The Secret Circle Trilogy (Original) by L.J Smith | Rating: ★★★★☆

"The silver cord can never be broken. Your lives are linked. You can’t escape each other any more than you can escape destiny."

I’m a sucker for all things witches — and so it is no shock that this trilogy is one of the first things I got my hands on when I was old enough to read young adult literature. L.J Smith has penned many novels for teenagers (don’t be fooled — a majority of the newer things written under her name are not of her writing!) and has seen her creations The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle adapted for television.

Her work is often overshadowed by adaptions (The CW Network is home to many loosely based young adult literature adaptions that scarcely stuck to their source material) or neglected due to readers finding it ‘weird’ or ‘cheesy’ or just overall not the greatest in writing. Which is okay, seeing as not everything is bound to be a persons cup of tea and most of her novels were published in the 90s.

Did I forget to mention they are targeted at a younger audience, anyway?

Regardless, The Secret Circle Trilogy is one of the best showcases of L.J Smith’s work. Of the three novels in this first run of these characters, you come to meet a group of young witches as they struggle to use their powers together for a common goal — and of course there’s a little romance to boot. And, well, teenage drama.


At times the characters may seem cheesy and unrealistic but you do grow to love them all in many ways. Through the stories there are many twists and turns that show the good and bad in many characters and present to you a truly unlikeable villain who’s connection to main characters is very interesting (and maybe a little shocking too).

I feel like there could have always been more to the story but again, with its published date and genre the details are often light and quick to the point. It reads like a children’s chapter book instead of a young adult novel (the difference for me is just enough to say so) and it won’t take you long to read through the entire trilogy.

L.J Smith sometimes has some strange twists into her stories that may make you roll her eyes, so if you’ve started reading something else of hers and didn’t like it but still want to try something by her: this trilogy is the set for you. It's simple and fun and the perfect light read.