The Graces by Laure Eve

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.

The Graces starts off familiar enough: small coastal town, rich, beautiful family that was simultaneously worshiped and hated by the townspeople, a gorgeous teenage son that was loved by most the female population of their small high school, and gossip of witchcraft and magic.

Enter the new girl ‘River’.

The book sounds like it should be one walking cliché (like Twilight, only with witches) but I found myself being sucked into the story. At first I thought I related most to the narrator River: she was new in town, had a single mother, not a lot of money, trouble making friends, etc… But honestly, she got pretty irritating, pretty fast. She’s like a pompous Bella Swan.

What aspect of the book that captured my attention was the Grace family, equal parts fascinating and horrible (like a grittier version of the ‘perfect’ Cullen’s). The character of Edward Cullen (OPPS I mean Fenris Grace) was the object of Rivers affection (and she was determined to be the girl that he gave up his Lothario ways for). However it was his sister Summer that I found the most interesting, who, instead of distancing herself from the magic and rumours that surrounded her family, embraced them wholeheartedly, more than happy to play the school witch. As River is taken into the fold by Summer, we get a peek behind the legend of the Grace family, and we see that not everything is as perfect and happy as it seems.

Don’t be fooled by the genre, YA books are selling so well for a reason – They are fast paced, shorter reads, and they can be a way to take us back to our own teenage years which were filled with strong emotions and often reckless decision making. Under the (at times obnoxious) one sided romance story, there is a whole cast of interesting characters with problems much more beyond Rivers ‘How do I make him notice me’ angst, and that’s where the story gets interesting.

Reviewed by Sas

Catalogue link: The Graces