Review: The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

Author: Shea Ernshaw

Title: The Wicked Deep

Publication: March 6, 2018

Publisher:  Simon Pulse

Source: Publisher via Netgalley

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Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow…

Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town.

Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under.

Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into.

Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.

But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.

“Apparently, love is the worst kind of madness”

“ Love is an enchantress-devious and wild.

It sneaks up behind you, soft and gentle and quiet, just before it slits your throat.”

Review

Every year on the anniversary of their death, the Swan sisters return to wreak havoc on the town of Sparrow. Tourists travel in every year to witness the spectacle first-hand. Swan season kicks off with a party and the town has resigned itself to its fate and seems to profit from the season despite how deadly it is for the young men of the town. Penny is an adamant believer in the sisters' despite her friend Rose's skepticism. Bo, an outsider shows up in Sparrow and doesn't believe Penny but what he discovers will change his life.  

The town of Sparrow is very paranoid and when bodies start popping up, they begin to point fingers at all the young girls because the sisters could have possessed any of them. They are as irrational as their ancestors, who originated the curse in the first place. I didn't understand why just the men get targeted because women were as responsible in the decision to drown the sisters as well but then I guess that's where the possessions come in. 

The writing is beautiful, I got the sense that the author was trying to make me feel something from that alone but I just didn't connect to any of the characters. The romance was too quick for me and the chemistry seemed unbalanced, sometimes unsettling. There is a plot twist that I suspected but wasn't sure about until it's revealed. Overall, this book is dark in tone that some people who like stories about ghosts and witches will enjoy. 

It was okay