Book of Shadows

This delectably dark pair of novels, first in the Sweep series, brings a supernatural spin to classic teen issues--popularity, romance, alienation and the search for self. Narrator Morgan, a high school junior in upstate New York, feels plain and ordinary, especially next to her flirty, drop-dead-gorgeous friend Bree. When Cal, a remarkably poised and handsome senior, transfers to their school, Morgan likes him almost immediately, an attraction she hides when Bree announces that she plans to win him for herself. Cal makes no secret of his belief in Wicca, inviting most of the junior and senior classes to join him in a Wiccan celebration. The rituals powerfully affect Morgan--could it be that she, like Cal, is a ""blood witch"" (a descendant of one of the seven great witch clans)? But how could she be a blood witch when everyone else in her family is so clearly not ""magickal""? While Tiernan's ingredients are familiar, she stirs the cauldron with engaging, even cinematic, prose and sharply individuates her characters. She introduces the Wiccan material with some depth as well as with a skillful degree of ambiguity; readers will not know immediately whether or not the series embraces Wicca. Both books end on cliffhangers (Shadows, for example, closes as Cal kisses Morgan, in full view of Bree and the rest of their newly formed coven), fanning what will surely be an already keen desire to learn the whole story. Ages 12-up. (Jan.)