Book Review: Beautifully Broken

Title: Beautifully Broken
Series: Spellbound #1
Author: Sherry Soule
Published: June 2011

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. Yet she is determined to discover the connection between them before it’s too late.

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.

My Thoughts: This book started out a bit creepy with ghosts, demons and shadowy figures, only to get even more creepy and redoubtable near the ending! Some parts really gave me the creeps! (Madison especially, for those of you that have read the book)

This book had every ingredient to make a great and thrilling paranormal read; ghosts, witches, demons, white and back magic, dysfunctional families, a haunted house and a cursed city. I just wished that the writing would have been a bit more polished and structured. There were some jumps between contexts that were a bit confusing. But since Soule is a fairly new and young author with great talent and imagination, there is certainly a promise of even better books to come!

As for Shiloh and Trent's relationship, it developed a bit to quickly for my taste. They met rarely during the first months, but Shiloh still developed strong feelings for him almost immediately. But I couldn't feel an attraction or spark between them.

Rating: 3.75 of 5

Read my interview with author Sherry Soule here.