Title: The GracesAuthor: Laure Eve
Published by: Faber & Faber
Publication date: 1st September 2016
Pages: 432
Genres: YA Contemporary/Paranormal/Magic
Format: Paperback
Source: Review copy from the publisher.
Everyone said the Graces were witches.
They moved through the corridors like sleek fish, ripples in their wake. Stares followed their backs and their hair.
They had friends, but they were just distractions. They were waiting for someone different.
All I had to do was show them that person was me.
Like everyone else in her town, River is obsessed with the Graces, attracted by their glamour and apparent ability to weave magic. But are they really what they seem? And are they more dangerous than they let on?
They moved through the corridors like sleek fish, ripples in their wake. Stares followed their backs and their hair.
They had friends, but they were just distractions. They were waiting for someone different.
All I had to do was show them that person was me.
Like everyone else in her town, River is obsessed with the Graces, attracted by their glamour and apparent ability to weave magic. But are they really what they seem? And are they more dangerous than they let on?
1. The story focuses on The Graces, who are powerful siblings and minor celebrities in their town but for all the wrong reasons. Bad things happen around them. More specifically, bad things happen to anyone who challenges them. The Graces are almost four-dimensional and I was completely drawn in by them.
2. It's ridiculously gripping. There were so many little twists that I physically could not stop reading. Was I bored at any point? Never. I'd just be getting comfortable and, boom, plot twist, otherwise known as a metaphorical bucket of cold water to the face.
3. The Graces is a duology and, judging by the greatness of the first instalment, there's going to be a lot of hype about the second book next year. Best to get in early.
4. The attention to detail is phenomenal and the writing was so rich and vivid. It's one of those books that you finish and think, damn, I wish I'd written that.
5. I was kind of in love with the setting. Picture this: a large house full of random but important objects, with a kitchen always full of the most delicious foods. The house is perched on a cliff, with sprawling gardens, and is right next to a beach. I'd want to live there if it wasn't so witch-y... but doesn't that sound like a beautiful place for a story?
6. The Graces messes with you. As the synopsis says... are things really as they seem?
7. There isn't enough witchcraft in books. The Graces, however, has it all.
8. This book is insanely good and I immediately craved more of Eve's enthralling way of storytelling.
9. The dialogue is punchy, chilling and easy to lose yourself in. Before you know it, it's nearly 3am. (This actually happened. Last time I looked at the clock, it was 11pm. I was very confused.)
10. Without a doubt, this is one of my favourite books of 2016.
