THE HAWKWEED PROPHECY

Won’t cast a spell on you

So you’re a powerful witch and you’re miffed because it looks as though your little sister is about to give birth to a baby who will one day become Queen – when you want your own, not very gifted daughter to nab the crown instead. What do you do? You cast a secret spell to swap your sister’s sprog for a human one, of course. Years later, the two oblivious girls meet as teenagers and worlds collide... and the addition of a handsome young man confuses matters.

It’s not the most original of premises, but we could overlook that if only the writing wasn’t so stuffed full of unnecessary, flowery verbiage. For instance, there’s rarely a “she said” – on one sample page we get “she snapped”, “invoked”, “huffed”, “spat” and even “sparked”. Talk about distracting. Occasionally the same scene is written twice, from different POVs, when there’s absolutely no need for it. Plus, after a promising start, the book slides into a mess of gooey romantic nonsense. After another sister gets involved we end up with three teenagers in love with one bloke, so it’s hard to care who ends up with him: you just want them all to get a grip. Sometimes less really is more. Jayne Nelson