Always a Witch (Witch #2):

"What will you do now?"
Jessica smiles at me, a full real smile
"I intend to live," she says quietly
"I suggest you do the same."
~MacCollough, Carolyn
Says Jasmine to Tasmin.

My rating: 4 1/2 out of 5

To save her family she must take a life.

But is Tasmin willing to go to such extremes? What if it was the only way to save Gabriel? How far is Tasmin willing to push her moral boundaries to save all those she loves?

A truly spellbinding read that was detailed and invigorating. A darkly spun tale that define's dark magic in a whole other light. I was captivated by Tasmin's strength, her willingness to put herself into daring and morally trying situations all in order to protect her family. 

MacCollough wove two different eras together, molding each with thick, rough, and darkly deliberate stroked details. She spared no efforts in capturing the very essence of the late 1800's. I was thoroughly transfixed with her tale.

The ending was truly and utterly stunning.

The story picks up right where it left off. A wedding is in the winds for Tasmin's sister Rowena but something else linger with the breeze, something dreadfully dark. When the sudden appearance of a young man sends the Greene's Hedgerow household into a whirl spin and it's family members reeling with the threat of their family lines complete destruction it is once again up to Tasmin to save the day. And to do this she has to Travel again, back to a time when he only way of coming back to her present has yet to be created.

Tasmin is left with no other choice but to go back in time to the late 1800's, where she must confront the very man who presently haunts her dreams. With the discovery that Tasmin's to copy another witches power holds only temporary effects she has no other choice but to travel back in time with only her power and the power to freeze people with one touch, having already lost the ability she gained the first time she and Gabriel Traveled back in time, the ability to throw fire from her finger tips. But, Tasmin fears, will that power to freeze people stay with her long enough for Tasmin to use it to her advantage, or when she truly needs it will it disappear?

The decision is made and with the reluctant help of her sister Tasmin lands, quite literally, right smack in the middle of New York City, materializing out of thin air in front of two doe eyed Talentless kids. Using the money Rowena gave Tasmin she buys a fruit pie from a local cart woman and starts asking anybody she can if they've ever heard of a family called the Greene's. Her luck, however is sour and so curious, Tasmin enters a Pub where she meets a man name Horace who offers her work as a Ladies maid to no other than Lady Jessica Knight. Tasmin considers this offer and accepts thinking that if she can't find her own family than she might as well keep an eye on their enemy. 

My writing process.
 I write every review in long-hand cursive.
Most of the time with a cup of tea and my Mickey Mouse pen.

As Tasmin starts her first day she realizes that Lady Jessica has secrets of her own, these secrets leads Tasmin to help Jessica sneak out of her house to meet her lover at a circus where a charming elephant drink tea, where a crow turns into a girl that turns out to be a woman name Isobel Greene, and where at the back gate Jessica gives Tasmin a cameo watch.

The night is far from over yet and w/ a determined Tasmin she finds that the Knights has secrets that run so deep that ooze so black that they seem to have taken the form of dark shadows. After Tasmin follows Rosie, a house maid, into a secret passageway she discovers something far more terrible than she bargained for. Alistair has finally decided to call upon the Knight house, after which appearance everything around her begins to unravel. 

Rosie shows her true greedy hunger, Liam give Tasmin a glimpse 'experiments' and what he is truly capable of, even worse though Tasmin is faced with a choice,  a choice that has the power to leave her forever emotionally crippled.

The next morning Tasmin wakes to find an angry Rosie glaring down at her, and an old friend, one who knows Tasmin's real name. Gabriel apparently hadn't taken well to the idea of being 'ditched' because just as Tasmin comes into the Piano room, baring fresh tea for Jessica she sees him.

Tasmin and Gabriel together flee to the Greene's pig farm but what they expect to find is nothing of what they receive. Darkness unfolds, and death follows, Tasmin in the middle of it all is forced to make another choice, one that will haunt her until her death.