My Review of “Beautifully Broken” by Sherry Soule

 Blurb:

Thirteenth Daughter. Heritage Witch. Demon Slayer.
They say every town has its secrets, but that doesn’t even begin to describe Whispering Pines. The townsfolk are a superstitious lot and the mystical disappearance of a local teen has everyone murmuring about a centuries old witch’s curse. 


Sixteen-year-old Shiloh Ravenwolf is a heritage witch from the Broussard family, a family both destined and cursed. When 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, and immediately becomes spellbound by his charms. 


Finally, Shiloh's met someone who is supercute and totally into her, 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? 


It sucks to have a destiny, especially since Shiloh would rather spend her summer being a normal girl who worries about clothes and boys, not the supernatural. But she’s never been normal and the stranger things become the more her own magical senses awaken. 
With cryptic messages from a pesky wraith, she will begin to understand the mysterious significance of the strange mark branded on her wrist and 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:

First thing that really stood out to me with this novel - that is after that stunning cover, Wow! -  was the setting. The small town, Whispering Pines, had a dark history full of magic, ghosts and people disappearing. Many of the people and places seemed to me to have something to hide. The evil beings the main character called shades and demons, I enjoyed, coming in and out of the story, and the reader just never knows what to expect from them.  There is no progression, like in some novels of them getting worse each time they show up, they can do anything at any time. I think this element added to the suspense.  The story was written well, and the main character, Shiloh, had a great voice for someone her age.

The plot kept me reading.  Maybe it was just the cryptic-ness of the events and people keeping the suspense going as well. The author did create one of those, I have to know what happens scenarios, that keeps you till the end of the book.  And, I did become attached to the main character enough to care about what happened to her. I did laugh a few times at her snarky attitude, loved when she thought, cryptic much?, because I was thinking the same thing.

The characters had rich histories, and the house of  Ravenhurst was a quite a character itself. Overall, I think this was a good read. It was a bit darker than most YA I have read, but then again, as a mother of teens, I think they would like that. LOL

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