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The circle's power has lured her home
Forced to move from sunny California to gloomy New England, Cassie longs for her old life. Even so, she feels a strange kinship to a terrifying group of teens who seem to rule her school. Initiated into the coven of witches that's controlled New Salem for hundreds of years, she's drawn into the Secret Circle, a thrill that's both intoxicating and deadly. But when she falls for the mysterious and intriguing Adam, Cassie must choose whether to resist temptation or risk dark forces to get what she wants—even if it means that one wrong move could ultimately destroy her.
Chapter One
It wasn't supposed to be this hot and humid on Cape Cod. Cassie had seen it in the guidebook; everything was supposed to be perfect here, like Camelot.
Except, the guidebook added absently, for the poison ivy, and ticks, and green flies, and toxic shellfish, and undercurrents in seemingly peaceful water.
The book had also warned against hiking out on narrow peninsulas because high tide could come along and strand you. But just at this moment Cassie would have given anything to be stranded on some peninsula jutting far out into the Atlantic Ocean—as long as Portia Bainbridge was on the other side.
Cassie had never been so miserable in her life.
". . . and my other brother, the one on the MIT debate team, the one who went to the World Debate Tournament in Scotland two years ago . . ." Portia was saying. Cassie felt her eyes glaze over again and slipped back into her wretched trance. Both of Portia's brothers went to MIT and were frighteningly accomplished, not only at intellectual pursuits but also at athletics. Portia was frighteningly accomplished herself, even though she was only going to be a junior in high school this year, like Cassie. And since Portia's favorite subject was Portia, she'd spent most of the last month telling Cassie all about it.
". . . and then after I placed fifth in extemporaneous speaking at the National Forensic League Championship last year, my boyfriend said, 'Well, of course you'll go All-American . . .'"
Just one more week, Cassie told herself. Just one more week and I can go home. The verythought filled her with a longing so sharp that tears came to her eyes. Home, where her friends were. Where she didn't feel like a stranger, and unaccomplished, and boring, and stupid just because she didn't know what a quahog was. Where she could laugh about all this: her wonderful vacation on the eastern seaboard.
". . . so my father said, 'Why don't I just buy it for you?' But I said, 'No—well, maybe . . .'"
Cassie stared out at the sea.
It wasn't that the Cape wasn't beautiful. The little cedar-shingled cottages, with white picket fences covered with roses and wicker rocking chairs on the porch and geraniums hanging from the rafters, were pretty as picture postcards. And the village greens and tall-steepled churches and old-fashioned schoolhouses made Cassie feel as if she'd stepped into a different time. But every day there was Portia to deal with. And even though every night Cassie thought of some devastatingly witty remark to make to Portia, somehow she never got around to actually making any of them. And far worse than anything Portia could do was the plain raw feeling of not belonging. Of being a stranger here, stranded on the wrong coast, completely out of her own element. The tiny duplex back in California had started to seem like heaven to Cassie.
One more week, she thought. You've just got to stand it for one more week.
And then there was Mom, so pale lately and so quiet . . . A worried twinge went through Cassie, and she quickly pushed it away. Mom is fine, she told herself fiercely. She's probably just miserable here, the same way you are, even though this is her native state. She's probably counting the days until we can go home, just like you are.
Of course that was it, and that was why her mother looked so unhappy when Cassie talked about being homesick. Her mother felt guilty for bringing Cassie here, for making this place sound like a vacation paradise. Everything would be all right when they got back home, for both of them.
"Cassie! Are you listening to me? Or are you daydreaming again?"
"Oh, listening," Cassie said quickly.
"What did I just say?"
Cassie floundered. Boyfriends, she thought desperately, the debate team, college, the National Forensic League . . . People had sometimes called her a dreamer, but never as much as around here.
"I was saying they shouldn't let people like that on the beach," Portia said. "Especially not with dogs. I mean, I know this isn't Oyster Harbors, but at least it's clean. And now look." Cassie looked, following the direction of Portia's gaze. All she could see was some guy walking down the beach. She looked back at Portia uncertainly.
"He works on a fishing boat," Portia said, her nostrils flared as if she smelled something bad. "I saw him this morning on the fish pier, unloading. I don't think he's even changed his clothes. How unutterably scuzzy and vomitous."
He didn't look all that scuzzy to Cassie. He had dark red hair, and he was tall, and even at this distance she could see that he was smiling. There was a dog at his heels.
"We never talk to guys from the fishing boats. We don't even look at them," Portia said. And Cassie could see it was true. There were maybe a dozen other girls on the beach, in groups of two or three, a few with guys, most not. As the tall boy passed, the girls would look away, turning their heads to stare in the opposite direction. It wasn't a flirtatious sort of looking-away-and-then-back-and-giggling. It was disdainful rejection. As the guy got closer to her, Cassie could see that his smile was turning grim.
The two girls closest to Cassie and Portia were looking away now, almost sniffing. Cassie saw the boy shrug slightly, as if it were no more than he expected. She still didn't see anything so disgusting about him. He was wearing ragged cutoff shorts and a T-shirt that had seen better days, but lots of guys looked like that. And his dog trotted right behind him, tail waving, friendly and alert. It wasn't bothering anybody. Cassie glanced up at the boy's face, curious to see his eyes.
The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive Part I. Copyright © by L. J. Smith. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.it was so exciting and emotional. the book is romantic but in a very wierd way. i love how the author introduces the characters in such a mysterious way.
19 out of 19 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.L. J. Smith exceeds herself with the reissue of THE SECRET CIRCLE. <BR/><BR/>Though some of her older books, especially THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, are a delight to read, THE SECRET CIRCLE is leagues ahead in not only writing skill but in plot and characterization, as well. <BR/><BR/>The main character, Cassie (who coincidentally shares a first name with this reviewer), is likeable and easy to relate to as a plain, shy, sixteen-year-old girl. <BR/><BR/>After moving to New Salem to live with her mother and estranged grandmother, Cassie finds herself included in her new school's intimidating secret club. Once she is initiated as a witch, Cassie soon finds out that the beautiful boy she fell in love with over the summer is part of the coven, too. <BR/><BR/>Cassie must sacrifice true love in order to protect her adopted "sister," Diana, but what else will she have to sacrifice? And what does the club's rebel member, Faye, have to do with the cursed crystal skull and the mysterious deaths in New Salem? <BR/><BR/>Ending with a breathtaking cliffhanger, L. J. Smith's THE SECRET CIRCLE will leave you begging for more.
15 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.theReader278
Posted September 17, 2011
I Also Recommend:
The secret circle books are amazing! The main character, Cassie, is likeable and easy to relate to as a plain, shy, sixteen-year-old girl.. I loved reading this book. it has a story line that will keep you entertained for hours.
10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.kdt28
Posted April 8, 2009
I Also Recommend:
I enjoyed this book because it did not take too much thought and it was fast paced. I bought the book for my tween daughter and decided to read it first and I am glad I did. The book captured my attention from the very beginning. It was a nice easy read and I will probably buy another one....
10 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Lucky for me I had the second book ready to go because I read the first book in 1 day. It was so good I kept reaching for it whenever I had a spare moment.
Really this is a great read.
I wish I had read it in the 90's when they were out and I was younger- LOL.
Personally, I feel L.J. Smith's books are better than the Twiglight Series. And they were written before Twilight. Hmmmm...Maybe S.Meyer read L.J Smith when she was younger...
**Make sure you have the second book ready because it is originally a trilogy. So each of the 2 Secret Circle books has 1 1/2 of the original books from the trilogy in them:o)
9 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 3, 2012
So this was published in 1992? And it's almost exactly like Twilight which wasn't published until 2005? I think Mrs. Meyer has some explaining to do. If you liked Twilight, then you will probably like this.
6 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted January 30, 2012
The show is great buttttt the book is waay better(:
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Fivezenses
Posted January 5, 2012
The story starts off with meeting young Cassie Blake. She is just fifteen years old and on vacation in Cape Cod for the summer with her mother. She is described of having brunette hair, wavy, and petite too. Over time the read comes to find out that plans change and Cassie is forced to move with her mother to the town of New Salem, Massachusetts for both of them to live with her grandmother, who she has never met till they show up at her front door. The story continues with her meeting students, having a rocky start her first week of school, and learning something peculiar about a group of students; which either half the students are afraid of or worship the group they walk on. But for reasons Cassie has no clue about.
So no more spoiling the book, because it's awesome! For most people, they only know of this because of the show and watched the show instead. But I think for the most part, the show lacks a certain quality that the book has: magic! I'm not talking spells or doing cool things with incantations, but I'm talking that quality that book has that makes you enjoy every second you read the book.
There is something about the way that Cassie meets everyone and how she learns of the "secret". My favorite part was that is was set in Massachusetts. The show doesn't have that. My big complaint about the show. Reason for this is the witch trials happened in Salem Mass. and that reference/story is brought up in the book too. It's one of the huge elements that is played on the last half of the book as well.
I simply enjoyed how there was a part in the beginning when Cassie sees Diana for the first time. She is described as this tall girl, with hair so long and beautifully blonde, "that is woven with the sun and the moon". She is also described as being this unbelievably nice girl and how everyone LOVES her in school. All the girls can't get enough of her and every single guy she passes in the hall asks her out on a date.
Then you have the complete opposite to her: Faye. Faye is a this tall girl too. Dark black hair that is long and raven black. Red fire painted nails and the body of something 'exotic'. She is always wearing clothing that is too sexy for her and doesn't give a care in the world that she goes after the boys that are never single or just flat out a challenge.
Those two characters added such a dynamic, that it was intriguing to know what they were capable of doing to anyone or to each other in their "circle".
This book is a great read for those wanting something deeper than the show can offer, while also knowing maybe how it came about as a book. The one thing I can give away is that in the books that didn't happen on the show: Cassie's mother never died and her father wasn't a witch either. Something I didn't enjoy they doing for the show. Took away too much about the original story at hand.
Anyway, this is something to really check out if you have the time, especially if you haven't seen the show.
5 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I loved these books! I loved they way she wrote the characters, I felt like I knew them. I couldn't put it down. I loved the secrecy of cassie and adam, and the trust between cassie and diana. It was an amazing book, I just wish she would write more about them. The series was way to short.
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 4, 2012
Awesome book and tv series the cw needs to bring it back
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 30, 2012
I seen the show on cw and they cancel it . I was sad . I wish they would being it back . I did injoy this show
4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 16, 2012
This book is epic and it shows what they decided to do with the tv series.....
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted August 4, 2012
I found the story to be very boring. Even though i finished story it was forced. Have no desire to read the other books of this series.
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 16, 2012
Love it
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Cassie is like any other girl who starts a new school. Feeling out of place; being made fun of & picked on; & at times getting into trouble (not by her fault either). It's not until she meets the most beautiful & popular girl in the school, Diana, & is welcomed by most of the members of her so-called club. Well this club isn't like any other, all the members are descendants of witches, even the boys, hence the Secret Circle.
Even though Cassie is now fitting in she's still a little unhappy, because she cannot stop thinking about the boy (Adam) she met over the summer. The one who she has this inexplicable connection to & she develops this yearning desire for him. She doesn't know when or how she'll ever see him again. Then one night the coven has a meeting, she gets a surprise by a certain member who has been away for awhile.
When Adam doesn't immediately go to Cassie, instead to Diana, she comes to the realization that Adam is taken. Diana & Adam are together. What is a girl to do? Does Cassie sacrifice possiblity the love of her life or the relationship with the one person who saved her from being an ultimate outcast? Well I'll let you discover what happens next, but I promise you this, YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.
In every single story L.J. Smith writes, you are sucked into the world she's describing. You fall madly in love with the characters & the story line. To the point that you're unable to stop reading, thinking, & even dreaming about them. She has all the right components of every book i love to read. From romance, action-adventure, drama, & a life lession you take with you.
If you're a huge Stephenie Meyer's Fan or Twilight Fan, you will fall in love with L.J. Smith & her several books. The stories are completely different, but it has the same passion, action, & descriptive writing. You will have the same intense infactuation to them, as I have. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book along with all the other books L.J. Smith has written.
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This book is terribly cliched, corny, and predictable. The characters are one sided (including the main one), and whenever someone died, they shrugged it off like it was nothing. The story line is horrible. This book is just nasty.
3 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 23, 2012
I read this trilogy back in high school. I absolutely loved it. I am now adding them to my personal digital library as well.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 14, 2011
I read this book in order to know where the plot might go on the new CW series, which, I admit, has become a guilty pleasure. I sure hope they add more plot twists in the TV series than this book, since there were absolutely no surprises in this read. The writing style was stilted, as well, and written for a very low reading level. It reminded me of Twilight in that way.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Where do I begin, I loved this series. The author grabs you from the first chapter and just keeps on going until the end. The characters are easy to relate to and the books have twists and turns in them that at first you think you have figured out only to find out that you are wrong and they end even better than you expect. This is a definate read that will keep you on your toes until the end.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.It was an amazing books it was thrilling but also had romance and it really kept me wanting more when i was done. I even went to make sure there wasn't a third one. I would suggest any one to read it, some many not like but i give it two thumbs up.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
The circle's power has lured her home
Forced to move from sunny California to gloomy New England, Cassie longs for her old life. Even so, she feels a strange kinship to a terrifying group of teens who seem to rule her school. Initiated into the coven of witches that's controlled New Salem for hundreds of years, she's drawn into the Secret Circle, a thrill that's both intoxicating and deadly. But when she falls for the mysterious and intriguing Adam, Cassie must choose whether to...