Review: Beautifully Broken (Spellbound, #1) By: Sherry Soule

Title: Beautifully Broken (Spellbound, #1)
Author: Sherry Soule
Publisher: Moonlight Publishing, 328 Pages (June 30th 2011)
From: the Author, Thank You!

Synopsis: Thirteenth daughter. Heritage witch. Demon slayer.

They say every town has its secrets, but that doesn’t even begin to describe Whispering Pines. The townsfolk are a superstitious lot and the mystical disappearance of a local teen has everyone murmuring about a centuries old witch’s curse.

Sixteen-year-old Shiloh Ravenwolf is a heritage witch from the Broussard family, a family both destined and cursed. When she takes a summer job at Ravenhurst Manor, she discovers a ghost with an agenda. That’s where she meets the new town hottie, Trent Donovan, and immediately becomes spellbound by his charms. Yet she is determined to discover the connection between them before it’s too late.

Finally, Shiloh's met someone who is supercute and totally into her, but Trent may be the next victim on the supernatural hit list. And Shiloh is the only person with the power to save him. Complicated much?

It sucks to have a destiny, especially since Shiloh would rather spend her summer being a normal girl who worries about clothes and boys, not the supernatural. But she’s never been
normal and the stranger things become the more her own magical senses awaken.

With cryptic messages from a pesky wraith, she will begin to understand the mysterious significance of the strange mark branded on her wrist, and decide how much she's willing to sacrifice to protect the other teenagers in town.

Unfortunately, for Shiloh, not all ghosts want help crossing over. Some want vengeance.

Review: 4 Stars - Beautifully Broken, the first in the Spellbound series from author Sherry Soule is filled with mystery, romance, magic and more, all set in a small town, with an old gothic mansion as the backdrop.

Shiloh has a lot to deal with for being only sixteen years old. And things are about to get worse, yeah… seriously. She’s not got the best home life, with a mother running frigid to cold at best and a father who’s supportive, but tends to keep his mouth shut and not get in the middle; what’s a girl to do? She’s some what of an outcast but has a couple pretty good friends and one best friend. For me, she was even kind of awkward. With the shadows starting to close in around her, something evil wanting her dead and a new beautiful boy in town that’s showing interest, she’s bound to stumble along the way.

And then we have Trent, the new beautiful boy in town. Who happens to live in the old gothic mansion that the town somewhat fears. Everyone believes it’s haunted, except Trent. He’s a great character most of the time. I would have rated this title a bit higher if not for how hot and cold I felt he was. It was sometimes a struggle for me to understand who he was and why he did the things he did. Some of those questions were answered and some I just never understood. Does it make him a bad character? Nope, just a boy, a teen boy with some pretty huge issues of his own, so I often felt he needed to be given some slack where his attitude was concerned.

The relationship between Shiloh and Trent was kind of strange as well. The constant push and pull of the two made me question their relationship here and there. This has to do more with what I mentioned about above and Trent running hot and cold AND with all that the two were facing throughout the story. Overall, I found their interaction cute and totally teen and that sometimes their relationship gave the story and each of the characters a break from the crap they had going on around them.

When Trent and his dad move back in to town to renovate their run down home Ravenhurst; teens start going missing again and the town starts to panic thinking it’s because there’s something going on with the house. And as Shiloh takes a summer intern job working with the contractor who’s doing the renovation, you just know things are bound to get much, much worse before they get better. But, can one teen girl figure out the town’s curse and save anyone else from being hurt, taken or killed?

Those are questions you’ll find yourself asking while reading and not to worry, the answers will come fast and furious. Not all things are answered or addressed, but there were just enough that I didn’t feel like I was missing to much or that there were to many things left wide open until the rest of the series, and that’s always a HUGE plus if you ask me.

All in all, Soule has done a great job with this one and I am looking forward to the next installment to see what comes next for Shiloh and Trent and more so, what’s going to happen to both of their families. So, if you’re looking for a book with magic, romance, mystery, be definitely sure to pick this one up. Happy reading!

FTC Disclaimer: I did NOT pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this HONEST review.