Published: July 2014
Number of Pages: 402, Hardcover
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Contemporary, Witches
Setting: Danvers, Massachusetts (Salem, Mass.)
Plot: It’s senior year at St. Joan’s Academy, and school is a pressure cooker. College applications, the battle for valedictorian, deciphering boys’ texts: Through it all, Colleen Rowley and her friends are expected to keep it together. Until they can’t.
Inspired by true events—from seventeenth-century colonial life to the halls of a modern-day high school—Conversion casts a spell. With her signature wit and passion, New York Times bestselling author Katherine Howe delivers an exciting and suspenseful novel, a chilling mystery that raises the question, what’s really happening to the girls at St. Joan’s? (Goodreads.com)
Personal Thoughts: I really wasn't sure what I was going to think about this book going into it - it was on the list for a book club in the month of November for me and so I read it for that reason only. I am happy to report that I did enjoy this story over all though.
For starters, the book got a little confusing when it breaks up between current day in Danvers and when it jumps back to colonial times in Salem. (Think, The Crucible). It was very interesting how the author lined up both sides of this story though and I found myself waiting for the interludes to see how the story from the past lined up with what was going on in Colleen's life!
I wasn't happy to find the setting to be a private girls catholic school - that just seems typical for a LOT of YA books these days, but I didn't mind it once the true meat of the story started to come out. I really enjoyed getting to know Colleen and her friends and then meeting her love interest, Spense, made things ever more interesting. Put in the fact that she's a senior, about to have to pass classes, and find a college, and this book became way more interesting to me!
I loved the air of mystery surrounding what was going on in the school and how crazy all the theories got. For a while it was hard to decide if this book was going to be actually a contemporary book or if it would go ahead and transform into a fantasy book about REAL witches!! I was happy with how it ended for the most part - and the author laid things out so well that by the end I just wanted the answers as to what was REALLY going on! I definitely recommend this book to anyone that loves a good YA mystery, with a little history thrown in as well! There is some cursing, but other wise a clean story!
Recommended Age Level: 15+
Rating: 4
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