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 has powers; her friend, the angelic and idyllic Diana, always sees the good in everyone, including in her obviously malicious cousin, Faye. The other thing about the characters which kind of annoyed me was the whole dark and light thing: Diana is blonde and fair and slender and good; Faye is dark and voluptuous and evil. I know this may sound juvenile to complain about, but I am, quite frankly, over this predictable character development.
As for the plot of novel, to me it felt a little slow, perhaps, as I stated earlier, because of my inability to align with the main character.
I should probably ease up a little bit, considering the time period this book was written in; I've read other fantasy/sci-fi/horror novels from the 90s, and they typically had these kinds of cookie-cutter characters.
So would I read the rest of the series? Even though I don't want to, I most likely will, if only to find out more about Nick, who is an incredibly intriguing, if predictably cold, character. And that concludes my rant of a review.