First in a series of 15 books. To see a list of the books in this series, go here.

From the back cover:

Something is happening to me that I don't understand.

I see things, feel things in a new way. I can do things normal people can't do. Powerful things. Magickal things. It scares me.

I never chose to learn witchcraft. But I'm wondering if witchcraft is choosing me.


From Publishers Weekly
This delectably dark pair of novels, first in the Sweep series, brings a supernatural spin to classic teen issues: popularity, romance, alienation and the search for self. Narrator Morgan, a high school junior in upstate New York, feels plain and ordinary, especially next to her flirty, drop-dead-gorgeous friend Bree. When Cal, a remarkably poised and handsome senior, transfers to their school, Morgan likes him almost immediately, an attraction she hides when Bree announces that she plans to win him for herself. Cal makes no secret of his belief in Wicca, inviting most of the junior and senior classes to join him in a Wiccan celebration. The rituals powerfully affect Morgan: could it be that she, like Cal, is a "blood witch" (a descendant of one of the seven great witch clans)? But how could she be a blood witch when everyone else in her family is so clearly not "magickal"? While Tiernan's ingredients are familiar, she stirs the cauldron with engaging, even cinematic, prose and sharply individuates her characters. She introduces the Wiccan material with some depth as well as with a skillful degree of ambiguity; readers will not know immediately whether or not the series embraces Wicca. Both books end on cliffhangers, fanning what will surely be an already keen desire to learn the whole story.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This book is the replacement copy of the bookring that was stalled with grover3d. To see the previous journal entries, go here.

The ring is open as long as it's on the road, so pm me if you want in!

The list:
1. CheriePie (USA)
2. ladiibbug (USA)
3. explorer1118m (USA)
4. NeedSun (Canada)
5. Rianonne (Austria)
6. Amberkatze (Austria)
7. Morgaine77 (Switzerland)
8. Margih (Finland)
9. ritao (Finland)
10. 2012 (Finland)
11. Rowenne (USA)
12. KathyB (USA)

--> back to me

Bookring rules:
-Please keep books 1 & 2 together. The first book ends in a cliffhanger, so I want everyone to be able to start straight away with the second. ;)
-Please try to read the books within 4-6 weeks. They are very short and easy reads, so reading both books won't take much time.
-Journal the books when receiving them, and again after you have read them.

This book travels together with the second book in the series, The Coven.

I picked the perfect day to read this book. I was standing on the bus stop in crisp autumn weather reading this book, where the weather was exactly the same. :)

I love teen books, and this was no exception. As the series progresses, the magical elements increase, but the first book is almost like any regular teen book, dealing with friendship and crushes on boys. I really liked the main character Morgan and her family. The athmosphere in the book is wonderful, and makes me want to visit Widow's Vale, the small, fictional town along Hudson River (2 hours from New York City) where the book is set.

The series is about a bunch of teens, who start to explore Wicca with a new student at their school, Cal, who is a blood witch. A blood witch is someone who belongs to one of the Seven Great Clans. The Clans are explained on page 121: "There were Seven Great Clans: The Woodbanes, who were considered evil, and the Rowanwands, who were considered good, and five other clans in between, who were various shades of good and evil."

What bothered me a little about this book were the inaccuracies about Wicca, although because this is fiction, I think I can forgive the author. The are of course no 7 clans of hereditary witches in real life (at least that I know of ;) ) and even though the view that Wicca predates Christianity is shared by some Wiccans, it isn't true. Sure, Wicca has it's roots in ancient pagan religions, but it hasn't been practised the way it's practised now before the 20th century.

I liked the quotations at the beginning of each chapter, even though they were fictional.

Mailed both books to CheriePie today!

Wow that was quick! Both books arrived here today. I've got a few books in front of them but will have no trouble squeezing them in in the next few weeks. I kind of like that about teen and young adult books, they're often quick 1 day reads and are easy to squeeze in even when the books owed pile is getting larger. LOL Thanks Candy Dahlin' ;)

I'm not quite sure how I felt about this book. On the one hand, there wasn't much to the story itself: just a couple of teens, their interest in Wicca, and the dynamics of best friends, boyfriends, etc. which kinda made me yawn. I can see how the specifics of being in circle might be fascinating to teenagers just beginning to explore the subject, or others who aren't familiar with the religion, but having been there many times myself, it's nothing new to me and thus I was waiting for something extra to happen there.

The way the author described the feelings and sensations involved in raising energy were fairly accurate though, and she describes the sensations quite well... I don't know that I could really ever put into words what it feels like, but she did a good job with it. And then, as Candy already pointed out, there was the way the author kept referring to Wicca as "the ancient religion" which predates Christianity and Judaism, and this is inaccurate. It's actually just a reincarnation of the original, ancient pagan religion; Wicca itself didn't come into existence until the 1950s or so, and yes it's based on the ancient Pagan religion, but Wicca itself is not ancient. I hate when authors spew this kind of misinformation!

But in today's world, the term Wicca seems to be more widely known. So when people ask me about my own religion, they often know Wicca, but not Pagan, so I'm just like, yeah whatever... for all intents and purposes, you can consider it the same thing since you're not dealing in specifics. Hospitals and other forms you fill out now have an option for Wiccan, while not one for Pagan, so I usually just choose that because like I said, it's sort of become a more well-known way of referring to many forms of Paganism and nature worship as they're practiced today.

Moving on, I was aggravated with many of the characters. For starters, I can't stand people who are so meek and afraid that they can't even tell their supposed best friend their true feelings, and friends who are so superficial and shallow that they have no concept of the true value of friendship. I'm glad Morgan finally developed a backbone and stood up to Bree in the end though.

And Morgan's mother hit on one of my biggest pet peeves of all: narrow-minded people! Morgan's mom is so closed-minded as to not even allow her child to explore alternate religions, and immediately jumps to the conclusion that all Pagan religions are a form of devil worship! Christian brainwashing at it's finest! I mean, I've come to realize that there are still a few people in the world like this, maybe in the bible belt areas and such, but I can't help that it pisses me off to no end. It almost made me want to throw the book aside and not finish it because I was getting so angry!

Fortunately it's a short book, and I'm often determined to finish what I start. Plus I wanted to see if Morgan finally developed a backbone and stood up to the people holding her back, both her parents and Bree, as well as her own fears and going after what she wants. I'd hate to walk away thinking she's a wishy washy wimp, and then have her make a 360 and come into her own.

I'm also betting she's adopted or something and maybe her family's background makes her a true blood witch, which I'm relating to what we actually call a hereditary witch. But since that wasn't revealed in book one, and Candy says this is like a cliffhanger ending, I'm hoping that subject is resolved in the second book. So I will read the second book, hoping that with the establishment of the coven, and Morgan's standing up to Bree, some additional action will happen, and the focus won't be on so much of the stuff that pisses me off.

In summation, though this book made me quite angry in many respects, it redeemed itself somewhat in the beautiful descriptions of the sensations involved in raising energy in circle, and thus I'll give it a 5, the half way mark. :)

I'll hang onto this until I finish the second book and another book I have reserved for ladiibug, which I'm going to read in between these two. I'm not sure I could take two in a row...

UPDATE 5-NOV-2006: Mailed to ladiibbug along with book 2 and another owed book on 6-Nov-2006 via Media Mail.

11/15/06 Arrived today - RSVD

11/20/06 Book 1 in this series totally captivated me - I LOVED it! Outstandingly enjoyable read. The author did a great job with her sharply drawn characters and situations - I could barely put this book down! I enjoyed the learning details about Wicca, tho I don't know enough about it to identify what's correct, what's kinda correct, and what is just plain incorrect. Thanks to Candy & Cherie (previous readers) for their comments on the accuracy.

Keeping in mind that the main characters are teens, who are still in the process of forming their identities and personalities, I understand Morgan's inability to stand up to her stronger best friend.

It was all I could do to turn the light out at the end of book 1 and get to sleep - so tempted to begin book 2 right away!

Thanks so much for sharing these books, CandyDarling! I will be on the hunt for the rest of the series :-)

Mailing to Explorer1118m with book 2 - TRAVELING

*Counts in the Keep Them Moving 2006 Challenge*

I recieved these yesterday. I had already read book one & was happy to finally get my hands on #2. They're quick reads, so i plan to be ready to send them off as soon as i get an address. So far i'm lovin this series. Now to get my hands on the other 13 or 14 books in it. ;0

Books 1 & 2 arrived in the mail today. Thanks very much for sending them to me!

Wow. This was quite an educational book for me since I know nothing at all about the Wiccan or Pagan religions. I was glad that other journalers here cleared up some of the inaccuracies in this book. The characters were definitely secondary to the "religious" aspect.

I am almost finished the second book and have Rianonne's address so I expect these will be in the mail this weekend sometime.

Thanks for sharing. I definitely love these and would love to read more.

Books 1 & 2 arrived in Vienna today.
There are 2 1/2 BookRings infront of this one, but I will squeeze them in as I can't read them one after another anyways.

That was a cute, enjoyable read and sparkling with magick! I hope that the magical elements develop as the series progresses ... The athmosphere in the book is wonderful and I really liked the main character Morgan and her family.
And I was wrong I can read book 2 right away :)

Here book 1 and 2 take different roads because Amberkatze was squeezed in ;)

Thank you so much CandyDarling for letting me in on this one at such short notice!

I already read book 2 a month or so ago...I picked it up at a cheap bookstore and didn't know it was part of a series. Now I am really interested to see how things started off!

I know it is for teenages but sometimes it is nice to have a nice easy read ;)

This was a nice quick read and seeing as I have already read book 2 I knew most of what was going to happen in this book but it did clear up a few things for me.

I have to say that I preferred book 2 to this one...I wonder if I would think the same if I had read them in the right order though.

I am interested to see how this series progresses and have to say a huge thank you to CandyDarling for ringing the series!

I already have Morgaine77 address so I will post this out sometime next week.

Arrived safely in Switzerland, thanks! This looks like a quick, fun read, I might just sneak this up on Mount TBR.... ;-)

I needed something quick and easy to read this weekend, so this book was perfect! I love Teen books to read in between other books, it's very relaxing for me. :-)

I liked this book a lot, I think it was a great introduction to this series and I'm very much looking forward to the second book now to see what's gonna happen.

I'll hang on to this book until I read Book 2 and will pass them on together to Margih.

Thanks so much for sharing!

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to the next reader. Enjoy!

Received the big envelope with two books and a surprise journal yesterday, thanks :)

Sorry, I kept these books so too long!

I loved these two books! A teen book is fast to read and the story is so fascinating. A young girl who doesn´t know her abilities and is a bit lost when she finds out the possibilities after meeting the new guy in the school...

Will send the both books out this week to the next reader.

Got both of the books on Friday, will start reading them as soon as I've finally finished Gone With The Wind for an another ring. :)

The books were very quick to read, which made them perfect for me while I was stuck in bed with the flu. :)

I've read many teen books resembling these ones (in terms of the "high school" plot, not the witchy parts) when I was a bit younger, but none of those have been as educational Wicca-wise as these are. The information on the religion is what really kept me tuned to the book, as I've always been kinda interested on the subject. I used to read everything I found concerning Wicca when I was a teenager (which wasn't very much in a Finnish semi-small town), but I haven't had time to explore it further lately - until I got these books.
So thanks, CandyDarling, for reminding me of my interest in Wicca!

Contacting the next person on the list immediately to keep the ring going.

Thanks ritao! I had already forgotten that I had participated in this ring. I will try to read the books as fast as possible.

I read this book quite fast. It was pretty good and interesting and not very thick book, therefore fast reading.

And to Rowenne this book goes...

Back to CandyDarling because no-one else answered.

The book is back home, thank you everyone for participating!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Gave this book as a RABCK to Niksu. I hope you enjoy it!

Thank you so much for the book CandyDarling! I'm looking forward to this one. I read the book #2 some time ago and ever since have wanted to read the rest of the books from this series.

The book is also on lottuli's wishlist so will offer this to her when I'm finished.

Cute, quick read and I liked the story a lot. It was nice to read how everything started with Morgan. I'm planning to read The Coven again and then offer these books forward.

Thank you CandyDarling, for this kind RABCK!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

To lottuli today.

Many thanks Niksu, I so look forward reading this book :)

This was a nice quick read between a 19th century classic and a some other thick volumes.

I somehow can really well imagine Morgan and I really look forward to read the rest of story.
I read the Coven also, I will keep these two books together and RABCK these to someone who I think would love to read these two.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

In to post to go to a winner of Happy Smile Day raffle.
Sorry it took me so long to post you a book; but now you'll get two instead of just one :D

Thank you very much. These two books look really intresting and I'm looking forward to reading them.

A nice short read. I enjoy reading YA books, however it's a bit sad that I didn't get my hands on them when I was a teenager. Earlier this year I read the Twiligt saga about Bella and Edward and didn't really like them due to Bella being an egocentric b***h. In many aspects Morgan reminded me of Bella - insecure and not the most popular person at school but a girl who still manages to attract the dark handsom guy. However, what made this book better than Twilight was the fact that Morgan is a nice person who cares for the people around her.

Thanks for sharing this book with me. I'll make sure that it stays together with its companion.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Given to christina82

This was given to me by my friend DitteL.
This is just the sort of book my cousin Lene would like and since she is always on the look-out for new books, I will pass it on to her.
(Maybe I can even get her to join Bookcrossing after this!!!??)

Thanks!

My cousin Christina gave the book to me yesterday. I'm reading another book but i will read it as soon as possible. :)

I read the book and oh my god, i loved it. I couldn stop reading, it was so exciting and i can't wait to read the next books :)