This novel is book two in the Thirteen Witches series by Jodi Lynn Anderson, titled The Sea of Always. It's a solid upper elementary early /middle school novel.

Rosie leaves with her best friend Germ to find her brother, who was kidnapped in book one and whom she has not seen since they were born. Her mother, broken from the spell she was under--so to speak--, watches the sea every night waiting for Rosie to return. Where are they? In a whale. Yep--they travel the Sea of Always in a whale. It's a magical whale that can give them almost anything they wish for: food, clothing, etc. In the Sea of Always, the whales circle time. They can go to any place in time geographically, and see what's going on. Rosie's brother is in the 1800s in San Francisco. She has a limited amount a time--indicated by an hour glass the Time Witch gives her--to find him. The Time Witch plans on killing them all.

Rosie and Germ can't do this task alone. On their first "landing," they meet Aria, a fellow witch hunter. She knows a lot about hunting witching and joins them. They develop a plan and have to hop and skip through time to find all of the remaining thirteen witches. If they can get what they need form the witches and get to San Francisco on time, maybe they can defeat the Time Witch and rescue her brother and go home. The fourth member of their crew will remain a mystery until you read the book.

That's all I'm willing to say about a sequel. I found the book to wander about a lot. Rosie struggles to gain confidence and feels that Aria is superior to her, so she tries to emulate Aria. Germ believes in the whale and fearlessly keeps going, believing that they can overcome the evil witch. I feel that I could sum up in the book in a few sentences. ( )

This is an enjoyable Middle-Grade read, but I didn't realize until I was reading it that it was the second in the series so I didn't follow as well as if I had read the first book before reading this one. I would recommend making sure you have read and checked out the first book before checking this one out to help make it more fun to read and easier to follow.
It's a great MG fantasy novel about a 12-year-old witch hunter trying to figure out how to be a witch hunter and find her way in this world of witches and magic along with her friend. They have adventures and this would be a good book for tweens, my 11-year-old will likely love it once she gets a chance to read it. Rosie is a feisty one that's great to read and follow along with her as she goes on her adventures, learning, growing, and figuring things out. She and her best friend have to go figure out how to find and get rid of all of the 13 original witches and the ending leaves you wanting more and wondering what will happen next.
If you love Middle-Grade, fantasy, witches, magic or the like then make sure to check this one out. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing/Aladdin for letting me read and review this fun MG fantasy. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )

Book #2 in the Thirteen Witches series was fantastic and I am so glad that book #3 The Palace of Dreams when it releases Tuesday, March 7th. I am not sure how many books are planned for this series but I will keep reading them until Jodi Lynn Anderson stops writing them. Rosie and Germ grew up so much during this book, I love the addition of Aria and Wolf and the time travelling whales were so cool that I want one. :) ( )

This one starts where the first one in the series left off. I would recommend reading this as a series, since the characters and situations build on the last book.

Rosie and her friend, Germ, are now in the year 1855, stuck in the belly of a whale as they make their way California and the Time Witch. Rosie is still on the search for her brother and is ready to do whatever it takes to get him back. When the whale drops them off in an unexpected location, they luckily meet another witch hunter, who can help them out. But the Time Witch isn't easily dealt with, especially since Rosie is still on her list. When Rosie discovers that she needs to steal witches' hearts and destroy them to get her brother back, a race across time and space begins.

I enjoyed the first book quite a bit and was looking forward to see where Rosie's adventures led her next. She still has quite the adventure ahead of her, but handles it with tons of determination. While the time in the whale (even with its amazing comforts!) does draw out and caused me to skip over more than a couple of paragraphs, the tale does pick up again when they finally get to the shore. After this, the tale picks up its pace and tension mounts, while all sorts of problems come their way.

To say that Rose is determined is a bit of an understatement, but her family is as stake. So, it's no problem to root for her every step of the way. The other characters add the right atmosphere at the right time, making sure that...at least, after the whale...the story stays anything but boring. This one ends, leaving the reader waiting to see the next book to find out what happens next. And it will be interesting to see where all of this will end up. I received an ARC and enjoyed the read quite a bit. ( )