Review Detail

This book was so hyped, I may have gone into it with too much expectation. I think the bones of a good story are definitely there! But I had a hard time with the narrator. Ethan doesn't think or sound like a boy. I live in a household full of boys, and he just didn't ring true for me. However, he was very poetic and romantic so I'm sure there are many female readers who will respond to him. He just didn't do it for me. I like my boy characters to sound like boys.


I also had a hard time with the constant southern stereotypes (especially when so many of them were a mish-mash of stuff from distinctly different regions all over the south). I found myself rolling my eyes when EVERY southerner was a bigot who went to church, worshiped cheerleading and sports, and had a mile-wide prejudice about outsiders. The authors also mixed voodoo, uptight Baptists, and witchcraft into their small town. It felt like it was trying to be Louisiana, the Appalachian mountains, and rural Alabama all at once. It just didn't work for me.

I did love the backstory and the flashbacks. There's certainly a very compelling story here. And while the pacing, the narrator, and the setting didn't work for me, I'm sure there are many who will love this book and its sequels.