Book Review: The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

Blurb:

Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic meets the Salem Witch trials in this haunting story about three sisters on a quest for revenge—and how love may be the only thing powerful enough to stop them.

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.

My Review:

Every summer the locals of Sparrow, Oregon dread and the tourists delight in the return of the Swan sisters - three sisters who were drowned as witches more than two hundred years ago. Each summer on June 1st they return to get their revenge by invading the bodies of local girls and drawing unsuspecting boys to their watery grave. 

Penny Talbot knows the Swan Season is more than a silly legend or a game, but she has more important things to worry about, like her mother who lost her mind after Penny's father disappeared three years earlier. 

The last place she wants to be is the annual Swan party on the night before the beginning of the Swan Season but she can't say no to her friend Rose. When a newcomer, Bo Carter, saves her from a local bully she reluctantly lets the outsider return to the island she lives on with her mother for a job in exchange for room and board. 

Then the Swan Season begins and soon the bodies begin showing up in the water. Bo doesn't believe in the Swan sisters, but he's about to. Meanwhile, Penny can see which local girls have a Swan sister inside them, but why? What secrets is she hiding? What really happened to her father and caused her mother to lose her mind? And why has Bo really come to Sparrow? 

They both have secrets they don't want to share and they definitely shouldn't be falling in love. Does Penny hold the key to stopping the Swan sisters from coming back ever again? And can Bo ever forgive Penny when he finds out the truth about what she's hiding?

The Wicked Deep is a beautifully written gem of a book. The story grabs you from the first page, mainly told in the perspective of Penny Talbot although there are chapters that take you back two hundred years to the reason the Swan sisters return every summer. 

I loved every minute of this book, it was a quick but powerful read that I didn't want to put down. This book really tugged at my heartstrings, especially at the end. This book is slated as Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic meet the Salem Witch Trials, which I definitely saw hints of but it wasn't a take off or a copy of those but it's own breathtaking story. Yes, the Swan sisters were branded as witches and killed. Yes, Penny lives on an island away from everyone else with her mother, but this book is more than that. It's about love and loss and sacrifice. It's about small towns and being judged for being different. It shows that when times get tough, we really haven't evolved much as a society at all.

Overall, this is a book you definitely should read as soon as possible. Shea Ernshaw is an author to look out for because her debut was absolutely perfect. 

My Rating:

★★★★★

5 of 5 Stars!