The Graces by Laure Eve - Review

Where did I get it? I bought it from wordery.com and it arrived before release date which was exciting. I picked it up straight away.

What's it about? Everyone in their small seaside town knows the Graces. Beautiful, charismatic siblings - twins Thalia and Fenrin, and younger sister Summer. The rumours are that the Graces, who live in a big house with their parents Esther and Gwydion, are witches. The rumours also say that there's a curse upon the Graces - that if one of them falls in love with a non-witch, one of them will either die or go mad.

Into this comes our heroine, who is unnamed but who chooses the name River for herself. She's new to town and looking for a fresh start after the disappearance of her dad. She desperately wants to get into the Graces' inner circle, and desperately wants to know if the rumours are true.

I'd heard so much hype about this novel and well, it didn't totally deliver for me. I felt like the first third was really slow with not much happening, and I wished there'd been more action even though I liked the setting up of the atmosphere. I wish that the author had identified "the town" and the nearby "city" - I imagined that they were in Cornwall/the South West, simply because I read that the author lives there - but I'd have liked confirmation. I think that too many YA books, especially those set in the UK, don't give away their settings and I wish it wasn't this way - I like to know settings! 

Summer, Thalia, and Fenrin are pretty much portrayed as perfect people, but when the facade slips I liked them a lot more. I liked the setting of the house and the descriptions of all the beautiful things that the Graces owned. The heroine is quite an unreliable narrator, but I liked her and was rooting for her the whole time. I guessed the twist, but thought it was nicely done throughout the novel.

I read that the author was inspired to write this after watching The Craft, which was one of my favourite films as a teenager. I definitely see the inspiration in the novel and recommend that if you liked this book, watch that film! 

I didn't hate it, but I thought it was really slow going in parts. There's going to be a sequel this time next year, which I would be interested in reading

What age range is it for? 15+

Are any main characters LGBTQ+? Kind of

Are any main characters people of colour? No

Are any main characters disabled either mentally or physically? Kind of

Is there any sex stuff? No, but trigger warning for description of sexual assault.

Are drugs mentioned or used? Yes

Is there any talk of death? Yes and I'll warn that some of it is graphic. 

Are there swear words? Not many

Would I recommend the book? Yes, if this is your kind of thing. 

How many stars? Six out of ten.