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A review by islandgeekgirl
The Dolls by Kiki Sullivan
3.0
After spending most of her childhood in New York, Eveny Cheval and her aunt Bea are moving back to Carrefour, Louisiana. Neither has been back since the suicide of Eveny's mother fourteen years ago. Eveny soon finds out that despite Carrefour's beauty, there's a darkness lurking and she's right in the middle of it. The Dolls, a group of popular kids at school, are kids Eveny instantly doesn't like or trust, but she will need their help if she wants to know the truth about who she really is, her past, her family, and find out who murdered a girl and who they might be after next.
This book ended up being a fairly quick read even though it was almost 400 pages long. It had an interesting concept and a Gothic setting that I enjoyed. It didn't feel as Southern as I expected but with the town being basically cut off from everything else, it wasn't something that was completely unbelievable.
The characters, especially The Dolls, were pretty shallow and self-centered but in a way that was oddly understandable after we met the mothers of the two main Dolls, Peregrine and Chloe. Eveny was an interesting character, though sometimes it felt like her voice was being overwhelmed by the mystery of the town and the strong opinions of those around her, which may have been intentional.
There was a pretty bad case of insta-love. That was disappointing since I do think there could have been a really nice build up between Eveny and the boy but it just went way too fast to have time to enjoy it.
I did like the magic mythology involved in the book, especially that there were consequences for the magic that was cast. The big mystery of the murder was unfortunately predictable and that took some enjoyment away from the last part of the book. It meant no big jaw-dropping finale that I look forward to when reading anything with a mystery.
Even with the predictability and insta-love, the concept was enough to have me interested in seeing where the series goes next.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This book ended up being a fairly quick read even though it was almost 400 pages long. It had an interesting concept and a Gothic setting that I enjoyed. It didn't feel as Southern as I expected but with the town being basically cut off from everything else, it wasn't something that was completely unbelievable.
The characters, especially The Dolls, were pretty shallow and self-centered but in a way that was oddly understandable after we met the mothers of the two main Dolls, Peregrine and Chloe. Eveny was an interesting character, though sometimes it felt like her voice was being overwhelmed by the mystery of the town and the strong opinions of those around her, which may have been intentional.
There was a pretty bad case of insta-love. That was disappointing since I do think there could have been a really nice build up between Eveny and the boy but it just went way too fast to have time to enjoy it.
I did like the magic mythology involved in the book, especially that there were consequences for the magic that was cast. The big mystery of the murder was unfortunately predictable and that took some enjoyment away from the last part of the book. It meant no big jaw-dropping finale that I look forward to when reading anything with a mystery.
Even with the predictability and insta-love, the concept was enough to have me interested in seeing where the series goes next.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.