R. C. Alexander

This book was about a girl who lived in a magic filled family or known in the book as a "Wise". Her mother had quickly left after moving into a small town in America. That left Desi with her cat or the families "familiar' to take car or her. Devil is the name of the cat but her regular form is changed by a potion giving my Callida, the mother, to change her into a human. Many humorous and awkward situations occur after Devil's (Her human name is Cat) transformation. Desi and Cat often share a lot of activities with the next door neighbors, Jarrett and Bob. Desi meets a strange man in the local mall that practices magic for human entertainment. Later on it explains that the man is actually her father and that her mother has kept secrets about him ever since she was born.

I gave this book a three and a half stars for very strict reasons. It was an enjoyable book and wasn't bad but there was a few things that showed its flaws. The biggest reason was that the climax or the main point in the story was the revealing of her father. It was obvious! As soon as the man was described and placed into the book, I knew right away were he stood. The other problem was that it would be confusing to most people. It was a book were you really had to pay attention to details and facts. -That might have caused some confusion to some readers. Although, the book had a comedy sense, which was good. It really did grab your attention for the cool magic and mayhem that occurred in the book. Overall, it was pretty good.… (meer)

Desi, teen witch, wants to learn more magic, but her mother is refusing to teach her much more than simple baby spells. When her mom runs off to deal with some unknown danger (that turns out to be Desi's semi-evil warlock dad, who is still miffed that Desi‰ÃƒÂ›Ã‚ªs mother left him and went into hiding), Desi figures she can now start to experiment on her own. Cue wacky hijinks, at least until Desi's dad finds out where she is and attempts to win her over with a mix of actual fatherliness and crazed power-mad ambitions. •Ã ÀThe best thing about this fantasy is Cat, the witch's familiar turned from feline into teen girl so that she can babysit Desi while her mom is gone. Cat, as a human, still thinks like a cat, leading to many amusing situations -- Alexander must have a cat at home to understand them so well and to do such a great job translating a cat's mind into a human's body. She's a stylish character with a great voice and she narrates half the chapters (Desi narrates most of the others). However, people around Cat react in totally improbable ways to her crazy behavior (aside from Desi, of course, who knows what Cat truly is), undercutting the characters' credibility. In fact, most of the characters, aside from Desi and Cat, are one-note and not very believable, especially the two boys-next-door, who serve as love interests for Desi and Cat, respectively. There are some cool magical elements (like lawn gnomes that guard the house and get pissed off when Desi puts them in the closet) but overall magic is kind of generic. The two stories don't exactly mesh -- Desi learning magic is kind of Sabrina-esque, but the story turns dark and convoluted when her father begins a battle over merging the human world with the spirit (demon) world. It's a weird tonal change that doesn't really fit with the characters and the rest of the book. And audience is tricky, too: this book is a little young for high schoolers (because of Desi's narrative) and a little old for middle schoolers (because of Cat's narrative).

It's not a terrible book by any means, but it's uneven. I liked parts of it a lot; other parts, I was scratching my head and wondering how this made it into the same book. Since this seems to be the author's first novel, I'll keep my eye out for the next to see how he develops as a writer.… (meer)