Beautifully Broken

TITLE: Beautifully Broken

AUTHOR: Sherry Soule

SERIES: Spellbound #1

PUBLISHER: Moonlight Publishing

PAGES: 305 (Paperback)

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Note: A copy of this novel was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Eerie, humorous and romantic, Beautifully Broken is a potent story about young witch Shiloh and the curse that threatens her town. Highly entertaining, I would definitely recommend this to any fan of YA paranormal romance!

The plot was definitely one of my favourite things about this novel, I almost always find that most YA books have strayed away from the creepy stuff; but not Soule. She added just the right amount of eeriness to accentuate the supernatural aspects of the book and get your heart pumping, though not so much as to subtract from the other light-hearted themes. The concept of the curse was one in particular that fascinated me, and as Shiloh navigated her way through the secrets and lies about her heritage I found myself just as captivated as she was.

Shiloh surprised me at every turn; her powers, her personality, her relationship with other characters – everything was well written and believably conveyed. She was so strong and determined that I really felt sympathetic towards her when it came to her lack of support in this scary new world of magic and demons, and the distance between her and her mother was something that can hopefully be mended in future books. However, Shiloh certainly doesn’t lack closeness in her relationship with her friends, and their interactions were one of many things that kept the book realistic and identifiable.

To touch up quickly on the romance; it was sweet, swoon-worthy and unhurried. Though there was the cliché insta-attraction at the beginning this was quickly forgotten as they actually attempted to establish a bond, rather than immediately being overwhelmed by crazy animal lust. True, Trent had the some of the stereotypical bad boy traits, but other facets of his personality thankfully set him apart from other YA alpha males. Together they definitely seemed to bring out the best of each other, and I’m sure that in future books they will be a force to be reckoned with.

The writing was another positive in favour of this book, and overall I found it to be highly descriptive and polished. I always had a clear image in my head of what was going on at that particular moment, and there was minimal ‘purple prose’ (I think that’s what it’s called), meaning that the writer uses lots of pretty, complicated words but it comes across as complete gibberish. That is a real pet peeve of mine, and I’m so glad that Soule has managed to stay away from that annoyingly common practice.

Beautifully Broken is an intriguing new YA release with a unique twist of the theme of witches and curses. Great for reading when you have a few hours of spare time, I look forward to seeing how the story continues in the next book of the Spellbound series.

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