The Temptation (TSC #6) by Aubrey Clark | Rating: ★★☆☆☆

The Temptation is an all-time series LOW for the mess that was a continuation of L.J. Smith’s fantastic The Secret Circle series. What was once a delightful and magically dark trilogy is now a half-assed attempt at expanding the world and giving it a bit of a modernized treatment. And I can’t help but to think, once more, what the hell was going on in the minds of those who decided to continue the series?

Okay, okay, fine. It’s totally the whole money thing and it’s very tacky and disappointing but I do get it. I still think it was horribly unnecessary and butchered a perfectly good series by taking it away from its roots and the brilliantly kind L.J. Smith.

In theory this final installment could have worked well and packed on the action, it fell back into its pattern of being increasingly lackluster and a barrel of wasted potential. The Hunt, its predecessor, was far superior and while it was by no means as good as the original run, it was still better than whatever this was.

Once more, this is because L.J. Smith isn’t the one writing the books any longer and our ghost writer, Aubrey Clark, doesn’t quite have the spark or understanding of these characters like their creator did. Even the television adaptation (RIP, you were gone too soon!) seemed to portray the characters better than this mess.

The Hunt (TSC #5) by Aubrey Clark | Rating: ★★★☆☆

In a surprising turn, The Hunt improves on the mess that was The Divide and almost, almost, almost echos the original trilogy in tone and suspense. Not quite, but at least it’s an improvement. Just not enough to save this hot mess before it falls flat once more because honestly, that’s all it did–it will build readers up only to drop them in a pile of boring mush.

In some ways, Aubrey Clark almost resembles L.J. Smith in heart and prose this time around; far more than she did previously.

So original readers will at least have that to rejoice in, if they should decide to continue the series. But that’s about all it has going for it. We have a few heartbreaking moments in this installment as well as a couple times were it is almost terrifying to see what can happen next.

Especially the ending! If there’s one thing that made my rating go up a bit for this installment, it’s the ending and the spooky tone it took on in one full twist.

But enough of that.

Let’s start with the basics. Cassie Blake is now on the hunt for answers and spells to take her half-sister, Scarlett down a few pegs before she inevitably kills her. Even worse, the witch hunters that moved to town are making it their mission to destroy the circle and mark its members for death.

The Divide (TSC #4) by Aubrey Clark | Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Ah, yes. The Divide.

The first of a planned expansion to the previous trilogy. The Secret Circle came back in a misguided attempt to speak to the groups of newer fans who, perhaps, had watched the television adaptation. We’ve all heard the horrors of what happened to L.J. Smith and her two most prominent works: The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle.

If you haven’t, long story short, Smith’s publisher didn’t like where she was taking the stories and due to their contract, she lost the rights to continue both series in the way that she had hoped. It’s a low blow that is very, very common in contracts like the one Smith signed back in the day and an unsurprisingly tacky move for them.

So it will come as no surprise to anyone that I, a fan of the original series, was skeptical when it came down to the new trilogy; penned by Aubrey Clark. Let me start with one thing. Clark isn’t a terrible writer–she just isn’t L.J. Smith and she certainly doesn’t understand the characters.

Like… at all. My first complaint isn’t that, though. It’s the fact that story felt forced and inconsistent with what we already knew. And yet oddly enough it also felt like we were rehashing different things from the series original run.