I read this as an egalley from Netgalley. At first, they declined my request to view it because my blog didn't have at least 100 followers. So that is something I'm working on, getting more followers. But, I was so interested in getting to read this book that I persevered and emailed them back, pointing out that I was a teacher as well as a blogger and a bookstore employee, and they went ahead and granted me permission to view and download it. And boy am I glad they did! This book sucked me right in, and kept me thinking about when I could get back to reading it as I was working throughout the day.
Our main character is Emma, who has just moved to live with her Aunt in New York. She's lost her brother, and her mother, and was living with her step-father, who was a drunk, until an tragic accident that left Emma with bad scars on her arms. She makes up a back story to tell everyone, to try to avoid questions and ending up with the same lack of friends back home. She makes some friends the first day, Jenn, and Angelique. Jenn is pretty popular, and has a friend named Kirsten, who right off the bat doesn't like Emma. The reason for that is because Kirsten likes this boy named Anthony, in fact, is kind of his girlfriend, but he is a flirt, and even follows through on that with asking girls out. And he's a creepy kind of flirt, and a bully as well. Emma is saved from some tense moments by a boy named Brendan. And Brendan is hot, and Emma can't seem to get him off his mind, partly because he seems to see right through her lies about where she came from, but doesn't bother to call her on it and mess it up for her. He seems to be really interested in her at a get-together one weekend, but then turns cold afterwards. Emma also has had some strange things happening to her, the lights in streetlights going out and the bulbs exploding as she walks under them. Her friend Angelique is a witch, and helps Emma out. Finding out that there is an ancient curse affecting both Emma and Brendan.
The story, the romance anyway, reminds me of Bella and Edward quite a bit, probably one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much. With the hot and cold moments between Emma and Brendan, hey, I just noticed their names are kind of a reverse of Bella and Edward if you think about it. :-) Anyway, it sucked me in, had some good new twists that I hadn't seen before with what was going on. And I loved the curse storyline. When I was done reading it, I remember even thinking at work that night that I wanted to get back into that storyline, then having to remind myself that I was done with the book and there was no more to go to. However the end did have a preview for a follow up book with Angelique, so I'll be very excited to read that when it comes out. Great book!
