Trial by Fire

Author: Josephine Angelini
Series: Worldwalker Trilogy #1
Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy, Dystopian, Romance
Release Date: September 2, 2014
Summary: This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergies keep her from enjoying experiences that others in her hometown of Salem take for granted, which is why she is determined to enjoy her first high school party with her best friend and longtime crush, Tristan. But after a humiliating incident in front of half her graduating class, Lily wishes she could just disappear. Suddenly, Lily is in a different Salem—one overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women called Crucibles. Strongest and cruelest of them all is Lillian . . . Lily's other self in this alternate universe. What makes Lily weak at home is what makes her extraordinary in New Salem. In this confusing world, Lily is torn between responsibilities she can't hope to shoulder alone and a love she never expected.

Review: Where in the world do I start?! (hahaha, that's incredibly funny because this book deals with more that one world . . .) Well, this was a freaking fantastic, original, kick-butt, witchy story! I've read one other novel by Josephine Angelini (Starcrossed) but never got around to finishing out that series. Anyway! While cruising the internet (which I do frequently) I happened upon Trial by Fire. Needless to say, the cover completely grasped my immediate attention as well as knowing it was by Angelini. So what do I do?! Put it on hold at the local library and then sit and wait . . . and wait . . . and wait . . .

AH!! It decided to finally show up and I completely devoured it. I'm talking like finishing this is one sitting, devouring. I haven't read that many books dealing with witches, but I'm completely intrigued with them. And the fact that Angelini chose the whole Salem witches to go off of made my day. The story was completely unique and all it's own! I did get slightly confused when Lily actually switched worlds/dimensions/whatever you want to call it, but once she was actually in the dystopian, with a slightly steam-punk feel, version of Salem, everything went smoothly. 

So, since this is a romance I obviously have to talk about that a little! (DUH). The love interest is . . . wait for it . . . ROWAN!! Okay, so he was totally rude and horrible to Lily when she first arrived in the New Salem but it was all for a good reason!! The only problem I had with Rowan was that he and the old Lillian had totally had a thing and, simply put, that definitely was getting under my skin.

Lily was an okay main character. For the first couple chapters (while she was still in her world) I hated that she was plagued by basically every allergy known to man kind. However, after getting transported to the New Salem, I feel like she found herself (with the help from Rowan and some magic) and enjoyed her much more after that. Oh!! And some of the jokes and puns in this book had me all like: 

A solid 4 star in my book!