Review for A Witch in Winter by Ruth Warburton

A Witch in Winter by Ruth Warburton
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Release Date: 5th January 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance, Witches
Rating: 4/5 stars
Source: Received from the publisher for review

Amazon Summary:
"Anna Winterson doesn't know she's a witch and would probably mock you for believing in magic, but after moving to the small town of Winter with her father, she learns more than she ever wanted to about power. When Anna meets Seth, she is smitten, but when she enchants him to love her, she unwittingly amplifies a deadly conflict between two witch clans and splits her own heart in two. She wants to love Seth, to let him love her - but if it is her magic that's controlling his passion, then she is as monstrous as the witch clan who are trying to use her amazing powers for their own gain.

When love is tangled up in magic, how can you be sure what's real?"

Review
I haven’t read a lot of books about witches but was really interested to check out A Witch in Winter purely because it’s written by a British author and the story’s set in England which is a bit of a rarity with paranormal young adult fiction. It was really refreshing to read a book set in an old British seaside town but at the same time it wasn’t so British that it wouldn’t do well over seas. I think that Ruth Warburton does a fantastic job of writing a solid British supernatural book that can stand proudly next to the popular US paranormal titles.

The book begins with Anna moving to the seaside town of Winter her and her dad taking residence in the old abandoned Wicker House more notoriously known by the locals as “The Witches House.” Despite the house being seriously creepy nothing is out of the ordinary until Anna finds an old spell book and messing around accidently casts a love spell on her crush Seth Waters. Seth quickly falls head over heels for Anna and dumps his popular girlfriend Caroline which makes life more than a little difficult for Anna at her new school. However Caroline is the least of Anna’s problems what with her discovering that she has magical powers, and not being able to remove her love spell on Seth. Plus there’s the Ealdwiton, a council of the most powerful witches, who are after Anna to use her new found powerful magic for their own purposes. Anna’s magic appears to be hugely powerful and with no training Anna manages to get herself into some serious trouble but with Anna’s growing attraction to Seth and his love that she knows she can’t believe in can Anna undo all that she’s done before she causes any more damage to Seth, her dad, and her new found friends?

What I loved most about this book was Seth and Anna’s romance. I really felt for Anna having to constantly do the noble thing and fight her attraction to Seth so as not to take advantage of him whilst he’s under the influence of her spell. Then of course there’s the mystery as to why the spell can’t be removed is it because Seth’s feelings are real? Or is Anna’s magic just too strong? I loved their complicated relationship and really hoped that Seth’s feelings for Anna were real because they made such a fantastic couple. I really liked them both as characters and had instant respect for Anna for not taking Seth for granted and always trying to do the right thing. With a guy like Seth fawning over her I can tell you she’s a stronger girl than me that’s for sure!

I think that A Witch in Winter was a fantastic start to what promises to be an awesome series. I’m so intrigued as to how strong Anna’s powers actually are and what’s in store for her next. This was a fantastic book that I read in one evening because I couldn’t put it down and I am already looking forward to its sequel A Witch in Love!