Review of Addicted to Magic by Brandi Salazar

Kindle Edition

Published December 10th 2011 by Brandi Salazar

Jessica Warren comes from a long line of witches. At the age of eighteen her ability to wield magic will intensify and she’ll be welcomed into the fold with open arms. That is, until she she risks it all.

Magic isn’t something to be taken lightly. With each spell cast the user suffers dangerous after effects that carry the potential of destroying their life. After her parent’s divorce, Jessica begins abusing her powers, but she really doesn’t think she’s doing anything wrong–it’s everyone else that has a problem.

When one day her best friend, Amber, informs her that she had a vision of Jessica’s mother dying in a car crash, a victim of her own abuse of magic, Jessica is in a race against time to save her mother. Her life is only complicated further when a boy catches her attention and she has to not only save the day, but keep all of her secrets hidden.

First, I would like to thank the author for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for an honest review. I always feel like I won the lottery or something when I have a review request in my email.

Jessica has a problem. More like an addiction. To Magic. In this world magic is like alcohol; some people can use it responsibly, and others have to stay away from it entirely otherwise it becomes an addiction and can ruin their lives. Jessica has seen first hand the devastating effects. Her mom had a magic problem.  They have gone from a happy family, to just the two of them living in little more than a shack. Despite all of that, Jessica is barely able to keep her own magic use down to a minimal level.

Of course when her Amber, her best friend, has a vision of Jessica’s mom dying in a car crash, she knows only magic will save her. She goes all out to prevent Amber’s vision from coming true. Of course, there are a few distractions in Jessica’s life, namely Carmen and Trent. It isn’t as much a live triangle as many YA books; there is a clear ‘winner’ and then a ‘what if’ guy. I preferred Carmen. But is he the winner or what if? I’m not telling. He did however have the best exchanges with Jess:

“Yeah, do I have stupid stamped on my forehead somewhere?”

I glanced at his forehead. “No, looks more like loser, but I forgot my glasses.”

Jessica is pretty witty. Or maybe I am just old, and the kids these days are funny. Who knows. I laughed, and that is what matters.

I thought the whole magic as an addiction thing was a neat spin on the supernatural. It was an angle I had not considered before and it made me think twice about having powers. Overall, it was a god, solid YA book. There were a few minor editing issues (those always jump out at me), such as using the wrong name once or twice, but I was pretty easily able to figure out who was actually being spoken about.

I felt for the characters, their joys and sorrows were shared with me. The writing was good (editing issues aside) and I would recommend it for anyone who likes a unique YA. Overall, 4 baskets from me. If you check it out, let me know what you think! Plus, at the time of this posting, it is only 99 cents on Amazon, so what do you have to lose?