Coven (Sweep, #2)

by Cate Tiernan

[Nessa Luna]

Last year, I read and reviewed the first book in the Sweep series, Book of Shadows. I had read some of these books when I was younger and very much into Wicca, but never read the entire series. While I enjoyed the first book, I thought it was very mild, not much happened throughout the entire book, and the last chapter was probably the most exciting part. I also didn't like how it ended so abruptly.

So naturally, I had to pick up the second book, The Coven. I'd gotten a bind-up of the first three books, because that was a lot cheaper than buying each book separately. The Coven goes further almost immediately after the first book ended, which I appreciate. Most of the times, when a book ends with a cliffhanger - the story goes on a couple of days, weeks or even months later. This book picks up the day after Samhain, after the group made their first circle.

I personally still think the narrative is a bit too young for me. Morgan is sixteen, but she sounds so much younger in my opinion, more like twelve or something. One plus, she only talks about her non-existing breasts twice in this book (I've decided to count them because there were so many in the first book). She now only thinks about Cal, Cal, Cal, and about how much she misses Bree. Because Bree - who had a big crush on Cal - is not happy with how Cal didn't choose her, so of course the most logical way is to be a big bitch to your best friend (who had no interest in Cal at all up until Samhain, I guess, honestly I don't remember that well).

This book is still pretty mild, not much happens, the most exciting things are when Morgan tries to find out about her birthparents, but it's still really enjoyable. There are some passages from the Book of Shadows of someone at the beginning of each chapter, and we find out more about this woman later on in the story. And then there's this mysterious girl named Sky (of course) who we'll probably be seeing more of in the next book.

Again, this book ends so abruptly that I actually wanted to start the third book immediately, but I think I'm going to buy the next bind-up first before I do that, because I have the feeling that every book is going to end like this. This is just not my favourite way of ending a book, and I did take away points for that. But other than that, The Coven was really enjoyable and I relived my youth by reading this series.

If you're into witches, Wiccan and light reads, you should pick up the Sweep series!

My opinion on this book in one gif: