The Graces by Laure Eve (The Graces # 1)

Young Adult. Paranormal. Witch-y. 

Rating: 3.25/5 

Started: July 28

Finished: July 28

Summary:

    The Graces, a family rumored to be witches, are practically untouchable. Beautiful. Popular. Free. When River Page moves to their hometown, she wants to be one of them more than anything. She has never fit in. As she reads more about witches and finds an in with Summer, the youngest of the Grace siblings, she finally begins to feel wanted, normal, happy. But not only is the Grace's world not as perfect as it seems, but River is also hiding secrets of her own that she can't reveal at any cost.

Thoughts: 

    When I started this book, I thought it was going to end up a favorite. The protagonist was painfully relatable, from social anxiety and awkwardness to wanting to be someone, and feeling superior and woefully inferior at the same time. The book was witchy, a little dark. Exactly the kind of thing I would love. It felt a little uneasy, kind of off, but I thought that was just the style, and kept reading, excited.

    SPOILERS: But then the book kind of went off the rails. It kept getting less predictable, and the protagonist kept becoming less sympathetic, until I realized that the protagonist was an actual psychopath who hadn't done a single thing the entire book that wasn't manipulative or in her own best interests. That kind of messed me up. I identified enough with her at the start of the book that that realization was ... startling, to say the least. And then, for the final seventy five pages or so, I had to decide if the main character was actually the villain and if the Graces, in all of their messed-up glory, were actually heroes. 

    I still don't know how to feel about this book. Maybe some day I will read the next book in the series, but for now, I think I'm going to have to table it because I still don't know how to react to the twist and I don't think finishing the series is a good strategy. 

Words:

    Lintel (n) a horizontal architectural member spanning and usually carrying the load above an opening

    Carny (n, attributive) a person who works with a carnival 

    Banal (adj) lacking originality, freshness, or novelty

    Sycophantic (adj) of, relating to, or characteristic of a servile, self-seeking flatterer