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93rd out of 12,697 books
—
35,004 voters
The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive Part I (The Secret Circle #1-2)
by
L.J. Smith
THE CIRCLE'S POWER HAS LURED HER HOME...
Forced to move from sunny California to gloomy New England, Cassie longs for her old life. Even so, she feels a strange kinship to a terrifying group of teens who seem to rule her school. Initiated into the coven of witched that's controlled New Salem for hundreds of years, she's drawn into the Secret Circle, a thrill that's both int...more
Forced to move from sunny California to gloomy New England, Cassie longs for her old life. Even so, she feels a strange kinship to a terrifying group of teens who seem to rule her school. Initiated into the coven of witched that's controlled New Salem for hundreds of years, she's drawn into the Secret Circle, a thrill that's both int...more
Paperback, 396 pages
Published
July 22nd 2008
by HarperTeen
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Sep 26, 2011
Alex Bennett
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The Initiation
The Secret Circle is definitely one of, if not my favorite series. It was one of the first young adult series I read, and I could just not get enough. And since a television adaptation of this awesome series is coming soon, I thought now was the perfect time to revisit this series. And what I found was spectacular, but also different than I remember it being the first time I read it.
The Initiation does a good job setting up the story for the next two books in the Secret Circle se...more
The Secret Circle is definitely one of, if not my favorite series. It was one of the first young adult series I read, and I could just not get enough. And since a television adaptation of this awesome series is coming soon, I thought now was the perfect time to revisit this series. And what I found was spectacular, but also different than I remember it being the first time I read it.
The Initiation does a good job setting up the story for the next two books in the Secret Circle se...more
Meh.
Some good ideas here but they don't go anywhere. Sixteen year old Cassie is suddenly forced to move with her single mom to mom's home town -- somewhere Cassie has never been because mom and grandma have been estranged for 16 years.
You think a family issue this major would be addressed in the story but it isn't. Cassie moves into an ancient house filled with antiques but she might as well be living alone with the lack of communication in the house.
There's some business with the neighbors, all...more
Some good ideas here but they don't go anywhere. Sixteen year old Cassie is suddenly forced to move with her single mom to mom's home town -- somewhere Cassie has never been because mom and grandma have been estranged for 16 years.
You think a family issue this major would be addressed in the story but it isn't. Cassie moves into an ancient house filled with antiques but she might as well be living alone with the lack of communication in the house.
There's some business with the neighbors, all...more
My favorite characters in this book would have to be Cassie, Diana. Cassie: is a shy and caring person who put others before herself. Diana: is the popular girl that is really sweet and cares about others and just like Cassie she likes helping others. She is the mean girl that everyone is scared of, who likes to try and have all the power over everyone, she’s a control freak. If this book was made into a movie I would have Jessica Alba as Adam, Kirsten Stewart as Cassie, Charlotte Arnold as Dian...more
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4/3/2009 - The story is basically about Cassie and her single mother reluctantly moves from California to New Salem, Massachusetts, to take care of Cassie's grandmother. The local high school Cassie now attends is dominated by a very exclusive group of teens known as "the Club." It won't take the reader long to figure out that Club members are teen witches descended from the witches who survived the Salem witch hunts by leaving that town and starting their own. I love this book. I read both of t...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I love the plot, I loved every bit of this book! I have read it so many times and love it more each time! but I agree with something..... but I am not gonna ruin it because its in the last book.
Anyway, the story great, characters great. Cassie shy, pretty, confident and just down to earth. Adam strong, bold, confident, funny, loving and etc. Each of the characters are different from the others, Diana being the nice, kind one. Cassie being the confident yet fragile one. Adam being the strong bol...more
Anyway, the story great, characters great. Cassie shy, pretty, confident and just down to earth. Adam strong, bold, confident, funny, loving and etc. Each of the characters are different from the others, Diana being the nice, kind one. Cassie being the confident yet fragile one. Adam being the strong bol...more
L.J. Smith is a genius. That is the bottom line. She can create a vivid and strong female character that is not angsty and negative like so many of the characters in current young adult fantasy. She has a way of creating diverse situations in order to show off the weak and strong points of her characters but always sheds boths sides in a positive light. She illuminates the fact that women and men are not perfect, however, this imperfection is what makes them shine. This is needed into today's wo...more
Reviewed by Cassie Beale for TeensReadToo.com
L. J. Smith exceeds herself with the reissue of THE SECRET CIRCLE.
Though some of her older books, especially THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, are a delight to read, THE SECRET CIRCLE is leagues ahead in not only writing skill but in plot and characterization, as well.
The main character, Cassie (who coincidentally shares a first name with this reviewer), is likeable and easy to relate to as a plain, shy, sixteen-year-old girl.
After moving to New Salem to live w...more
L. J. Smith exceeds herself with the reissue of THE SECRET CIRCLE.
Though some of her older books, especially THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, are a delight to read, THE SECRET CIRCLE is leagues ahead in not only writing skill but in plot and characterization, as well.
The main character, Cassie (who coincidentally shares a first name with this reviewer), is likeable and easy to relate to as a plain, shy, sixteen-year-old girl.
After moving to New Salem to live w...more
3 likes · like · see review
I really had a hard time getting throught this book. The main character Cassie is not very likable and to me that is key for a book to be decent. Cassie is weak and wants to be part of a group of witches that treat her like absolute crap when she moves to their town. She becomes part of their group because of one other character, Diana who takes her under her wing. You don't feel sorry for Cassie because she is always feeling sorry for herself and comparing herself to Diana and the other girls i...more
****ACTUAL RATING 3.5****
I love the idea of magic and witches and I love books about them. I got this book as a gift after I read The Vampire Diaries and liked them. To me The Secret Circle was a great idea which some bits let down. First of all the things I liked about it.
1) Faye. She is my favourite character. She is beautiful and sinister. I just thought she was such good relief after all the good-girl bits with Diana and Cassie and Melanie and Laurel that Faye could then come in and make it...more
Story wise, I think this book was great. The witches were great as was the mystery surrounding the secret circle’s parents. I think this book is much better than the Vampire Diaries series. But my problem with L.J. Smith's books so far is that even if the story is great, it’s hard to get into it with such paper thin characters. Cassie is pretty mousy for awhile, but I can forgive that since she starts to become stronger and braver as the books continue. But her blind adoration of Diana makes me...more
Wow. That was…kind of incredibly stupid.
I won't go into it. It was just stupid.
I only read it because I absolutely adore the TV series its based on.
The show is so much better than the book, in my opinion, which is saying something because the show isn't exactly a paragon of excellence.
Okay, I'm going into it. Cassie was dumb. There were plenty of times when she could have stood up for herself and didn't. For example, when that guy on the beach grabbed her wrist, she could have said, "Get the hel...more
I won't go into it. It was just stupid.
I only read it because I absolutely adore the TV series its based on.
The show is so much better than the book, in my opinion, which is saying something because the show isn't exactly a paragon of excellence.
Okay, I'm going into it. Cassie was dumb. There were plenty of times when she could have stood up for herself and didn't. For example, when that guy on the beach grabbed her wrist, she could have said, "Get the hel...more
4 likes · like · see review
The Initiation:
The main character is Cassie Blake. She's originally from California, but the story begins with her vacationing in the New England area. Her father left many years ago. While vacationing, her mother tells her that they have to move in with her grandmother in New Salem, Massachusetts. When she moves there she discovers that some of the people living there, especially those living there from the town's inception, are witches. She doesn't get a warm reception when she first starts h...more
The main character is Cassie Blake. She's originally from California, but the story begins with her vacationing in the New England area. Her father left many years ago. While vacationing, her mother tells her that they have to move in with her grandmother in New Salem, Massachusetts. When she moves there she discovers that some of the people living there, especially those living there from the town's inception, are witches. She doesn't get a warm reception when she first starts h...more
L.J. Smith exceeds herself with the reissue of THE SECRET CIRCLE.
Though some of her older books, especially THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, are a delight to read, THE SECRET CIRCLE is leagues ahead in not only writing skill but in plot and characterization, as well.
The main character, Cassie, is likeable and easy to relate to as a plain, shy, sixteen-year-old girl.
After moving to New Salem to live with her mother and estranged grandmother, Cassie finds herself included in her new school's intimidating sec...more
Though some of her older books, especially THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, are a delight to read, THE SECRET CIRCLE is leagues ahead in not only writing skill but in plot and characterization, as well.
The main character, Cassie, is likeable and easy to relate to as a plain, shy, sixteen-year-old girl.
After moving to New Salem to live with her mother and estranged grandmother, Cassie finds herself included in her new school's intimidating sec...more
At first, I thought this book was a bit weird. Really, the only reason why I was reading it was because it was by one of my favorite authors, L.J Smith, and I had just finish some of her other books, like Night World. It really wasn’t going for me with the cliché of the main character liking her friend’s boyfriend.
Let me tell you that I was wrong about thinking it was weird!
I really like the L.J. Smith’s style of writing, so even if I still thought it was weird, I’d still like it. But, I liked...more
Let me tell you that I was wrong about thinking it was weird!
I really like the L.J. Smith’s style of writing, so even if I still thought it was weird, I’d still like it. But, I liked...more
BEYOND WORDS CAN DESCRIBE -- ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING!
Cassie is like any other girl who starts a new school. Feeling out of place; being made fun of & picked on; & at times getting into trouble (not by her fault either). It's not until she meets the most beautiful & popular girl in the school, Diana, & is welcomed by most of the members of her so-called club. Well this club isn't like any other, all the members are descendants of witches, even the boys, hence the Secret Circle.
Eve...more
Cassie is like any other girl who starts a new school. Feeling out of place; being made fun of & picked on; & at times getting into trouble (not by her fault either). It's not until she meets the most beautiful & popular girl in the school, Diana, & is welcomed by most of the members of her so-called club. Well this club isn't like any other, all the members are descendants of witches, even the boys, hence the Secret Circle.
Eve...more
This book is a combination of the first book and the first half of the second book in the series although the entire series reads as if it were one giant novel (which is arguably how it should’ve been published in the first place). Telling the story of a young girl who moves to her mother’s hometown and finds herself as a member of a coven of 12 teenage witches, this is a book that is awfully difficult to put down. Set in the early 1990s, it’s funny to read various references that are made at di...more
This series (although I've only read the first book) strikes me as the kind of series that appeals to those who love Sookie Stackhouse and True Blood and Charmed. The setting is Massachusetts in a town called New Salem. The legend is that the real witches of Salem realized their perilous circumstances and left shortly after the erroneous witch trials to start a new town. The story sets up New Salem in a sociological way. All residents are descendants of either the original witches or their serva...more
(3.5 stars)
I've read one L.J Smith book before (Dark Visions) and really enjoyed it. I heard that the Secret Circle has been made into a TV series and starts here this coming Wednesday. It looked quite good from the trailers, but I can't watch something if I know it's based on a book without reading it first, so I requested the series from the library and started reading.
Cassie has to move to a small town called 'New Salem' - surprise surprise not everything is as it seems in the new town. Stran...more
I've read one L.J Smith book before (Dark Visions) and really enjoyed it. I heard that the Secret Circle has been made into a TV series and starts here this coming Wednesday. It looked quite good from the trailers, but I can't watch something if I know it's based on a book without reading it first, so I requested the series from the library and started reading.
Cassie has to move to a small town called 'New Salem' - surprise surprise not everything is as it seems in the new town. Stran...more
So, I saw that they made this book into a mini series, and decided to give the books a try. I figured if I liked it I'd check out the show as well. This book is about a high school girl named Cassie. Her mom decides to make their vacation permanent by moving in with her estranged grandmother. The house is old and the grandmother looks like an old time witch, wart and all. Plus, this is in a place called "New Salem" in New England. So, come to find out this town is full of, you guessed it, witche...more
Cassie discovers she is a witch when she moves in with her grandmother. It seems like her new school’s elite are all witches too and she struggles to fit in with them. With a few murders taking place at her high school and the boy she likes being not-avelable her life is getting pretty exciting and dangerous. The first book is about her finding out about her past and the secrets of her new town. Trying to do the right thing and ending up being black-mailed from another member of her coven.
For the full review go to WellReadWife.com.
The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive Part I was originally published in 1992, and there are a few instances where the book is a little dated (i.e. mentions of cds,VHS tapes and of the supreme cool girl car of the 90s, the Volkswagen Rabbit). However, as a whole, the story is pretty timeless. Instead of vampires, this series focuses on a coven of teenaged witches in the town of New Salem. The main character of the series is a teen girl named...more
The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive Part I was originally published in 1992, and there are a few instances where the book is a little dated (i.e. mentions of cds,VHS tapes and of the supreme cool girl car of the 90s, the Volkswagen Rabbit). However, as a whole, the story is pretty timeless. Instead of vampires, this series focuses on a coven of teenaged witches in the town of New Salem. The main character of the series is a teen girl named...more
why is everyone rating it 3-4 stars? i mean SERIOUSLY?!?!?!
I think this may be the worst book ever. Wana know why?
- it dragged on forever!
- extremely poorly written
- shitty romance
- no real evidence of any kind of effort,just wrote for the sake of it.
- no real story line,could of done better myself and im 15 for crist sakes!!
- i could actually laugh at the cover, did a five year old make this??
- i'm sure i'm not the only one who had to force myself to read it,it took me 2 weeks to read this.. i...more
I think this may be the worst book ever. Wana know why?
- it dragged on forever!
- extremely poorly written
- shitty romance
- no real evidence of any kind of effort,just wrote for the sake of it.
- no real story line,could of done better myself and im 15 for crist sakes!!
- i could actually laugh at the cover, did a five year old make this??
- i'm sure i'm not the only one who had to force myself to read it,it took me 2 weeks to read this.. i...more
8 likes · like · see review
The main reason I picked this book up was because I wanted to read something by LJ Smith, but not "The Vampire Diaries", as I'm too in love with the show and did not want to know any spoilers beforehand, even though I have heard that the show deviates greatly from the books. But I digress.
I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't really get into it. The characters to me were just too boring and predictable: the main character, Cassie, is the sad, weak girl who suddenly realizes she...more
I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't really get into it. The characters to me were just too boring and predictable: the main character, Cassie, is the sad, weak girl who suddenly realizes she...more
Did I think this book was the best book ever and that i am totally in love with it? no
but did I think it was horrible and should of never been published? no to that too.
It wasn't a horrible book, but it wasn't completley amazing either. First of all lets go into characters:
Cassie: Now, usually I don't mind the main characters being shy and stuff, but this was absoloutley rediculous! The girl is absoloutley spineless and lets anyone trample over her without even trying to defened herself. That wa...more
but did I think it was horrible and should of never been published? no to that too.
It wasn't a horrible book, but it wasn't completley amazing either. First of all lets go into characters:
Cassie: Now, usually I don't mind the main characters being shy and stuff, but this was absoloutley rediculous! The girl is absoloutley spineless and lets anyone trample over her without even trying to defened herself. That wa...more
3 likes · like · see review
Este es un libro perfecto para pasar un rato.
Debo decir que hace varios meses vi la adaptación a la televisión de esta saga. Me pareció sumamente interesante. Pero perdí el hilo de la serie y no la seguí viendo. Esta madrugada, en medio de una noche de insomnio descubrí el pdf este libro en mi computadora y no me pude resistir a leerlo.
Me encanta la manera en que L.J. Smith escribe. Simple, interesante y asombrosa a la vez. Toda la trama del libro es un poco confusa y te deja con mucha intriga...more
1 like · like · see review
Öncelikle belirtmeliyim ki kitap ve dizinin isim benzerlikleri dışında hiç alakası yok.Ve bu kısımda kesinlikle kitap dizinden kat ve kat daha güzeldi.Okurken başlarda çok bocaladım, diziyi izlemiş biri olarak kitap çok farklı geldi ama ilerledikçe kitabı daha çok benimsedim.Dizisini izlemeyen biri için kitap gerçekten güzel ve okudukça zevk alacaktır.Beni okurken başlarda zorlayan yazarın olaya ağır girişi ve özellikle diziyle yaptığım kıyaslamaları oldu.Dizide 6 kişiden oluşan çember aslında 1...more
The secret circle books 1 and a half are amazing!
Cassie meets the love of her life one summer but then he disappears without even telling her his name or where he lives. But she has already fallen in love with him, she felt a really deep connection between them.
When she is forced to move into her mother's hometown, she is still thinking about him.
She meets a group of teenagers who live on her street and they insist that she is a witch like them.
She clicks with the leader, Diana, right away.
Dian...more
Cassie meets the love of her life one summer but then he disappears without even telling her his name or where he lives. But she has already fallen in love with him, she felt a really deep connection between them.
When she is forced to move into her mother's hometown, she is still thinking about him.
She meets a group of teenagers who live on her street and they insist that she is a witch like them.
She clicks with the leader, Diana, right away.
Dian...more
The Initiation
Cassie just moved to the little town of New Salem and doesn't feel like she fits in. At school there is a strange group of teens and Cassie wants to belong. When poor little Kori dies, a spot in the Club seems open for grabs. But this club isn't what Cassie thought it was and soon she learns more about herself and her own powers as well..
I thought The Initiation was enjoyable to read, but a bit slow. A lot of things needed to be explained, while other things - like Kori's death - s...more
Cassie just moved to the little town of New Salem and doesn't feel like she fits in. At school there is a strange group of teens and Cassie wants to belong. When poor little Kori dies, a spot in the Club seems open for grabs. But this club isn't what Cassie thought it was and soon she learns more about herself and her own powers as well..
I thought The Initiation was enjoyable to read, but a bit slow. A lot of things needed to be explained, while other things - like Kori's death - s...more
I'm guilty! I didn't know for this book until the series! ( forgive me lord) So, I decided to read the first book and again the same as the "Vampire Diaries" IT WAS NOTHING LIKE THE SERIES! But, I'm not here to talk about the series , I'm here to review the book.
Once again, I fell in love with Smith's writing. I strongly believe she's the best YA writer. "The Secret Circle" is so much better than "The Vampire Diaries"! Okay, here it goes.!
The characters were well-formed, completed, interesting a...more
Once again, I fell in love with Smith's writing. I strongly believe she's the best YA writer. "The Secret Circle" is so much better than "The Vampire Diaries"! Okay, here it goes.!
The characters were well-formed, completed, interesting a...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Books VS Shows | 17 | 79 | Apr 06, 2013 02:20am | |
| Reviews for the L...: THE SECRET CIRCLE-BOOK 1 | 10 | 10 | Oct 08, 2012 09:24am | |
| ebook??? | 4 | 23 | Mar 09, 2012 03:44pm | |
| What the heck? | 2 | 35 | Oct 23, 2011 01:18am |
L.J. SMITH has written over two dozen books for young adults, including The Vampire Diaries, now a hit TV show. She has also written the bestselling Night World series and The Forbidden Game, as well as the #1 New York Times bestselling Dark Visions. She loves to walk the trails and beaches in Point Reyes, California, daydreaming about her latest book. She also loves to hear from readers (info@lja...more
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“Sky and sea, keep harm from me. Earth and fire, bring… my desire.”
—
33 people liked it
“They'd bitten her the little monsters. And now they were sitting on the floor and composedly licking the blood off their chops. A surge of violent revulsion passed through Cassie.
From the doorway Faye chuckled.
Maybe theyre not getting all their vitamins and minerals from the kitten chow she said.”
—
7 people liked it
More quotes…
From the doorway Faye chuckled.
Maybe theyre not getting all their vitamins and minerals from the kitten chow she said.”
