In the Southern town of Gatlin, Ethan Wate meets a new girl who is radically different from the ‘same old’ girls he has been seeing all his life. To make things even more interesting, Lena is living with her uncle Macon Ravenwood, the town shut in and subject of much small minded town speculation. Ethan’s family life is different from most in Gatlin– his mother passed away and his father has become reclusive in his grief. His caretaker Amarie, or Amma, is a great character with a hilarious attitude and even better accent.
As Ethan and Lena become inexorably attracted to each other, another world opens up to Ethan. He finds that Lena and her family are Casters, those with unimaginable powers. As Ethan discovers Gatlin’s secrets about the Caster population, he also finds that Lena’s family has secrets as well: As Lena’s sixteenth birthday approaches, she will come into her powers, and unlike other Casters, she has no choice whether she will Turn Dark or Light. As Ethan pieces together his nightmares, he realizes that his and Lena’s attraction goes back hundreds of years, to another pair of star crossed lovers in their family tree. Now it’s up to them to find a way to break the curse before Lena’s birthday, before Ethan loses Lena forever.
How many of Lena’s battered notebooks have Mrs. Ethan Wate scribbled on them?
