Magic Within by Sara Fitzgerald

Nancy, a purple-haired witch, has never fit in with the kids in town. She has always felt something was deeply wrong with her. When Josh, her best friend, is attacked by a werewolf, Nancy seeks a potion to save him from the werewolf curse within him. But Josh’s fate--werewolf or human--is his to decide, when the potion is injected during his transition at the full of the moon.

Nancy, too, must make a choice. Her mother, her best friend, and a steadfast young man all see the magic within her. Can she finally accept who she is and give love a chance?

It's all about werewolves in this YA paranormal book!  Poor Josh gets bitten in a desperate attempt to save his sister from the vampire fate.  The consequence of being bitten by a werewolf is that you eventually turn into a werewolf yourself.  Well, that is if you survive the transition from human to werewolf on the night of the next full moon.

Josh is a witch, not a werewolf.  He has always believed werewolves to be horrible, evil creatures so when he realizes that he will become one of them he is understandably upset and angry.  As Josh lives among the werewolves and gets to know them, he learns some important lessons.

Nancy is a smart girl/witch with a healthy dose of self doubt.  It was nice to see Nancy transform through the book from insecure to confident.  I loved her loyalty to her friend, Josh and her determination to save him.

I felt like the book stayed pretty much on the surface.  I wish I would have had more of a back story or understanding of why things were the way they were.  The story just sort of started and ended without me understanding when it came from, if that makes any sense.  The surface story was there without any foundation, I guess.  I was looking for some meatier substance.

I did enjoy the book though.  It was easy to read and kept me mostly interested throughout.  One theme I liked from this book was that you shouldn't ever judge someone based on who you think they are or where you think they come from.  People can surprise you and when you take the time to really get to know people, you will probably change your mind about some preconceived notions you had.  It happens in this book and I really liked that.  It's an important lesson to learn.

Excerpt for Josh

In the blackness of the night, Josh growled from deep inside his body. The pain was intense. More than anything he’d experienced. He gasped and stared at the alluring full moon. His body violently twisted.

He looked at his contorted hands; claws were forming. He was changing into a werewolf. This couldn’t be possible. He never even tasted human flesh and yet he’d always envied the power and freedom of Eric. To have no restraints. Nothing to constrain his behavior. Pure freedom.

“No!” he screamed into the night. Not him. Yet the stupid darkness had always appealed to him. He had even wanted to be a bloodsucker. Did evil lurk within his soul? Was this his fate? To be changed into a monster?

He frantically looked for Nancy, Nick and his sister. They were floating barely above him on the broomsticks. Horror flooded their faces, and tears filled his sister’s eyes.

Samantha dipped her broom lower. “No, Josh, please don’t do this.”

Nick raised his gun. Nancy quickly pushed it down.

Josh’s body quivered. “Kill me.”

You can purchase "The Magic Within" at Amazon.

Author Biography:

Sara lives with her husband and seven-year-old daughter in Salt Lake City.
She loves romance, intrigue, writing and exploring the city with her family.
Her two favorite parts of the day are reading bedtime stories with her daughter and hanging out with her husband.