Author: Tonya Hurley
Series: The Blessed #1
Published: 2 August 2012 by Hodder
Length: 232 pages
Source: Publisher
Other Info: Tonya also wrote the Ghostgirl series!
Summary : Brooklyn
teens Lucy, Cecelia and Agnes find themselves in the emergency room at
Perpetual Help Hospital at the lowest point in their lives. Lucy, the
superficial party girl; Cecelia, a drop out rock chick; and Agnes, a hopeless
romantic. All rebels running from their lives and themselves, plagued by broken
hearts and broken dreams. Enter Sebastian. Mysterious, compelling, seductive.
He seems to bring each of them what they long for...But in the battle for his
heart, will they lose their souls?
Review: Agnes,
Cecilia and Lucy are three girls brought together by low points in lives. They
meet Sebastian, who seduces them, makes them all fall in love with him. And
then they find out that they’re not just three random girls brought together by
failed lives. They’re reincarnations of saints Agnes, Cecelia and Lucy. and
they’ve got jobs to do.
I really liked the idea. It wasn’t one of my “I must read
this asap” books, but it was definitely intriguing. Saints, and religion to a
general extent, don’t tend to get brought up in YA so I thought this could
really work out nicely. I also kind of enjoyed the Ghostgirl series.
We start seeing the three broken girls arrive at a Catholic
hospital following suicide attempts and drowning and whatnot. It takes a bit of
time for me to care about them, despite their circumstances. We do get a lot of
backstory which is nice, but at times I did just want the main story to move
on.
Which it hardly did. A good deal of The Blessed takes place
in a church. The three girls and Sebastian in a church. They spend this attempting to be strong and
failing, learning about the Church and Christian history, and flirting with
Sebastian. I think. I only read this a few days ago and I’ve already forgotten
what happened. The first thing I have a problem with is the way they all get
htere. After being all together in the hospital, which I understand, I really
don’t get why they’d just be casually out in a thunderstorm and happen to seek
refuge in this particular church. And all three of them? I know they need to
for plot working outness, but honestly.
The only character I really liked was Agnes, and even that
was at a push. Still, she’s better than Cecelia and Lucy, two semi-famous teenagers
with separate half-careers. Put all three of them together and you end up with
a tonne of whinyness. Add in a boy and you get a lot of bitchiness too. Lucy in
particular, I don’t like. she’s annoying, and she mucks around in the church in
a way this is, quite simply, disrespectful.
The whole saints thing only comes in to play during the last
eighth of the novel, which is too late to develop anything properly. The rituals and the latin was nice, but the
way they all suddenly gain the strength to do everything without needing time
to adjust was unbelievable. The ending seemed rushed and it wasn’t a very
satisfying end.
Good things...er...I liked the premise and the chapter
titles and the cover. Oh, and since I looked at the finished copy in a bookshop, I quite like the pictures of the saints.
Overall: Strength 2 tea to a book that had a really
good premise, but didn’t work out for me.
yeah, this wasnt great for me either. But I didnt like the first of her other series so I wasnt expecting to love it…
ReplyDeleteThis is the second review I've read for this today, who felt really let down by it. ):
ReplyDeleteThe three main characters don't sound very fun or enjoyable, sigh. It's such a shame you didn't like this, but thanks for the honest review anyway, Nina! I'm a new follower via GFC.<3
oh.. I don't think this book is for me. I've read more than one not so great review about this book, and knowing the explanations happen towards the end.. yea I think I'm going to drop this book from my TBR
ReplyDeleteJuhina @ Maji Bookshelf