The cover is beautiful and the book is beautiful naked so I'm sad that I didn't end up loving this book. It was just very lacking for me. Aside from the name of an author the thing that draws me in is the title of a book. That's a title that makes me want to know more and if you add the W word I'm all for reading it. I was so glad when the library finally got it so I was able to check it out. Sadly saying this is a witchy book is a bit of a stretch much like calling Twilight a book about vampires is a stretch. The main ingredient for a vampire is a set of fangs.
Now I was tempted to buy this book even though I really don't make a habit of buying brand new books unless I'm getting a really good deal or taking the odd trip to Book Outlet. The key to that website is to not fall for the easy trap of it doesn't cost that much so I'm going to get this random book. Know what you're going to get ahead of time like if you're collecting books from an author you already love. I did have some gift cards which is typically how I get books and more often than not they are used ones. I came close but never did purchase this book and I'm glad about that. It was tricky because the first printing only has the extra embellishments. Not sure what they mean by that. Maybe the naked cover won't be so pretty the next time around. I think there were little pictures inside at the start of each chapter too.
I was eager to read this book because I love witchy books. There's one big problem and that's the serious lack of anything really resembling witchiness. If you're looking for a witch read this isn't the book to read because they come off more as sirens than witches. You gradually get pieces of what went down two hundred years before when the Swan sisters were drowned for being witches. It was more a case of our husbands suck and you girls are pretty so let's kill you so of course the sisters decide to get revenge by coming back every year for Swan season where boys are drowned for I think it was a month. Each sister possesses one of the girls and they have no clue about it afterwards which is good because that would suck to have the memories.
This isn't a very long book so i think it would have been better if the book was longer. There wasn't much going on with the sisters. You get snippets from the past but there's virtually no interaction between the sisters who are back for the latest round of we're going to make you pay for killing us two hundred years ago. Hazel wasn't really involved in the whole husband shenanigans. There just wasn't much going on although I did find the book readable but finding a book readable does not make a book great. I think there's potential but it just fell flat for me. I think starting off in the past with more about the sisters would have allowed me time to know and give a crap about them. I will admit that things got better and that was an interesting twist on Penny being the youngest sister who was also the main character in the book. Maybe it was stupid that I didn't see that coming even though she told what's his name that she could see the ghosts possessing the girls in town each year. It turns out that Hazel went for Penny every time.
I could have done without the instalove although that seems to be a common theme in young adult books. I think I probably tolerate it since it can depend on the story but also because I simply didn't really have young adult books when I was growing up. I was reading adult books from a young age. Sure there were some young adult books but it was nothing like it is now. The so called romance was just odd and a bit cringey. What is his name? Bo? I don't feel like looking it up. For some reason I remember the name of his brother. What a strange brain I have. So a boy comes to town because his brother Kyle drowned and he was suspicious about the death. He meets a girl who ends up getting possessed shortly after he meets her. He falls for the ghost and later ends up with the real girl and somehow mom knows about it and oh yeah the possessed Penny killed the missing dad that no one gave a fuck about because he was an outsider. Say what now? I will give Hazel props for breaking the curse by drowning herself in Penny's body that stopped the sisters from coming back again. I guess Penny's dad was smart and figured out a way to stop the curse.
