Review: Beautifully Broken by Sherry Soule

Synopsis:

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. 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.



Review:

This is a wonderful YA book! Beautifully Broken is the first book in Sherry Soule's Spellbound series. The story follows Shiloh, a 16 year-old witch who is just learning about her powers. Not only is she dealing with that, but she also has the unfortunate ability to see ghosts and demons. She lives in the very creepy town of Whispering Pines, where people just mysteriously vanish.

My favorite thing about this book was the romance that develops between Shiloh and Trent. They just have this connection, and they were instantly attracted to each other. That passion was definitely sizzling. I think the relationship was realistic though. There were awkward moments, sweet moments, passionate moments, and there were also times where they would argue. Their relationship felt very natural and not forced at all.

I really liked Shiloh, she's had a hard life. A lot of things happen in this book that most teenagers wouldn't be able to handle. She troops through it all though. She is brave, selfless, and snarky. She's a character that I think a lot of teens can look up to.

I thought the writing in this book was great. The book kept me hooked, I didn't want to put it down. There were so many events and emotions going on. The book was very mysterious, and definitely had a creepy factor going on. It might be something you won't want to read right before bed if you have an overactive imagination when the lights go out like I do. There were some very sad moments as well, but the sweet romance gave the book good balance. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in ghosts, witchcraft, paranormal, etc... Sherry Soule has an enthusiastic new fan and I'm dying to read the next book in this series!