the towns people and students wanted to steer clear of Katy. But at the same time had me scratching my head in confusion of why Peter who want anything to do with Katy-Seems to me that the whole little brother/mother thing would be a giant relationship breaker? I'm trying not to reveal too much here.
The interesting bits and pieces about witches and the history of Ainsworth kept me turning the pages as I tried to understand Katy's lack of magical knowledge on one page then suddenly being spell savvy enough to teach Peter magic.
Legacy lacked flow at times and seemed a bit choppy in places-all in all not a great story but a good one. I'm interested enough to pick up the sequel Poison and see what happens next.
I bought this book on my Nook through Barnes and Noble. My advice to you is to save your money and check this one out at your local library.