Series: Voodoo Nights
Pages: 246
Edition: Kindle
Publisher: Evatopia / November 17, 2013
Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Cursed, the first book in Lizzy Ford's new Voodoo Nights series, is an excellent read for paranormal YA fans as well as people just looking for a good story rich with superstition, magic and mystery. It does come attached with the whole overdramatic teenage love thing (it's YA after all), but I found the book so good that I could look around it.
Warning: Don't expect Cursed to have a nice clean ending. I know how sometimes in a series each book kind of contains its own plot with some sort of closure, but this is not one of them. It almost seems like this should be labeled as a "Part One" instead of "Volume One" as it works itself up to a pretty brutal cliffhanger, which is something I wish I had known when I started as I kept feeling frustrated that the book was "wasting time" getting to the end.
Synopsis provided by Goodreads
Five years after her sister disappeared, seventeen-year-old Adrienne finds the strength to return to her father’s home in New Orleans. But soon after she arrives, the mark of a curse appears on her, leaving her worried. Will she be the next victim of a four-hundred-year old family curse ... the next to be claimed by a serial killer roaming the back alleys of the city?
The day before his senior year begins, Jayden is given a skeleton key passed down through his family for generations -- a gruesome reminder of how his ancestors betrayed their own people and sold them into slavery. He doesn’t believe in the curse the key allegedly bears and puts it away with the intention of forgetting about its message. Until he meets Adrienne, a girl he’s compelled to for more reasons than her beauty.
He’s not the only one who notices her. A man in a skeleton mask and a voodoo gang member are also drawn to Adrienne. One is determined to protect her. The other intends to mislead her. Haunted by the mythical Red Man, all are connected to the ancient curse.
Can they overcome their misgivings about one another and prevent the dark prophecy looming over them? Or will they be lured away from each other by evil’s siren song?
What I Liked:
The plot was unique and full of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. And that's saying something since I'm one of those people who has to guess what is going to happen next. Ford does an excellent job of weaving together unlikely characters that is interesting and, importantly, makes sense (I'm amazed at how many books I read that seem to throw random stuff together in the name of surprise, but it doesn't really tie in with everything building up to it).
The characters were mysterious and I was eager to learn more about them and their history. Once again, Ford was fantastic when it came to creating a tie between the families that I didn't really see coming. I especially liked Rene, but wish we would've learned more about him and his gang.
What I Didn't Like:
Adrienne developed in ways I didn't care for. At first she was a hard working scholarship student dedicated to her singing, but then she got all into Jayden and that was annoying (the whole she likes him but runs away from him). Then she started getting kind of ignorant of the things that were happening around her. She didn't use logic when putting herself in dangerous situations and she was downright bitchy to Rene and to the people who were trying to help her.
I didn't like the concept of spoiled rich kids like Jayden who are written like they are more down to earth. Really, it just makes them sound ungrateful for what they have. For example, I felt like he talked a lot about their family's wealth, but then tried to play the martyr for things like taking care of his younger sisters. If his family is so rich, why didn't they just hire a nanny?
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