Always a Witch

Always a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough, 2011 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

     After being raised without knowledge of her magic, Tamsin Greene is getting a grasp of her power, learning to enjoy it and how to manage it when Alistair Knight again threatens to destroy her family. The centuries-old rivalry between the two families is about to be upset when Alistair flees into the past hoping to alter it. When her grandmother reminds Tamsin of the prophecy surrounding her fate, and that of the family, the young witch agrees to follow Alistair into the past.
     In the seventeenth century Tamsin uses a fake name to find a position as lady's maid in the Knight household. Alistair attempts to warn his ancestors of their danger from the Greene family, but La Spider (the matriarch) is not at home to receive him. La Spider's son, Liam Knight, decides Alistair could be useful in his experiments for immortality. The Knight daughter, Jessica, strikes up a friendship with her new maid and shows the young woman her power for healing - which La Spider and Liam force her to use against her will in their quest.
     Tamsin attempts to find her ancestors in the 1800s, and after some searching it appears they don't believe the girl who claims to be from their future. Thomas Greene sees Tamsin as the harbinger of his death and struggles to accept the future of their family may depend on his own sacrifice. The Greene family battles the Knights, leading to Thomas's death. It is with freely given sacrifice that the Greenes are able to bind the Knights' power into the Domani, Tamsin's friendship with Jessica Knight allows the family to cease Liam's despicable experiments and lock the Knight power safely away.
     The conclusion of Tamsin's story is fraught with danger, sacrifice and the knowledge that what is right is not the easiest or most desirable path. Always a Witch is a modern gothic aimed at high school readers.

Once a Witch

Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough, 2009 Clarion Books

     The Greene family has old magic. On the day of her birth Tamsin Greene is prophesied to be the most powerful of them all, but her magic has never showed up. To avoid being the magical outsider in her family, Tamsin spends most of her time at a boarding school in Manhattan. During the summer she helps out in the family Bookstore/Magic Store and it is there, one summer night, a professor from New York mistakes Tamsin for her Talented sister Rowena and enlists her help.
     At first the quest seems conventional: Tamsin searches for the professor's heirloom. She enlists her friend Gabriel whose Talent is finding things and time travel, but events soon begin to cause problems for the Greene Family.
     Rowena seems to have succumbed to a magic no one can name and the Greene family matriarch has been bespelled, supposedly by Rowena. Their less-than sterling past is brought to the forefront and Tamsin learns more about what brought her family into its prominent place among local society.
     Along the way small events seem to reveal more about Tamsin than she was aware. The search for the professor's heirloom appears to be something much more sinister than Tamsin first thought, and when it unleashes a power more dangerous than she expected the Greene Family stands together to solve their troubles.
     Stereotypes abound throughout the story, though some are shifted from normal expectations. Rowena is perfect in nearly every way, Gabriel is a goody-two-shoes, and Tamsin is the misunderstood younger sister. Yet, most of the characters step outside their allotted roles to become more complete personifications. Once a Witch is followed by Always a Witch, both aimed at high school readers.