ARC, 318 pages
Release Date: August 6, 2013
Published by: Strange Chemistry
Series, #1
Source: Sent from Publisher
For fans of Ghosts, Mysteries, Mythology, Action, Paranormal Romance, YA
Sixteen year old Taylor Oh is cursed: if she is touched by the ghost of a murder victim then they pass a mark beneath her skin. She has three weeks to find their murderer and pass the mark to them – letting justice take place and sending them into the Darkness. And if she doesn’t make it in time? The Darkness will come for her… She spends her life trying to avoid ghosts, make it through school where she’s bullied by popular Justin and his cronies, keep her one remaining friend, and persuade her father that this is real and that she’s not going crazy. But then Justin is murdered and everything gets a whole lot worse. Justin doesn’t know who killed him, so there’s no obvious person for Taylor to go after. The clues she has lead her to the V Club, a vicious secret society at her school where no one is allowed to leave… and where Justin was dared to do the stunt which led to his death. Can she find out who was responsible for his murder before the Darkness comes for her? Can she put aside her hatred for her former bully to truly help him? And what happens if she starts to fall for him?
*MY THOUGHTS*
I haven't read a book surrounding ghosts in a very long time. (I think the last one I read was Shine smh)The reason behind that... I wasn't just that interested in ghosts. *shrugs* But this one got me. And it was all because of the mythology aspect.
This book features Egyptian mythology. I haven't read anything else with Egyptian mythology so I was super excited to read this. I knew it would be different from anything I've ever read before. And I was right. The story surrounds the myth of Anubis, the Greek name for mummification and afterlife in Egyptian religion.Because of this cool connection, the plot was very interesting. Although it did start to drag in some places, once the action picked back up I was hooked.
The coolest part about this book was actually the most dangerous part. The V-Club. They did some totally off the wall things, but it was such a cool concept to have it span over generations. Had things not gotten as out of hand as they did, I probably would have enjoyed hearing more about what they did.
As far as the characters, I loved the main characters but the secondary ones were a bit much for me. Like they were extremely clingy. Doing everything to try and get closer with Taylor. It all just seemed extra for me. As for Taylor, I liked her because throughout the whole story she created a reaction out of me. There were so many things I wanted to beat her for, but in the end when they worked I liked her again lol No doubt I thought she was crazy, but I still liked her.
I also loved the romance. It wasn't the biggest thing in the book, but it was still evident and it even ended up being such a big part in the end. This helped me like it even more. I liked that it wasn't there to begin with at all, but as they grew, so did what they had between them. It was nice to not have that inst-love.
This book surprised me in so many ways. I wasn't expecting the mythology part to be included, but I counted it as just an added bonus. I knew once I saw the cover and read the synopsis that this was something I would love, and Pearce did not disappoint.
Overall, I give this
*A huge thank you to Strange Chemistry for sending me an advanced reader copy of this book. Receiving this galley from them in no way swayed my opinion about the book.