Book Review: Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff

Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff

Blurb:

Clementine DeVore spent ten years trapped in a cellar, pinned down by willow roots, silenced and forgotten.

Now she’s out and determined to uncover who put her in that cellar and why. 

When Clementine was a child, dangerous and inexplicable things started happening in New South Bend. The townsfolk blamed the fiendish people out in the Willows and burned their homes to the ground. But magic kept Clementine alive, walled up in the cellar for ten years, until a boy named Fisher sets her free. Back in the world, Clementine sets out to discover what happened all those years ago. But the truth gets muddled in her dangerous attraction to Fisher, the politics of New South Bend, and the Hollow, a fickle and terrifying place that seems increasingly temperamental ever since Clementine reemerged.

My Review:

Ten years ago Clementine DeVore was shut away in the cellar of her home with her eyes sewn shut. She does not know how much time has passed or why she was put there, only the niggling voice in her head that tells her to stay still and sleep and to wait there until someone comes to get her.

It's a long lonely time before she hears voices coming nearer - three teenage boys up to no good. But one of those boys hears something and decides to investigate despite his friend's warnings. There he discovers Clementine walled up in the canning closet covered in soot with roots grown up around her and her eyes sewn shut. His friends protest but the boy pulls her out and takes her to safety.

It's been a long ten years and someone hid Clementine away for a reason. Other than her cousin Shiny and her friend Rae nobody else remembers Clementine, not even her aunt Myloria. And with Clementine's reemergence, strange things begin happening in New South Bend and the Hollow outside the town limits. 

Is the magic inside Clementine the reason strange things are happening? Will her reappearance cause the reckoning to coming a second time? Is that the reason she was put away in the first place? Or is someone else the cause of the strange occurrences? Possibly the mysterious boy, Fisher, that saved Clementine from her cellar prison and whom she can't help being drawn to like a moth to a flame. 

Welcome to New South Bend where Fiends roam the hollow and magic is about to upend not only the lives of five teenagers, but the entire town. Enjoy your stay and if you smell gasoline - run! 

Fiendish is truly a unique, strange, creepy book. It's beautifully written and dripping with Southern Gothic charm. Every page screamed authentic small town southern life and I could  picture it all so clear. 

I felt like Clementine's story was spun like a southern afternoon, slow and well thought out, something to savor. I was eager to find out who stuck Clementine in the cellar and why as well as what Fisher was hiding, but the pieces came together in a very drawn out way. 

I loved Shiny's short temper and the way Rae's calmness complimented it, loved seeing Fisher relax in Clementine's presence, and loved the eerie feel of the Hollow and New South Bend with all of it's abandoned stores laying in wait. 

I found it interesting that after ten years locked away, Clementine was surprisingly mature. I would expect someone who was locked away for so long starting at such a young age to still have the mind of a child but Clementine was intelligent, levelheaded, and insightful. 

Overall, I loved this book from the gorgeous cover to the intriguing story and its' overall feel! I've never read anything quite like Fiendish and I mean that in the best possible way!

My Rating:

5 of 5 Stars!