The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw
Summary
Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow…
Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town.
Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under.
Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into.
Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.
But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.
Book Details
The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw
Published March 6th 2018 by Simon Pulse
Young Adult Fiction / Fantasy / Witches
Hardcover, 308 pages
Source: Bought
My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Book Review
THE WICKED DEEP by Shea Ernshaw is an eerily atmospheric and lushly written story of revenge, magic, and first love set along the beautiful and haunted coastal shores of Sparrow, Oregon, where three sisters accused of witchcraft place a curse upon its townspeople.
Blurbed as Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic meets the Salem Witch Trials, this is a fantastic read filled with vivid descriptions.
Drenched in a gloomy coastal atmosphere (you'll taste the salt and feel the mist!) with a page-turning mystery of revenge, witchery, and a swoony romance that I loved.
Seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot lives on Lumiere Island whose lighthouse looks out to the very waters the sisters were said to have drowned in. She drives a skiff rather than a car to get to High School and hides the fact that she can see ghosts, a secret that is becoming increasingly harder to hide as each summer it brings her closer to the lure of the Swan Sisters' curse.
Everything changes for Penny when she meets a mysterious boy named Bo Carter who arrives on the shores of Sparrow on the eve of the sisters' return. Hiding secrets of his own, he is unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into. Can Penny save them both or will she have to choose??
There is so much to love in this captivating debut story.
The book alternates its story chapters with interior pages that reveal the unfolding story of the Swan Sisters, creating this enchanting, yet haunting, story of love and revenge.
The feeling of imminent danger looms across the pages—building, as Penny and the townspeople acknowledge the fact that once again this summer they would face the curse of the Swan Sisters—only this time there's a new boy in town who has caught Penny's heart. I loved the eerie mystery that builds and the growing romance between Penny and Carter.
In the End
This is the kind of story that you find yourself swept away in. The writing brings to life a haunting story, immersing the reader in the town's curse and the peoples lives its effects. From the gorgeously rendered island and lighthouse where Penny lives to the salty shores where the Swan Sisters are rumored to return each summer, readers will find themselves enchanted by this haunting tale of love and revenge.
