Miss Megan

"Dear Reader,

A little backstory on the sensational debut you are about to read: Half Bad was THE "buzz" book at this year's Bologna Children's Book Fair in late March. That means it was the most anticipated and talked-about book throughout the five days of the fair. Everyone was hearing about it; everyone wanted it. The result was a very heated auction that actually occurred at the fair (quite unusual), in which five US publishers participated- and which Viking/Penguin won! The novel has since been sold into twenty-seven foreign countries, with more still coming on board.

In addition, several major studios bid for film rights, with the acquisition ultimately going to FOX, with Karen Rosenfelt (best known for the Twilight films, and the upcoming Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters and The Book Thief) producing.

In short, this is one of those very rare publishing phenomena, and we wanted you to be among the first to share the excitement with us. And this is only the beginning, as books #2 and #3 in the Half Bad trilogy are still percolating in author Sally Green's imagination. Stay tuned for those...

We hope you enjoy Half Bad as much as all of us here at Penguin do, and all its other publishers around the world.

With best wishes,
Ken Wright, Vice President and Publisher"

Books like this scare me. Overly hyped books lead to high expectations which can result in big disappointment.

I was so excited to read this - not just because of all the "buzz" surrounding it. It sounded interesting. Witches - white (good) vs. black (bad) and a boy who is half white/half black. Is he good or is he bad? Nurture vs. nature. What defines us? I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the paranormal genre. I've read quite a few of them but they don't rank highly on my favorite genres. So, the fact that I thought this book sounded interesting and I actually wanted to read it was pretty surprising. It helped that there are tons (and tons) of gushing reviews on GoodReads.

Unfortunately, this was a huge fail for me. It started off weak, got a little better and then went downhill from there. The only part of the book I really enjoyed was when Nathan was living with his Gran. I loved Nathan during this part of the book and empathized with him. I also enjoyed the witches creation story and the reason for the rift between the white and black witches. And the powers? The inventive and absolutely amazing witch powers? Wish I'd seen more of them in action.

I just found the majority of the book boring. Boring. Boring. Boring. It's too bad because it seemed to have so much potential. I spent the last three days cleaning like crazy, when normally I would be reading. It did not hold my attention and was a completely unforgettable book.

I received a digital ARC from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.