Review Detail

“…Since coming to the island, Scarlett, I’ve felt pulled closer and closer to you…like you’re the earth, and I’m the moon caught in your orbit. I can’t pull away, I don’t want to pull away.” -Elana K. Arnold, Sacred

Sacred is a roller coaster of emotions. From the being the story is marked with tragedy. Scarlett and her family live on a small island off the coast of California, called Catalina. Scarlett’s family was a regular family, but everything change when her brother Ronny died. Now her family is a husk of what it used to be.

Scarlett is lost and cannot find her way back to herself. She isn’t eating or hanging out with her friends. The only time she really ever forgets the pain is when she rides her horse, Delilah. Those close to her notice that she is skinner, with dark circles under her eyes, but Scarlett blocks out their voices. She does not want to be helped, she wants to feel anything, even if it is only discomfort and pain.

One day there is a new arrival to the island-Will Cohen. With his brilliant green eyes, and dark curly hair, even in her grief shrouded world, Scarlett notices him. He seems to pop up at the times she needs him the most.

It does not take long for Scarlett and Will to acknowledge the connection they have toward one another, and to act on it. Scarlett is crazy about Will, and even though her mother is locked in her own grief stricken mind forsaking everyone else and her father is lost without her mother, she is happy! She is gaining weight back, she is smiling and laughing-she is living.

Scarlett learns that Will has a secret-a mystifying and impossible secret. Will this secret take Will away from her? What will she do to be with him. Will love conquer all?

Sacred is a complex story that sets the reader right in the middle of a grief stricken family. The reader is shown how each member deals with the lost of their loved one-and how that choice impacts others in the family. Elana K. Arnold writes a moving tale of a girl who is lost and how she deals with her emotions and pain. The rough climb out of her anguish and suffering motivates the reader to cheer and urge Scarlett onward in her journey. The strength of the human spirit and it’s thirst to survive-to move forward really shines through in this incredible story!