The Graces
Illustrated by: N/A
Series: The Graces (Book #1)
Published: September 1st 2016, Faber & Faber
Edition: Paperback
Length: 432 pages
Narrated By: N/A
Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy, YA, Magic, Mystery, Contemporary, Thriller
Where Did I Get It? I got an early release copy in my August Illumicrate subscription box.
Blurb: 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?
Opening Line(s):
Everyone said they were witches.
I desperately wanted to believe it.
My Review: The second I saw the proofs of this book floating around on Twitter, I wanted it. Then it was at YALC and I wanted it even more because it wasn’t just pretty but the teaser titbits they gave us made it sound right up my street. Plus they gave us temporary tattoos which pleased both my inner child and my actual children who have worn theirs with pride for most of the summer holiday so far.
Then my Illumicrate arrived and I might have actually squealed out loud when I saw the glint of gold on the cover and recognised what it was. Everything else on my TBR for the month got immediately bumped downwards without a second thought.
There is always the danger, when you are madly excited about a book, that it ends up being a disappointment, but thankfully The Graces didn’t fall foul of this.
I loved the narrator, River, and the fact that you never entirely knew everything about her, even though it is written in the first person. She is clever at keeping secrets and I love the excitement of an unreliable narrator – you never quite know where you stand and that keeps things exciting.
The Graces were fantastic characters and the mystery around them was beautifully measured and played out through the story. I did figure out a couple of the twists but not completely and not in such a way that made it boring waiting for them to play out. Nothing about this book was boring at all. I found it very hard to put down and when I did put it down I was still thinking about it.
Full of mystery and magic, uncertainty and well-paced action, The Graces caught my imagination and kept me guessing right to the end. Clearly the first in a continuing series, but a complete enough story in itself to be satisfying – I will definitely be looking out for book two when it comes out!
My Rating: 5/5*
The Graces can be preordered on Amazon here.
Follow Laure Eve on Twitter here.
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