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A review by teastarsandbooks
Our Wicked Histories by Amy Goldsmith
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Thank you so much to Random House Children's Books/Delacorte Press for allowing me to read the e-arc of OUR WICKED HISTORIES. This review is entirely my own thoughts and opinions!
*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
OUR WICKED HISTORIES is a captivating tale of Irish mythology, murder mystery, and the complexities of private school friendships and relationships. Meg is a scholarship student to a prestigious private school and somehow managed to become friends with the "in" crowd at the school—until disaster struck at the Midsummer Ball and suddenly she's at risk of being expelled and abandoned by her friends. When an invitation to a Halloween Party at the Wren ancestral Ireland family home arrives for her, she jumps at it, hoping to be able to make amends with her friends and keep her place at the school secured. What seemed like a weekend of fun, shenanigans and making amends soon turns into a nightmare as Meg begins to uncover secrets and her friends go missing.
MY THOUGHTS:
You ever finish a book and just kinda sit there wondering how the heck you're gonna write a review for this book because it was just so dang good it completely melted your brain into head empty no thoughts only happy 5 star book vibes? Yea, this book did that to me.
From the start, the book captivated me and its pages turned, the harder it became to put it down. It's a multi-timeline story, bouncing between the current events of Meg and crew's stay at the Wren Manor and the past, focusing on her relationships with the circle and how things fell apart. Normally, this form of storytelling can put me off because I get irritated with the constant cliffhangers each timeline is paused on, but I was so invested in how Meg got to where she is and what happened at the Midsummer Ball and what is happening now that the switches in timeline never bothered me. The author also did a fantastic job of tying in the past with the present. Each time there was a switch from present to past, the past almost always tied in somehow to the present, giving reasons to each individual's reactions and relationships with each other. It was incredibly well done and very well thought out.
This is my first time indulging in Amy Goldsmith's writing and oh my goodness, its a treat! She keeps the atmosphere tight, never deviating from the spooky, ominous feeling that hangs over this tale. Even when we delve into the past, the ominous feeling still hangs over it with the knowledge that something happened at the Midsummer Ball and we're creeping ever closer to the reveal as tensions heighten, both in the past and in the present. I greatly appreciated the aspect of the paranormal with the inclusion on the Irish lore of the baen sí. It was just flat out creepy and lended the tale a plethora of nail biting moments.
In regards to the characters, good lord, we've got toxic, self obsessed, desperate, shady, loyal, uppity, over the top, insecure, vapid—all rolled into one discordant group of friends. It makes for fantastic tension as you wonder if the disappearances are caused by one of them or if the legend of the banshee is real. There were really no characters that were misses for me, even if certain personalities irked me.
Overall, this was an AMAZING read for me. My head is still reeling from the ending. Fantastically spooky and the kind of horror I love to treat myself to.
*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
OUR WICKED HISTORIES is a captivating tale of Irish mythology, murder mystery, and the complexities of private school friendships and relationships. Meg is a scholarship student to a prestigious private school and somehow managed to become friends with the "in" crowd at the school—until disaster struck at the Midsummer Ball and suddenly she's at risk of being expelled and abandoned by her friends. When an invitation to a Halloween Party at the Wren ancestral Ireland family home arrives for her, she jumps at it, hoping to be able to make amends with her friends and keep her place at the school secured. What seemed like a weekend of fun, shenanigans and making amends soon turns into a nightmare as Meg begins to uncover secrets and her friends go missing.
MY THOUGHTS:
You ever finish a book and just kinda sit there wondering how the heck you're gonna write a review for this book because it was just so dang good it completely melted your brain into head empty no thoughts only happy 5 star book vibes? Yea, this book did that to me.
From the start, the book captivated me and its pages turned, the harder it became to put it down. It's a multi-timeline story, bouncing between the current events of Meg and crew's stay at the Wren Manor and the past, focusing on her relationships with the circle and how things fell apart. Normally, this form of storytelling can put me off because I get irritated with the constant cliffhangers each timeline is paused on, but I was so invested in how Meg got to where she is and what happened at the Midsummer Ball and what is happening now that the switches in timeline never bothered me. The author also did a fantastic job of tying in the past with the present. Each time there was a switch from present to past, the past almost always tied in somehow to the present, giving reasons to each individual's reactions and relationships with each other. It was incredibly well done and very well thought out.
This is my first time indulging in Amy Goldsmith's writing and oh my goodness, its a treat! She keeps the atmosphere tight, never deviating from the spooky, ominous feeling that hangs over this tale. Even when we delve into the past, the ominous feeling still hangs over it with the knowledge that something happened at the Midsummer Ball and we're creeping ever closer to the reveal as tensions heighten, both in the past and in the present. I greatly appreciated the aspect of the paranormal with the inclusion on the Irish lore of the baen sí. It was just flat out creepy and lended the tale a plethora of nail biting moments.
In regards to the characters, good lord, we've got toxic, self obsessed, desperate, shady, loyal, uppity, over the top, insecure, vapid—all rolled into one discordant group of friends. It makes for fantastic tension as you wonder if the disappearances are caused by one of them or if the legend of the banshee is real. There were really no characters that were misses for me, even if certain personalities irked me.
Overall, this was an AMAZING read for me. My head is still reeling from the ending. Fantastically spooky and the kind of horror I love to treat myself to.