Release Date: August 4, 2015
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 433
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Southern Gothic
Summary
All her life, Barrie Watson has been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lived with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt's South Carolina plantation instead--a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.
Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family's twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn't what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead. --Goodreads
The Rundown
I made a promise to myself that in 2017 I was going to start branching out more in the books I read and review, especially in YA. If there is a YA romance that's getting a lot of buzz or an underdog that needs a shout out, you know I'll read it! Science fiction and fantasy definitely get pushed lower on my TBR list, but the times they are a changin. Or at least I'm trying! While this one may be a small step outside of my reading usual comfort zone, I do love a good ghost story. Who doesn't?
I absolutely loved the idea that formed this story. Three families who have lived in the same plantation homes on the same island for generations dating back to the 1600s. When one family was cursed and the other two given magical gifts, a feud older than the Hatfields and McCoys began. Years of love, lies, murder, theft, and secrets spread through each family, each generation, sealing the bond between the Beauforts and Watsons, while making the Colesworths hate both families even more. Add in the secluded setting of a South Carolina coastal island, and you've got the perfect build up to all things magical, mysterious, and romantic.
Based on that alone, this book would have been a 4 to a 5 for me, but I really struggled with the characters. Barrie felt very immature to me, but I had a little forgiveness there given how she'd grown up with such a strict, reclusive mother. Eight came across as condescending in several of the conversations he had with Barrie. A lot of their flirting made me cringe. A good chunk of their dialogue was Eight telling Barrie that she was cute when she was clueless (gross) and Barrie "playfully hitting" Eight. I don't care if it's the boy or the girl doing it, hitting is abuse, not flirting. Probably the best dialogue and scenes came from Barrie's cousin, Cassie Colesworth, who was not quite a bad guy, but definitely not good either.
The romance between Barrie and Eight felt like a background add in instead of a featured part of the story because it came out of nowhere. It was like two middle schoolers with the awkward teasing and randomly kissing, not an eighteen and seventeen year old. There was no build up!
The book itself started strong, but I had to really, and I mean really, power through in the middle. It felt like everything happened in the last one hundred pages. To be fair, it had less to do with the story and more with the characters. I am so over what I call the "Bella Swan complex" in YA heroines. You know, the "oh I'm not sure if I'm pretty even though the cutest boy in school likes me and life would be so much easier if only I weren't so clumsy." Stop it. Don't be afraid to write a kickass heroine. At least in the final show down, Barrie was her own (finally!) her own hero.
I'm not sure if I'll continue on with this series. What do you do when the whole premise of a story is so so cool, but the characters make it lose its fizzle? Sigh. We'll see. It could be just me.
Rating: 3 Stars. If you liked Beautiful Creatures and don't mind a bit a longer read, you'll probably really enjoy this. If you like paranormal stories with murder and romance and a touch of historical fiction, pick up The Diviners by Libba Bray.
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