Black Heart by Holly Black

This is the third book in The Curse Worker series by Holly Black.

Here is my review of the first book: White Cat.

Here is my review of the second book: Red Glove.

After forcing his brother into working with the government, Cassel is now training with Barron during the time he has off from school.

Since he has nothing better to do, right?

When the government needs Cassel's curse magic, though, Cassel has to make a decision. Work for the Feds, or they will find his mother and put her in prison again for another con she pulled - this time with a politician.

Since Cassel really had no choice, he's doing a job that seems very familiar to a job he would have done with the mob. So in reality, both sides of the coin are pretty much the same thing, only one thinks they are doing "good".

Along with the governmental issues Cassel has, he is also heartbroken by the way things went with Lila. The curse his mother put on her has finally gone away, but now she's angry at Cassel and has been ignoring him.

Things are also going badly for his roommate, Sam, and his girlfriend, creating chaos for both Sam and Cassel that is keeping them distracted from other things.

And since Cassel never seems to get a break, a girl from his school came to him for help because someone is blackmailing her. Only he gets a strange vibe from her, knowing she is lying but not knowing what about.

When Cassel and Lila finally talk about their feelings and find out that the love each other, Cassel has a decision to make. Will he stay with the Feds, on the "good" side, or will he go with Lila, the love of his life?

And, because this is Cassel, he'll also have to get himself out of a mess he created with another con act.

My Thought/Reflections
Another great novel in The Curse Workers series, and a great ending! There was more con acts to follow, more mystery to unfold, and enough romance to keep the reader engaged in this continued story.

I really was very happy with this ending. I don't want to give too much away, but Cassel finally opened his eyes to what he really wanted and forgot about everything else, which is what a teenager should do every once in awhile.

The thing that I loved about this series is Cassel. He was the main character, the main narrator, and it was nice and different to get a guys perspective in a novel rather than a female.

I think that this would be a great book for guys. I just wish that the covers were more appealing to guy readers - maybe show Cassel do a con act, or a "mysterious" vibe to the cover that might get more guys to pick up these novels.

I'm also really happy that while there was a romantic story included, it wasn't the story itself. There was magic, mobs, government, politics - events that happen in the "real" world and what grown ups usually deal with.

Only Cassel was stuck in the grown up world.

I really enjoyed this story and will be finding out if there is more to come or if this is the end to Holly Black's series.

If it's the ending, I'd call myself a happy camper. If there is more, I will definitely be picking up the next novel ready to delve into Cassel's next adventure, because I'm sure his life will never be boring haha.

Red Glove by Holly Black

This is the second book in The Curse Workers series by Holly Black.

To read the review of the first novel, click here: White Cat.

Cassel is starting his senior year at his preparatory school, but things are very different than last semester. First, his roommate and his girlfriend know Cassel is a curse worker, though they don't know what kind yet.

Second, the girl Cassel loves, Lila, was worked by his mother to fall in love with Cassel. Now that she's at his school, he can't ignore her as much, and resisting her is becoming harder and harder.

When Cassel is confronted by two FBI agents informing him that his oldest brother, Phillip was murdered, Cassel finds himself in a very compromising situation.

Zacharov, the crime boss and Lila's father, wants Cassel to use his curse magic for him. The FBI wants Cassel to be a part of a team for the government.

And Cassel? He just wants Lila not to be cursed to love him and to get through his senior year in school.

However, the FBI gave him an ultimatum: find out who killed his brother, and the killer of unsolved cases Phillip was working on, or they will frame his mother since she's been working older, elite men since she got out of prison.

But when Cassel finds out who killed the men of the unsolved cases and finds out who Phillip's killer is, he has to pull out all of his con abilities to protect those two people.

Once again, Cassel will need to use the tricks and tools he's grown up with to get everyone out of trouble. Hopefully his luck stays with him throughout this investigation.

My Thoughts/Reflections
Now that I've been introduced to Holly Black's world in the Curse Worker realm, I really enjoyed this novel!

Cassel is stuck in so many worlds and so many lies, I don't know how he can keep them all straight! I also love how he comes up with his cons and how detailed he is before he reveals his story to anyone. That is a great gift; conniving, but great!

I had to chuckle when reading about Cassel and Lila. I know it's not funny, having a girl be forced to love you because of a curse, but the intense work he put into avoiding her did nothing to stop the attraction between the two.

This was a great novel and a great addition to add to the first novel of the series. I also liked how Cassel started to trust more people with the real truth, and not the version that he decided to give to his friends and associates.

Being part of so many circles can be a burden to one person, but Cassel managed it throughout this novel and I was very impressed with how much his character had grown.

I'm anxiously waiting to read the third, and final, book in this series to see what is in store for Cassel at the end.

White Cat by Holly Black

This is the first novel in The Curse Workers series by Holly Black.

Cassel is the youngest brother in a very well-known Curse Worker family. Unfortunately, Cassel doesn't have his own curse.

With just the touch of their hand/finger, any curse worker can make the person they touch do whatever their ability is: change their emotion, break bones, make them become lucky, etc.

The magic of the curse worker is illegal, making all curse workers turn to con artist events or go to the mob to work.

Cassel, as not having any powers, has still lead a life of a con artist. At his prep school he is a bookie, taking bets of silly random events that students want to bet against. Cassel can also con his way out of anything - he knows the tricks to lie very easily and to stay undetected when needed.

But when Cassel sleepwalks and is forced to leave the school until a doctor says his sleepwalking is under control, Cassel is forced home to live with his older brother, Phillip. Soon, his other brother Barron comes home but things seem very weird between the two of them.

Around the same time as his sleepwalking started, Cassel also had a dream about a white cat who needed his help with a curse. That didn't make any sense, though, since Cassel doesn't have curse worker magic.

When the cat comes to Cassel in real life, though, Cassel knows there is something going on - something bad. And there is also a very big secret that involves the white cat, his brothers, and an old friend named Lila.

Hopefully Cassel's con abilities will get him out of this problem.

My Thoughts/Reflections
I love Holly Black. I've read all of her books and have enjoyed them, and this book is no different.

I will admit, it did take me awhile to get into this story. I put it down a couple of times but I didn't give up because a lot of my friends really enjoyed it.

And in the end, I'm very glad that I kept with it! The world that Holly Black created is somewhat hard to grasp at first, but once everything clicks, the story goes really fast and the reader is racing through the ending along with Cassel.

I think this book could interested anyone - especially because it is a male narrator so it might draw attention to guy readers as well.

There is a lot going on in this novel but the main theme is magic and crime. The curse workers are forced into crime because they are not trusted by normal/non-curse workers and they need to make money to live.

Now that I've gotten a handle on the atmosphere and the "rules" of this book, I'm very excited to read the second book in this series!

Teeth: Vampire Tales by Ellen Datlow

I picked up this anthology of novella's about vampires because there were stories by Cassandra Clare and Holly black included, so I wanted to see what these two authors wrote about vampire wise. However, their story The Perfect Dinner Party wasn't my favorite out of the 20 stories, which kind of disappointed me.

Many of the stories were alright in my opinion. I'm not going to go and give a review to all 20 stories because some I just skimmed or skipped it entirely. There are two poems in here that caught my attention, but my 3 favorite stories were Flying by Delia Sherman, Transition by Melissa Marr, and Why Light? by Tanith Lee.

Overall, I'm glad that I got this at the library and didn't buy it to have for my own copy. It just wasn't that good. I read the reviews on Goodreads that said pretty much the same thing, but I had to give it a go for myself because of the hit names that were included in this anthology of stories.