Book Review- Beautifully Broken by Sherry Soule

Title:  Beautifully Broken

 Author:  Sherry Soule  

Series:  Spellbound #1

Published:  30 August 2011

Length: 344 pages

Source: Author

Other info: Moonlight Mayhem, the sequel, came out recently.

Summary : Sixteen-year-old Shiloh Ravenwolf is a heritage witch from the Broussard family, a family both destined and cursed. After she takes a summer job at Ravenhurst Manor, she discovers a ghost with an agenda. That’s where she meets the new town hottie, Trent Donovan. But Trent may be the next victim on the supernatural hit list, and Shiloh is the only person with the power to save him.
Complicated much?
After receiving cryptic messages from a creepy wraith, and then frightening threats from a demon, Shiloh finally begins to understand the mysterious significance of the strange mark branded on her wrist. Now Shiloh must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice to protect the other teenagers in town.
Unfortunately, for Shiloh, not all ghosts want help crossing over. Some want vengeance

Review: For a long time, Shiloh Ravenwolf has been able to see shades. And auras. And other things. This is because of her family background, which she doesn't know about. So she doesn;t know that she's a witch (I think-sorry if I'm wrong) and she doesn't know why there's a ghost stalking her. So when she starts a job at Ravenhurst Manor, she finds a ghost. She also finds Trent Donovan, who she instantly falls in lust with. Obviously. Then teenagers start going missing, and it's all being blamed on some spirit in the house. And Trent's on the list for disappearences. And maybe Shiloh is too.

There's a lot going on in this. Demons. Witches. Ghosts. Haunted house. All really good stuff to go in a YA paranormal novel. And then there's also Trent, the typical love interest. All these things come together after a good amount of anticipation and time to get really invested in the story.

I liked Shiloh (rather surprisingly as I'd recently watched a film with a MC called Shilo who was one of the most irritating characters ever for the majority of it). I especially liked her heritage-even though we don't know fully about her mother and such, the Native American side of her ancestry isn't the kind of thing we see often so it's a really nice change. She takes things well, ie realistically. Seeing her develop her powers and her understanding of the supernatural world she's in is really nice.

Trent. He's cool. i don't really like characters when they're described as being "the hottie" (I respect the character's opinions but I'll decide that for myself) but I liked his relationship with shiloh. Not the instalove aspect, but the way they work together makes them a great team. At times, I got a little confused with the other side characters, what they were for and what their motives were. They're all important in some way though.

There's a lot of build up so if you like suspense built stories, this is definitely one for you. The manor, the murders, the parents, the powers. Four side plots that end up coming together to a conclusion that leaves you wanting more. It would have been nice if it could be a little bit faster paced, and also have a bit more emphasis on the family who seemed a bit left out for the start of this.

I don't normally comment on settings, but I really loved Ravenhurst Manor. Lots of things happen there, a little spooky and very thrilling.

The writing is nice. Somethings like Shiloh's thoughts about Trent were a bit repetitive, but it doesn't detract too much.

The last fifty pages. So good! With everything simmering to start with, as it ends, it's all really exciting and you just don't want to stop reading.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a promising start to what should be a really good paranormal series.

Links: | Goodreads | Author website |