"Sisters' Fate"

Jessica Spotswood lives in Washington, D.C., with her playwright husband and a cuddly cat named Monkey.

Spotswood applied the Page 69 Test to her latest novel, Sisters' Fate, and reported the following:

Warning: this entry contains major spoilers for book 2 in the Cahill Witch Chronicles, Star Cursed!

From page 69:

"I'm fine." I'm not fine. What's O'Shea cooking up now? Hundreds of Brothers will be at the bazaar. Any of us could make a misstep and be arrested. Things seem so on edge. And beyond that--

"Are you worried Finn will be there?" Rilla cuts right to the heart of it.

My breath catches in my throat, and I feel such a coward. Am I that obvious, that pitiful, that everyone can see the truth written on my face?

"I don't know," I whisper, burying my head in my hands. "I miss him. So much. I want to see him but - he won't know me. Not really."

Rilla plants her hands on her sturdy hips and gives a fierce little scowl. "I could slap that sister of yours."

That's only half of page 69, but I think it's very representative of the main conflicts of the book. My protagonist, Cate, is struggling to forgive her sister for an unforgivable betrayal. Her sister hasn't shown an ounce of apology or remorse, but there's a prophecy that one Cahill sister will murder another. If Cate can't somehow find it in her heart to forgive Maura, does she risk being the one to make that prophecy come true? As if that's not difficult enough, Cate and her sisters (and friends like Rilla, who's one of my favorite side characters) are all witches in a society that has outlawed magic. A war is brewing between the oppressed witches and the priests of the Brotherhood. Brother O'Shea, the head of the Brotherhood, is indeed cooking something up - and will announce it, much to Cate's horror, at the bazaar that night. She'll also have to see her ex, Finn, for the first time since their rather complicated breakup. Which he doesn't remember. He doesn't remember any of what they once were to one another. You see, Maura erased all his memories of Cate...which is an awful lot to forgive, no?

Learn more about the book and author at Jessica Spotswood's website.

My Book, The Movie: Star Cursed.

--Marshal Zeringue