The Curse Worker Series, by Holly Black

Both titles available at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore Website 

White Cat: Cassel comes from a family of curse workers—people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, all by the slightest touch of their hands. Since curse work is illegal, they’re all criminals. But not Cassel. He hasn’t got the magic touch, so he’s an outsider—the straight kid in a crooked family—as long as you ignore one small detail: He killed his best friend, Lila. Now he is sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat. He also notices that his brothers are keeping secrets from him. As Cassel begins to suspect he’s part of one huge con game, he must unravel his past and his memories. To find out the truth, Cassel will have to outcon the con-men.

Red Glove: Curses and cons. Magic and the mob. In Cassel Sharpe’s world, they go together. Cassel always thought he was an ordinary guy, until he realized his memories were being manipulated by his brothers. Now he knows the truth—he’s the most powerful curse worker around. A touch of his hand can transform anything—or anyone—into something else. That was how Lila, the girl he loved, became a white cat. Cassel was tricked into thinking he killed her, when actually he tried to save her. Now that she’s human again, he should be overjoyed. Trouble is, Lila’s now been cursed to love him. And if Lila’s love is as phony as Cassel’s made-up memories, then he can’t believe anything she says or does.

Lo says: Some of our friends probably laugh and shake their heads over these Swoony Recs because they read these books AGES ago. The truth is, I’ve had White Cat and Red Glove by Holly Black on my Kindle for months. I’m not really sure why I put off reading them. Maybe it’s that sometimes when something is pushed really hard on me I end up delaying reading until the buzz quiets down and I can read them without every person’s opinion in my Twitter feed.

White Cat didn’t grab me by the collar and shake me up the way I expected. I mean, I couldn’t put it down because the writing is fantastic and the characters are so real it almost feels intimately eaves-droppy sometimes. But White Cat is clearly a building book 1 (which I actually love in a trilogy. How often is book 1 all KAPOW OMG WOAH WHY CAN’T I WRITE THAT and then book 2 is all HMM HEY WHAT IS FOR DINNER). You guys, seriously, Red Glove just takes off.  It’s absorbing and smart and funny and twisty-angst-awesome and all of the things you want in a book but so rarely get. It really gives me so much hope for the third book, Black Heart (release date, April 3, 2012). I have a lot of faith in Holly Black’s ability to make Black Heart the best of the three.

The dialogue is perfection. But beyond that, Black’s world building is some of the best I’ve ever read. It’s not an entirely new world, it’s our world, with a new layer. History is rewritten, smartly. It’s worth reading the series for that alone, but her first person male POV is also fantastic. Cassel has a history of being the proverbial redheaded stepchild and a reason to be insecure, but he’s also a wise ass (favorite line in Red Glove, when his mother tells him that a pair of panty hose are for his disguise, Cassel says, “You want me to look homeless, desperate, but also kind of fabulous?”) It’s so weird that I loved White Cat so much more after just starting Red Glove. Does that even make sense? White Cat stands alone, but Red Glove builds on it so fluidly, these books are like a perfect sibling pair that should never be separated. I really just want to meet Holly Black and fangirl the hell out of her and touch her shiny shiny hair (in a totally non-creepy way).

Now, I heard all kinds of faint Cassel swooning from friends, but I didn’t much get it. The books are flipping amazing, don’t get me wrong. But I wasn’t needing the smelling salts for the boy so much. He seemed a little … unwashed. I don’t need the author to tell me when a character showers, but I get the feeling that Cassel rarely remembers deodorant? Gets a bit smelly? He also seemed a little glass-half-empty about, well, everything. It fits his character to expect the worse, but sometimes you just want to turn the page and see Broadway!Musical!Cassel! with the optimism and the grabbing-the-girl-and-kissing-her, but…no. And sometimes, I want to shake him and tell him EXPLAIN YOUR BRAIN, DON’T BE SUCH A NONVERBAL BOY. But lettuce be fair, friends. This last characteristic isn’t exactly the typical swoony male lead but it is in some ways the typical guy.

I mean, his lack of communication sometimes is kind of realistic, right? Why bother correcting every tiny misconception people have when they take limited amounts of information and use it to draw conclusions? Dumbasses. It’s sort of BAMF!Cassel!, amIright? Extra awesome? Being in Cassel’s head, and seeing his strength where others don’t yet get it, makes the reader feel like they share his secret, and what’s better than knowing someone better than anyone else?

I give this one: Straight to the Favorites Pile, and I Will Reswoon Soon.

About the Author: Holly Black is a best-selling author of contemporary fantasy novels for kids, teens, and adults. She is the author of the Modern Faerie Tale series (Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside), The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), and The Good Neighbors graphic novels (with Ted Naifeh). She is also the co-editor of three anthologies, Geektastic (with Cecil Castellucci), Zombies vs. Unicorns(with Justine Larbalestier), and Welcome to Bordertown (with Ellen Kushner). Her most recent works are The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, a collection of short fiction, and The Curse Worker series (White Cat, Red Glove, and the forthcoming Black Heart). She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Theo, in a house with a secret library. Web – Twitter – Goodreads.