Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini

Lili Proctor is kind of a school reject because she's allergic to just about everything, has seizures, and her mother is the town fool because she speaks non sense all the time. Her best friend is the school's most popular boy and when he finally shows interest in her he messes everything up and cheats on her. This emotional wreckage will bring Lili to agree to the unthinkable and she will find herself in another reality.

The beginning of Trial by Fire is your typical contemporary YA novel. Nerd loves popular boy, when she finally goes to her first party it backfires, etc. Really, it didn't do it for me and I almost stopped reading right there. Where are the witches?? I kept reading though and while it's definitely not my favorite read of the year, it managed to draw my attention for its originality.

I really liked the concept of alternate realities and how every decision results in the creation of two different worlds, creating billions of alternative realities, a metaphorical breath away from each other. And while I didn't like the beginning, it was necessary to be able to really appreciate the difference between Lili's old reality and her new one, and get a feel for how different Tristan is in both worlds.

I was drawn by Lili's quest to find her way back to her own world and loved how she learned how to navigate this new world and how she learned to manipulate magic. What I didn't understand though, is why exactly Lilian brought her onto this world. There are hints of answers, but nothing really solid to grasp. Which kind of bothered me.

One of my favorite aspect really is how magic works in the world. It's very different from anything I've seen before and I liked how it takes more than one person to really work something powerful. The concept of mechanics is highly original.

Character wise I really liked them all. Each had something different, even the two versions of a same person were different enough that they really felt like two different persons (which they are..).

Josephine cooked one hell of a cliff-hanger for us and I am really curious about what will happen next, but it's not the 'please kill me now' kind of suspense and I prefer it that way. I would definitely recommend this title!