Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and Deep Dark Press in exchange for an honest review.
Genre: General Fiction and Young Adult
Release Date: June 30 2020
Rating: 2/5 Stars
Synopsis:
Anna Maron has always been the clever cousin, the older one. The follower of rules. Now sixteen, she attends the prestigious Claymore Manor boarding school, a place where girls find and lose themselves, and boys like Ben offer endless distraction. Where life seems almost normal, and Anna can ignore those things she longs to forget—like the things that she sees ... and wishes she didn't.
Anna has almost convinced herself that she’s not all that different, until her cousin Lucia shows up, bruised and battered, and desperate for help. Lucia, with her chilling charm and mystery. Lucia, who shares the same strange gift as Anna, but embraces it even as her hold on reality crumbles away. Now a snowstorm is moving in, and icy weather brings a reckoning of past and present ... and the living and dead.
Sarah's Review:
"Anticipating was so many times sweeter than experiencing."
Unfortunately this quote could have prefaced the book instead of being said by Anna about halfway through. This book really fell short for me.
I think this book had a lot of potential, and I think that the main idea of the story was interesting. For me the book started very strong. The prologue was intriguing, and made me really excited to read the rest of the story. I loved the setting of an old boarding school set in the middle of winter break. I think this is the perfect setting for a spooky and paranormal story. There were some things that I really liked about the main character Anna. I appreciated that she was strong, independent, and stoic.
Unfortunately in this case the bad outweighed the good. It felt like something was missing from the story, and that things needed expanded upon. I didn't connect with any of the characters, and didn't really care what happened to any of them. While I think there was meant to be a scary/twisty vibe, that also fell short for me. This book is marketed as general fiction as well as young adult, but it is definitely young adult.
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