Secret Circle [Paperback]

L Smith (Author)

Book Description

Series: Secret Circle | Publication Date: January 7, 2010

In this, the bind up of The Initiation and The Captive Part 1, is the start of Cassie's story. Forced to move from sunny California to gloomy New England, Cassie is homesick - until she forms a bond with a group of teenagers at her school. This clique rules the school - no one dare cross them - but Cassie feels a strange kinship with them, and when she is initiated into their 'secret circle' she is both terrified and thrilled to be part of a coven of witches that have controlled New Salem for hundreds of years...But then Cassie falls in love. Now she has a tough decision to make: does she walk away, or does she step over to the dark side?

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The dramatic black cover, with blood-red lettering and a close-up photo of an intense young woman with dark red lips, might suggest vampires, but the series title (The Secret Circle) gives it away: here there be witches. Quiet, shy Cassie and her single mother reluctantly move from California to New Salem, Massachusetts, to take care of Cassie’s grandmother, who looks suspiciously witchy and seems to know an awful lot about herbs. The local high school Cassie now attends is dominated by a very exclusive group of teens known as “the Club.” It won’t take the reader long to figure out that Club members are teen witches descended from the witches who survived the Salem witch hunts by leaving that town and starting their own. Our hapless heroine is, of course, a witch herself (though only half, as her absent father was not of that community), and in this first title in the series she begins to find her power and her position within the group. Fans of Smith’s Vampire Diaries series will find the same basic formula here: plenty of foreshadowing, lots of action, mild creepiness, and instant infatuation. Characterization is minimal, but those seeking lightweight, mildly scary, somewhat romantic titles will gobble this up and eagerly await the sequel. Grades 7-10. --Debbie Carton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

L J Smith is the phenomenally popular of the best-selling vampire sequence Night World - the recent revival of which has seen these enduringly popular novels become best-sellers over a decade of being in print. The final Night world novel, Strange Fate is to be published in 2010 by HCB. She is also the author of the four book sequence the Vampire Diaries - also available as two bind-ups. L J Smith has recently created her own website at www.ljanesmith.net and lives in California, USA.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Hodder Childrens; Classic ed edition (January 7, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340999543
• ISBN-13: 978-0340999547
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,057,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Let's see, I've known that I wanted to be a writer since I was about six, when a teacher praised a horrible poem I'd written. I wrote my first book in high school, finishing it in my first year of college. Then I became a special ed teacher before I was able to become a writer full-time. That's about it!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Epic Win, September 6, 2008

By 

D. Kukura "goldfish" (WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive Part I (rpkg) (Paperback)

Ah, The Secret Circle. Quite simply, I adore these books. I'm absolutely thrilled that they're being re-released, as my old copies are now quite creased and have started to fall apart. I finally get to replace them! Though I'll never throw the originals away, mostly because I would feel like that was sacrilege, but also because I don't like these new covers nearly as much as the old ones.

Yes, these books are THAT good. I first read them as a young teenager, because my sister and I were both big fans of Smith's Vampire Diaries saga. At first we were both confused, because we thought these TSC would be about vampires, too. We quickly decided that witches were just as much fun to read about as vampires!

(very minor spoilers below, beware)

The heroine of this trilogy is Cassie Blake, and she is a character that every girl reading the books will both relate to and admire. As a younger reader, I remember feeling really elated by this, because if I was even a little bit like Cassie, I must be a better person than my teenage mind gave me credit for. And I think that new readers will come to the same realization.

As the story starts, Cassie is fairly ordinary, or at least she sees herself that way. She's average looking and fairly shy. She doesn't stand up for herself, and she's easily intimidated. Smith never writes her as a COWARD, though, just as a timid, typical teenage girl who desperately longs to fit in with her peers. When she first sees Diana (who later becomes her best friend), she assumes that Diana is out of her league because Diana is beautiful. A very realistic reaction, in my opinion, and one I had many times in high school.

As the books progress, so does Cassie. She slowly begins to realize her own potential without compromising who she was in the very first chapter. She's a character who follows her heart and tries to do what she really believes is right. She makes mistakes, definitely, and is far from perfect, but even when she deliberately does the wrong thing, she feels guilty about it and tries to clean up whatever messes she helped cause. When forced to choose, she almost always chooses her family and friends over her own wants. I think she's a fantastic role model for tween readers (and adult readers, too, come to think).

All of Smith's characters are very richly developed. Diana, the beautiful best friend, seems absolutely perfect at first. She's eternally kind and loving and generous and innocent. But it becomes clear that she's also TOO naive at times, TOO trusting. Faye, who is the anti-Diana, isn't as bad as she is initially portrayed. Her selfish/nasty aspects don't go away (which would be unrealistic and less fun), but her more redeeming qualities are brought to light the more the reader and Cassie get to know her.

This story is exciting and interesting. At its core, it's about Cassie discovering who she is. It just so happens that she's from a long line of witches. At the time when I first read The Initiation and The Captive, I had never read a story quite like it. I realize now that the YA market is full of supernatural paperbacks, so I don't know if that will still be true for new readers. Witchcraft, soulmates, magic, a mysterious evil... seems like a lot of books use this recipe now-a-days. But what I think makes Secret Circle (and all of Smith's books, really) stand apart, is how readers really FEEL what the leading character is feeling. Despite all the supernatural aspects, these books seem so genuine and real, because Cassie's thoughts and emotions are so understandable.

L.J. Smith will forever be one of my favorite authors because of this trilogy. It not only has been a personal joy to read and reread, but it has added to the bond that I share with my sister who first introduced me to Smith's books so many years ago. We've often read the books together, so much so that, for her 30th birthday in November, I've recently purchased her a piece of chalcedony carved in the shape of a rose (I'm a total nerd, I realize, but I know she'll immediately understand what it is and that it's my way of saying I love her and miss our childhood days).

To sum up, these books are full of awesome. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying them.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME! Could not put it down!, January 19, 2009

By 

Chrissy - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive Part I (rpkg) (Paperback)

Lucky for me I had the second book ready to go because I read the first book in 1 day. It was so good I kept reaching for it whenever I had a spare moment.
Really this is a great read.
I wish I had read it in the 90's when they were out and I was younger- LOL.
Personally, I feel L.J. Smith's books are better than the Twiglight Series. And they were written before Twilight. Hmmmm...Maybe S.Meyer read L.J Smith when she was younger...

**Make sure you have the second book ready because it is originally a trilogy. So each of the 2 Secret Circle books has 1 1/2 of the original books from the trilogy in them:o)

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Secret Circle, July 22, 2008

By 

Dawn Stillman "Katie" (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive Part I (rpkg) (Paperback)

I began reading L. J. Smith when I was twelve years old, and continued to read and reread her books as I grew older. This edition of the Secret Circle is the same as L. J. Smith's previous editions of the Secret Circle which were released in the mid to late 1990s. Out of all her books though, The Secret Circle trilogy has remained one of my favorite series by far.

In the books Cassie a young girl moving to a new town is in for a surprise when she finds out her mother was raised in a small town run by the families on Cassie's street. Cassie is both welcomed into this fold as a member of the street and excluded from the fold as a half-outsider and finds herself surrounded by a mystery she feels compelled to solve. Throw in some romance, drama, and a tad bit of magical mystery and the series is pretty much explained. A great read and if you enjoy this series check out my other favorite books by L.J. Smith, which include her Dark Visions Trilogy and the Nightworld Series.