Let's Discuss: Book Spotlight--Old Magic by Marianne Curley

 

Today I felt like spotlighting an old favorite book of mine! One I can legit remember discovering at Waldenbooks--Borders' little brother--at my now dead mall. I can see it so clearly. I popped into the store, like I did every time I visited, this was before Borders took over the space. I strolled the little YA section, because you know, little store, little sections. I did my scanning the titles and pulling out whatever called my attention. And that's when I saw it...OLD MAGIC!

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Old Magic by Marianne Curley

Even as a younger reader, I was craving the paranormal and fantasy books. And apparently in my day, publishers thought teens wanted drama, nothing. But. Drama. Or in the book world, contemporary. So when I found a book that was more about paranormal people, or anything to do with magic that wasn't Harry Potter, it was a diamond in the rough. I can remember spending hours at Borders pulling books off the shelves looking for that perfect read. Going to the "mall bookstores" was fun in the sense that the store was smaller, so less books to pull off the shelf. Lol. I know my mom probably preferred THOSE trips since she could say, meet me at this or that store instead! It was always surprising to her when I showed up 10-15 minutes later.

This was one of those times!

Old Magic was a book meant for me! Witches, warlocks, curses, magic, time-traveling...what more could you want?! What also drew me to the book was that the heroine wasn't your typical IT girl. Of course now we're all used to that mousey, unpopular girl who has great potential. But I felt like growing up I didn't see enough of that. I remember reading other books where the heroine was Ms. Popular and everybody loved her. You can see why I started to get tired of those books. Having a heroine who was a social outcast was a breath of fresh air. It also didn't hurt that I was sort of the friendless one growing up too. So I definitely felt a kinship with this heroine. But sadly, I was not a bonafide witch.

What was also special about this book for me was that it was my first book by an Aussie! Let me tell you, I was thrown at first with some of the different spellings. I don't think I read any UK/English authors yet either at this point, so I was a bit puzzled. Lol. Of course, after I finished reading I saw that the author was from Australia and then everything made sense to me afterwards.

I still have this cover even, plus the reprinted one from a few years back. I still need to order the newer version of it that was printed last year. Hopefully soon, a re-read might be in order too if I think I have the time!