Review: Spellcaster by Claudia Gray

Synopsis
When Nadia's family moves to Captive's Sound, she instantly realizes there's more to the place than meets the eye. Descended from witches, Nadia can sense that a spell has been cast over the tiny Rhode Island town—a sickness infecting everyone and everything in it. The magic at work is darker and more powerful than anything she's come across and has sunk its claws most deeply into Mateo . . . her rescuer, her friend, and the guy she yearns to get closer to even as he pushes her away.

Mateo has lived in Captive's Sound his entire life, shadowed by small-town gossip and his family's tormented past. Every generation, the local legends say, one member of the family goes mad, claiming to know the future before descending into insanity. When the strange dreams Mateo has been having of rescuing a beautiful girl from a car accident actually come true, he knows he's doomed.

Despite the forces pulling them apart, Nadia and Mateo must work together to break the chains of his terrible family curse, and to prevent a coming disaster that even now threatens the entire town, including Nadia's family, her newfound friends, and her own life. Shimmering with magic and mystery, New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray's new novel depicts a dark and unforgettable world of witches, curses, buried secrets, and star-crossed romance.

Thoughts: I was initially drawn to the beautiful cover and then the synopsis had me sold. The narrative is told from four different points of view and one part gets told from the perspective of a bird, which seems confusing. Verlaine, the peculiar outcast, I felt her view off-balanced the other three. I couldn't understand why and at the end of the book I was still puzzled as to why her point of view is being told, true, something weird is going on with her. Verlaine's commentary about Nadia and Mateo just comes off as envious and sad. 

So, this story has so many wonderful elements going for it from the history of the town, the magical aspects and the curse. The characters are all connected some way to the darkness brewing in the town. Nadia immediately becomes sucked in to fix whatever is wrong in her new home but she's still fresh and doesn't have the experience of an advanced witch. Even though she’s still carrying the hurt from her mother's abandonment, Nadia joins forces with Mateo and peculiar Verlaine to uncover the secrets of the evil lurking in Captive Sound yet they aren't prepared for the powerful foe willing to destroy everything to get what they want. 

The writing and setting is good but I wasn't able to visualize it completely in my mind. The history behind each of the characters is interesting. My favorite part of this book is the magic and how the caster has a special way to formulate the ingredients to make the spell work. Overall, an okay start to a new series that leaves me with so many questions and I will be reading the next book to find out what happens. 

Author: Claudia Gray
Title: Spellcaster
Series: Spellcaster #1
Publication: March 5, 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: Paranormal
Source: Publisher
~Website