The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive Part 1 Book Review

Hey Guys,
This week I'll be reviewing The Secret Circle: the Initiation and The Captive Part 1 by L.J. Smith. This is an omnibus of the books that were written in the 90's. This is a story about a coven of witches and their adventures. This book contains the first book and the first half of the second. Here is the synopsis from the back of the book:

The circle's power has lured her home
Forced to move from sunny California to gloomy New England, Cassie longs for her old life. Even so, she feels a strange kinship to a terrifying group of teens who seem to rule her school. Initiated into the coven of witches that's controlled New Salem for hundreds of years, she's drawn into the Secret Circle, a thrill that's both intoxicating and deadly. But when she falls for the mysterious and intriguing Adam, Cassie must choose whether to resist temptation or risk dark forces to get what she wants—even if it means that one wrong move could ultimately destroy her.

My first impression of this book was that I wasn't going to like it. I've never really read any books about witches besides Harry Potter (and the witches/wizards from Harry Potter are WAY different than the witches in these books). I then learned that a friend of mine read it, and she told me that I should read it because it was really good. Even after that I didn't want to read it. It wasn't until I saw that the book was being adapted into a show that decided to read it. (I don't know why, but when I find out a book is being made into a movie/tv show, It makes me want to read the book, if it sounds decent, I guess I just like to compare them, and be happy with the result, I don't like when things are changed around to much(Vampire Diaries/Secret Circle) but I still like them anyway). I'm glad I chose to read the books, they are amazing. I loved them, and I loved the witches from this book... about evenly to the witches/wizards in Harry Potter. I liked the plot, and I really liked the characters. I like books with several important characters like this, because I like to see what happens to each of them. I give this book 4/5 stars, because I liked it... but I don't think it was one of my favorites, but you should definitely check it out anyway. :D