It’s 1987 and we follow the story of Mayhem and her mother, Roxy as they escape the clutches of May’s abusive step-father. Fleeing to Santa Maria, they go to stay with Roxy’s estranged sister. When they arrive, Mayhem learns of the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family. The lineage that Roxy has been so desperate to ignore. As Mayhem comes to learn about her own history and power, she finally begins to feel at home in herself. But then she gets embroiled in the search for a man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach and she realises that her magic comes at a price. Is it really worth it?
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This book is billed as The Lost Boys meets The Wilder Girls. This has been problematic for some readers, based on other reviews that I’ve seen as some have said it's got a lot of (maybe too many) similarities to The Lost Boys. However, I’m not overly familiar with it so I went into this book with no expectation whatsoever.
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Having grown up obsessed with anything relating to magic – Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Craft, Practical Magic…this was everything my inner teenager wanted, with its running theme of a magical female bloodline. Although it's a YA novel, it's not superficial and definitely not exclusive for a YA audience. The characters all had depth and a complexity which appealed to me at my current age (early 30s if you’re interested