The Witch's Kiss - Katharine & Elizabeth Corr

Sixteen-year-old Meredith is fed-up with her feuding family and feeling invisible at school – not to mention the witch magic that shoots out of her fingernails when she’s stressed. Then sweet, sensitive Jack comes into her life and she falls for him hard. The only problem is that he is periodically possessed by a destructive centuries-old curse. Meredith has lost her heart, but will she also lose her life? 

Or in true fairytale tradition, can true love’s kiss save the day?

When I originally read The Witch's Kiss last year it somehow managed to escape my attention, very nearly to the end of the book, that it was a loose retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Given how much I love fairy tales this was a great feat indeed!

Merry is a witch but doesn't want to be. She doesn't understand her powers and after nearly inadvertently killing someone she doesn't want to use her powers! Thanks to a string of nightmares, an eccentric grandmother and a mysterious box found in the attic Merry soon realises that there's nothing she can do to avoid what she is. Aided and abetted by her wonderful brother Leo, Merry tries to break the curse that has been passed down through her family for 1500 years before the mysterious King of Hearts and a centuries old wizard can awaken and rise from under the lake where they sleep.

Merry and Leo are two of  my favorite characters. They have such a fantastic brother/sister relationship and I'm quite envious that I never had a brother. Jack was also great, as the tortured King of Hearts and his fight to overcome the centuries old curse, and torn between present-day Merry and his love for his 1500 years ago true love. The Corr sisters have put together a truly intriguing take on Sleeping Beauty, a much darker version, of one of my favorite fairy tales. The writing was spellbinding in places, the description of the lake where most of the action took place was so evocative it feels like you are there with Merry, an onlooker to the fight against the darkness. The blend between fantasy and historical was seamless, taking you from one to the other without feeling disjointed and giving you the time to get to know the characters both from then and now.

If you like tales of fantasy, fairy tales and history woven together to make an entirely readable (and, at times, unputdownable) book then pick up The Witch's Kiss and you won't be disappointed!

The Witch's Kiss - Elizabeth & Katharine Corr

ISBN - 9780008182984

Publisher - Harper Collins Children's 

Release date - June 30th, 2016

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository