Tuesday Reviews: The Graces by Laure Eve

Title: The Graces (The Graces #1)

Author: Laure Eve

Publisher: Amulet Books

Release Date: Septemer 6, 2016

Format Read: ARC

Rating: One Star

Description from Goodreads: When a glamorous family of teenage witches brings a mysterious new girl into their fold, they unwittingly nurture a powerful black magic that could destroy them all. This paranormal YA fantasy features intrigue, spells, and a devastating twist. 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. But 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.

Let me just go ahead and say that THE GRACES was one of the books I was most excited to receive an advanced copy of. The Goodreads description up there is good and all, but the one on the back of my ARC is about 10x more alluring and it made me so hyped. 

After finishing it, I'm just sitting here like... what the crap did I just read?

Honestly.

This is probably going to be a super short review, guys. More like a tangent.

My problems with the story were these: 

-I didn't fall in love with any of the characters-- they were all kind of detached and distant. 

-That big reveal mentioned up above? It was so obvious. 

-Literally had it figured out by chapter 5.

-The plot was... boring.

-Everything was very dragged out.

All that said, I'm highly disappointed in this book. I had such high hopes for it, and it felt like such a let down. And honestly, this would have been perfectly fine as a standalone. I'm not sure why they're making more of these, I feel like the plot is done. 

Actually, hold on.

The one good thing I found in this book was the ending-- even though another book doesn't feel quite necessary, the ending was pretty killer. The last like... chapter? Made the whole book. Even though I didn't really enjoy the story, I'll have to read book two simply because of the ending. The last few sentences were killer.

I give THE GRACES a single star, and that star is only because of the ending. Oops. 

I wanted so badly to love this one, but I just didn't. And that is a sad, sad thing.

(Un)happily,

Stephanie