What the Spell

Every teen has felt the longing to be more beautiful, more popular, more approved. Brooklyn has that need to an exceptional degree, but unlike most teenagers, she can do something about it. On Brooklyn’s 16th birthday, her parents unbind her innate witch powers, and within 24 hours she has conjured the attention-grabbing body of her dreams. Unless the coolest kids in school anoint her as one of them, however, her triumph won’t be complete. Despite the implausible trappings of the premise—Brooklyn can perform any spell without practice; her public school classmates include a movie star’s daughter and the son of a CEO—Geragotelis’s previously self-published debut novel settles into a more realistic mode fairly quickly. How far is Brooklyn willing to go to curry favor with “The Elite,” and what price will she pay among those who liked her just as she was? This is the first book in a series, so don’t expect all the answers, but the wish-fulfilling comeuppance at the end of this installment is worth the price of admission. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marshall Lyon Literary Agency. (Jan.)