The Graces by Laure Eve

The Graces (The Graces, #1)

by Laure Eve

Picked for BBC Radio 2's Book Club

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?

This beautifully-written thriller will grip you from its very first page.

Reviewed by readingwithwrin on

3 of 5 stars

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"We always have to find reasons to make order out of chaos, but the worst horror is when the reasons are totally banal, or when there isn't any reason at all."

I'm not going to lie I ended up requesting this book due to how much hype it had surrounding it, plus just look at how pretty that cover is. But sadly that's where the enjoyment really ended for me. This book kind of just goes in one big circle.

We have River who is new in town and lives with her mother who is almost always working. So what does River do? Well she like almost everyone else in the town is interested in the Graces.
"They were one step removed from the rest of the school, minor celebrities with mystery wrapped around them like fur soles, an ethereal air to their presence that whispered tantalizingly of magic."

Which I don't really understand because as we get to know the graces we see how they will use almost anyone to get what they want. Yeah sure one of them hates using people it appears at times. But she seems to get over this as time goes on or just pushes it to the side. Either way the Graces aren't good people. Sure they have money and good looks which makes the rest of the town interested in them, plus you also have the added thing in of the mystery that happened at one of the kids birthday parties a long time ago.

The first half of the book I found to be pretty good though I'm not going to lie, sure I didn't really care for most of the Graces. But I liked getting to know River and was constantly trying to figure out what happened to her father. (We get to know in the second half of the book.)
The second half though while there was a twist to it, just fell flat to me. We saw how truly awful the Grace family could be and how while they might seem to have Witch powers they also kind of don't. Or at least not as much as what a certain someone appears to have.

Sure there were still many questions left to be answered in the next one. But as of right now I just don't have any interest in reading it.
"You have to learn to be happy with who you are and what you've got."

Thank you to Amulet and Netgalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 7 September, 2016: Finished reading
  • 7 September, 2016: Reviewed