White Cat (The Curse Workers Series #1) Book

4.5 stars
Holly Black, where have you been my whole life?

We are, largely, who we remember ourselves to be. That's why habits are so hard to break. If we know ourselves to be liars, we expect not to tell the truth. If we think of ourselves as honest, we try harder.

But what happens when you are forced to doubt every single memory that makes you who you are?!

This book has definitely made it to my 'top ten young adult books' list. It came at the right time and it was just what I needed: angst-free and fun.

Let's start with the main character, Cassel (whom I keep calling Vincent for obvious reasons). I love it when female authors succeed in creating a strong male voice, a thing that doesn't happen often enough. Lish McBride did it in Hold Me Closer, Necromancer. Holly Black did it with Cassel. I really felt like I was inside a boy's head. That's not to say that Cassel didn't have emotional moments and uncertainties, of course he did, they were just handled differently. In creating this character, Black followed all the usual conventions, but in a way that was new and refreshing. For example, I just want to be normal is a very common problem for YA protagonists and I usually find it eyeroll-inducing. With Cassel it felt genuine, probably because he didn't whine about it, but instead acted in such a way that made him look more like other people his age. The desire was present in all his decisions - from the school he chose to attended to the girl he used to date.

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers, people with magical ability (only they call it talent, not magic) to influence other people using minimal skin-to-skin contact. His mother is an Emotion worker currently in jail for working some very rich guy into falling in love with her, his grandfather can literally kill people with a single touch and his two older brothers are extremely talented as well. Cassel is the only one without a real talent, a fact he makes up for by being an excellent con artist and an occasional thief - both skills that are highly admired in his family.

White Cat kept me interested from start to finish. I could read this type of stories for the rest of my life without getting bored. It's always interesting when your narrator can't be sure of his own memories or anything else for that matter, but when you have all that in first person, it's especially confusing and so much fun!

Favorite quote:
I consider kissing her right there on the dirty couch, but some instinct of self-preservation stops me. Once someone's hurt you, it's harder to relax around them, harder to think of them as safe to love. But it doesn't stop you from wanting them. Sometimes I actually think it makes the wanting worse.

The fascinating and detailed world Holly Black created left me wanting more! I can't wait to get my hands on Red Glove audio, narrated by Jesse Eisenberg.