YA Book Review: The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reposted from my review on Kidliterati. 

1822 in the seaside town of Sparrow Oregon, three sisters arrived with hopes of making a new home. The Swan sisters were among the first to settle this seaside town. Three of the most beautiful women ever beheld. They soon became known at temptresses, too irresistible to resist. Rumors gathered that they were witches weaving spells, and a mob of townspeople stormed their perfumery shop, tied stones to the sister’s feet, and threw them into the ocean.

The Swan sisters return every summer seeking revenge, dragging unsuspecting boys back into in the sea with them before the solstice ends.

Two hundred years later, seventeen-year-old, Penny Talbot is apprehensive with another season of finding dead boys in the ocean about to begin. Even though the town celebrates the sisters return with festivals, and tourists flock to the island to witness the spectacle. It’s what the townspeople do to prepare the inevitable.

Penny wants things to be different this year when she meets Bo. He stepped in to rescue her from another boy’s abuse at one of the parties. He’s a stranger to the town just like her father was. Penny’s father disappeared three years ago and her mother suffers, watching out across the water for his return. Bo wants answers to what happened to his brother and Penny wants to protect Bo, keep him from being lured into the ocean to certain death. What will Penny do for love? How will she right the wrongs she’s made?

A beautifully written, haunting fantasy about the power of love, recommended for more mature Young Adult readers.

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