We’re very excited to be a part 0f the blog tour for the upcoming THE GRACES by Eve Laure! Before I share my thoughts on the story, here are the details!
The Graces by Laure Eve (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Published by Abrams on September 6th 2016
Genres: Europe, Family, Fantasy, People & Places, Siblings, Wizards & Witches, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 352
Format: ARC
In The Graces, the first rule of witchcraft states that if you want something badly enough, you can get it . . . no matter who has to pay.
Everyone loves the Graces. Fenrin, Thalia, and Summer Grace are captivating, wealthy, and glamorous. They’ve managed to cast a spell over not just their high school but also their entire town—and they’re rumored to have powerful connections all over the world. If you’re not in love with one of them, you want to be them. Especially River: the loner, new girl at school. She’s different from her peers, who both revere and fear the Grace family. She wants to be a Grace more than anything. And what the Graces don’t know is that River’s presence in town is no accident.
This fabulously addictive fantasy combines sophisticated and haunting prose with a gut-punching twist that readers will be dying to discuss. Perfect for fans of We Were Liars as well as nostalgic classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the 1996 movie The Craft, The Graces marks the beginning of a new wave of teen witches.
The Graces was an interesting read for me… I kind of went into it with no expectations and knowing very little about it other than that there were witches involved!
River (though that’s not her real name) moves to town for reasons completely unknown to us as the reader when you start reading, and immediately is captivated by the Graces… Fenrin, Thalia & Summer. She’s not alone though, everyone wants to be linked to them in some way or another and as much as River tries to deny it, she wants to belong and be a part of their crazy, strange life. Everyone is intrigued by the Grace family and has their own story to share about them, but while River finds herself connecting with Summer, she can’t deny that she is drawn to Fenrin in a romantic way.
She finds herself welcomed with somewhat open arms into this strange family… but that’s not without it’s problems.
River is so hard to like here you guys… I’m not going to lie. Her desperation to be a part of this family was a bit off-putting and a little weird at first. I will say that by the end, the obsession with them definitely made more sense once we, as the reader, are brought up to speed as to her history and what she’s been going through. Her search for an explanation for who she really is and what she can do really made it make more sense. That said, I struggled very much in the beginning because you are basically shown two different people… the ordinary girl who just wants to suffer through school and not draw attention to herself, and the self-assured girl who is above everything and everyone else that the Graces are drawn to. It was hard to tie those two characters together, and at times I found her lack of self-confidence irritating. Also, some of her behavior was just a bit weird and off-putting. The one scene that comes to mind is when she decides to wander around the Grace house alone and starts digging around in rooms she obviously shouldn’t be in. She encounters their father and the whole thing was just weird and strange and I struggled to figure out why it was a part of the story.
The story itself was intriguing, though I wish I understood the Grace family a bit more. The Graces are a little odd… though I think that is intended. They don’t quite fit in in this town… and they really set themselves apart from the town and its citizens, so when River is welcomed it is strange for sure. Of course the rumor is the they are all witches and that they keep among themselves because they don’t want others to know, and while it’s never really confirmed, there are enough rumors and strange goings on that everyone thinks it’s true. Are they really witches or is it just the impression they want everyone to have of them? I think we never really see any examples of their abilities so I’m a bit confused on that point and Summer, Thalia and Fenrin are at all different points in their feelings of witchcraft and who their family really is, so it’s never really ever clear what their abilities are.
I feel like it took a bit to get into this story for sure, the pacing felt a bit off for me, and if you don’t like the slow build that will be a struggle, but I found that I was turning pages a bit faster by the halfway point. The writing itself was pretty well done, even if these teenagers sounded a bit pretentious at times. I’m intrigued by the way this ends and interested to see what happens next. Going in I didn’t realize this was a series so it will be interesting to see what the next book is actually going to be about. There were enough loose ends here but I feel like it could maybe have been wrapped up in one installment.
I think that fans of The Craft might find this an interesting read.
Thank you to the publisher for an early copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
8/22/2016- Quite the Novel Idea– Interview
8/23/2016- Novel Novice– Review
8/24/2016- Stories & Sweeties– Excerpt
8/25/2016- Fiction Fare– Review
8/26/2016- A Dream Within A Dream– Guest post
Week Two:
9/5/2016- Tales of the Ravenous Reader– Review
9/6/2016- a GREAT read– Character Interview
9/7/2016- All Things Urban Fantasy– Review
9/8/2016- The Cover Contessa– Interview
9/9/2016- Ex Libris– Review
Giveaway Details:
3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE GRACES and Temporary Tattoos, US Only.
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