Full Review will be posted to blog My Precious on 5/5/12 
 thecallawayfam.blogspot.com 
 Spellcaster 
 BY CARA LYNN SHULTZ 
 Publisher: Harlequin Teen (March 27, 2012) 
 Length: 384 pages, Paperback 
 Format: E-Arc 
 Source: Netgalley.com 
 Genre: Young Adult, Romance 
 Series: Yes, Book 2 of 2 
 Completed: April 2012 
 Challenges: 2012 E-book Challenge, 2012 Outdo Yourself Challenge, 2012 Finish the Series Challenge, 2012 Witches/Witchcraft Challenge, 2012 2nds Challenge 
 SUMMARY 
 After breaking the century old curse, Emma and Brenden are settling into the rest of their lives living together as "soul mates". But someone, who is extremely jealous of their newly found happiness is determined to put an end to it once and for all. This person begins to wreak havoc on their perfect lives. When this villainous person strikes too close to home, Emma decides she must take things into her own capable hands. This time she must battle the protagonist all alone. Will she be a powerful enough witch to prevail? 
 BACKGROUND 
 Cara Lynn Schultz jump started her writing career at age seven, when she penned a ghost story, then enlisted her childhood friends to act it out on her front porch. Currently she resides in New York City with her husband, cat and according to her website "8 million other people". Spellbound was her debut novel. Spellcaster is the sequel and follow up book in the series. 
 SETTING PACE AND STYLE 
 Like Spellbound, Spellcaster is set in New York city, with much of the story taking place at or around the school grounds of the prestigious private high school Vincent Academy. At the beginning the author does spend some time reintroducing the characters and filling in background story, which made the book start a little slow at the start up. About the 30% mark, it picked up to a nice moderate clip. Then, the last 10% of the story slowed down again. Spellcaster is written in first person for the majority of the story, from Emma's humorous and sarcastic point of view. At a few random intervals in the book, the author does change to a third person perspective through Angelique's eyes, though I'm not sure why, or even if this adds to the story. 
 CHARACTERS AND PLOT 
 Emma remains her humorous, sarcastic self, always managing to find something funny to think or say, even in the face of true danger. She's a survivor, having been put through a lot during her short life. Having Emma as the first person narrator for the bulk of the story made this read light, enjoyable and fun, even when she was fighting for her life. 
 Angelique doesn't falter from her flamboyant nature in the first book, with wild black flowing outfits and strange makeup. She continues to hone in on both her witchcraft and empath skills in this installment. At her insistence, Emma continues to diligently practice her witchcraft spells, becoming a much stronger witch as the story progresses. Angelique is the glue which holds this story together, without her, it wouldn't be much of anything. 
 Brendan is still hot and handsome as ever, always having no shortage of teenage girls oogling him wherever he goes. He's true to Emma, never straying, despite the ample opportunities, as girls nearly throw themselves at this guy left and right. Deeply in love with his soul mate, Brenden continues to yearn to protect Emma from anyone or anything which may harm her. This doesn't always work out in his favor though. 
 Ashley, Emma's somewhat annoying, immature freshman cousin is back, all grown up now and far less unnerving. She has physically developed a well endowed chest in this book and there is a lot of discussion surrounding this. Much of the times, its Emma making very humorous commentary and Ashely being oblivious to it all. 
 The plot line revolves around Brendan's infidelity of his past returning to haunt him, threatening his newfound happiness with Emma, his recently discovered soulmate. 
 RECOMMENDATION 
 This book is the perfect follow up to readers who enjoyed Spellbound. With some pretty intense fight scenes, guys should enjoy this book as well as girls. If you are looking to read more about your favorite characters and join them in another suspense filled, sarcastically humorous tale, then this is something you won't want to miss. Witchcraft, romance and mystery are all key elements. Those who found Spellbound entertaining, will not want to miss out on the sequel. 
 PERSONAL NOTE 
 Spellbound wrapped up nicely. I was really curious to see where this next book would take me. After the initial reintroductions to the characters, this story jumps right into a mysterious plot line. Someone evil is out to destroy Emma and Brenden's perfect relationship. This villain will stop at nothing to accomplish it either, even if it means hurting others most dear to Emma along the way. 
 Wildly, in this read, I was ahead of Emma and Brenden, somehow managing to figure out who this mysterious person was, near the beginning of the book. This rarely happens to me. It was almost as if the author wanted the reader to know. She dropped numerous subtle hints right from Emma's first encounter with her nemesis. Honestly, knowing the identity of this person did distract some from my overall enjoyment of the book. Luckily, there were still a few twists which still managed to surprise me. 
 In Spellcaster, the romance remained believable. I liked the intimacy and tension between Emma and Brendan as the relationship advanced to the next level. Their love, even though they were soul mates seemed real, not forced. It was nice to see both teens practicing abstinence. Brendan respected Emma and her wishes, never letting anything get out of hand, even though they were left unsupervised far too often. 
 The only disappointment for me was the anticlimactic ending to this story. The author did a great job building the action right up until the much anticipated final fight scene. It could have had far greater impact if the entire scene was played out with Emma as the narrator. Instead, it changes up to third person, Angelique, at a critical point in the altercation. For me this didn't flow and I felt cheated out of the witnessing the end of the battle first hand, thus making the ending a puff of smoke, instead of a big bang I was anticipating. 
 RATING 
 3.5 Rings 
 (IT WAS MORE THAN OK - KEPT ME TURNING PAGES) 
 I deducted one and a half rings for predictability and anticlimactic ending. Otherwise, this was an entertaining, enjoyable read. It held my interest and kept me turning pages.