“This town was built on revenge, and it’s never made anything better or right.”

Stars (Out of 10): 7/10 Stars

Favorite Character: Bo

Spoiler Free: I haven’t had the best experiences with witchy books as of late, so the main reason for me picking up this book, especially the hardcover, was based on how gorgeous it was.

Overall, it was an okay book. I didn’t connect with Penny until later, as I’m starting to find the whole “Plain Jane” act quite overdone, and the romance itself was developed a bit too quickly (though there is a reason for this explained later.) And while the plot itself was fairly cool, and I liked the interjections of tales from the past (I am always a sucker for that kinda stuff), it was incredibly predictable. So much so that I guessed the main twist in the first 30%.

Why did I rate this book at 7 stars still then?

It was really all because of the ending. Yes I guessed the twist, and I guessed the truth hidden behind the actions of both the main character and other characters, but the way it was actually done was so beautifully written that I couldn’t help forgiving its predictability. No it didn’t shock me or surprise, or completely blew my mind like some other books lately, but the final conflict and its resolution still got to me, and I couldn’t help feeling attached to the characters in the final moments of the book.

Additionally, I also really enjoyed how the story itself was told. For the most part the book was really nicely written, especially the portions set in the past that reveal the story of the sisters. It combined well with the voice of the narrator, even if they were a bit whiny at points.

Overall, I did end up enjoying the novel, even if it was hard to make myself read it at points since I knew where it was going to go.

Careful! Spoilers beyond this point!

Spoilers:

Spoiler

I guessed that there was much more to our dear Penny Talbot when she woke up with the taste of seawater in her mouth. Obviously, the first place my mind goes to is that she was taken over by a sister. I thought this was way too obvious, so I kept holding out for there to be some other reason that Penny could see the sisters, but when Hazel was never seen anywhere (and the main character never actively thought on where the final sister was), it became quite obvious.

However, the tragic parting of Hazel and Bo at the end was still extremely heartbreaking, and mainly because it contained so many conflicting emotions. Hazel wanted to fight to stay, but both didn’t want to force Bo to see his brother’s murderer everyday and didn’t want to take Penny’s life. The intense hate/love conflict within Bo was also amazing to see, as the image of the girl he loved fought with the image he had in his head of the monster that drowned his brother. All in all, I just thought the ending was the best done part of the novel, and what led me to giving this book the rating I did.