I had to read this book for my monthly Waterstones book club, and guess what? I didn’t read it in time. I had read 80 pages, and at the book club, I was given spoilers for the rest of the book, but I wasn’t really that bothered. BUT! 1 week later, I finished it, and these are my thoughts…

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.

Even though I had had spoilers for the book, this was still an enjoyable read. I felt like the first 80 pages that I had read before the book club were a bit slow, and I do wish that I had finished the book before the book club meeting so that I could have discussed my thoughts with all of my friends. But, this is what my reviews are for, right? You guys are my friends as well, and I can share my thoughts with you. So it’s all good!

 

 

“Love is an enchantress—devious and wild. It sneaks up behind you, soft and gentle and quiet, just before it slits your throat.”

― Shea Ernshaw, The Wicked Deep

 

 

The writing in this book was quite lyrical and whimsical. I felt like it was a bit simple at first? But as I carried on with the book, I really loved the writing style. It was easy to read, yet it still had beautiful descriptions that threw you into the world of the Swan sisters. The one thing that really caught my attention about this book when I first read the blurb, was the premise of legends and curses, and I was really excited to read it as I love books with that concept.

If you love legends and mysteries and towns that have their own secrets, then this book is definitely for you. I did love the concept of the Swan Season that celebrated (?) the dark curse that hovers over the town every summer; it’s a really interesting concept and I thought that it was executed really well. The Wicked Deep is a very short book, it’s just short of 300 pages, but I felt like the foundations of the curse were really strong and was developed throughout the book so well, which is really important in a paranormal/mystery story.

However, I did feel like the characters of the Swan Sisters were a little lacking. I would have loved to read more about them and their time in the town of Sparrow as I found – at times – their story was more interesting than Penny’s. I wanted to know more about each of the sisters and their lives, but alas, the story followed the present tense more and so Ernshaw focused more on the characters of Penny and Bo.

 

 

“We wait for death. We hold our breath. We know it’s coming, and still we flinch when it claws at our throats and pulls us under.”

― Shea Ernshaw, The Wicked Deep

 

 

I will be 100% honest with you, even though I knew the spoilers for the book and I knew all of the twists and turns, I figured out that if I was reading this without spoilers, I don’t think that I would have figured out the big plot twists. Normally, I’m pretty good at realising what the big twists are, but I honestly don’t think I would have figured it out. I did have a little bit of an inkling when I was reading the first 80 pages, but those inklings dissipated after a little bit. But along the same lines as the spoilers, I really didn’t like the character of Hazel. I feel like we’re supposed to sympathise with her and connect with her a lot, but I just couldn’t. I just really couldn’t care about her. Her personality was meh.

When it comes to the romance of the book between Penny and Bo, I did feel like it woven into the story really well, but I just wasn’t a fan of the romance. It was kinda insta-love and that’s not to say that I don’t like insta-love, because there are books (like The Sun is Also a Star) where I do love a good insta-love story. But for The Wicked Deep, I just wasn’t here for it. It turned out to be a very vital part of the story, but it was just a little too much, too quickly for me.

AND THE ENDING?! WHAT WAS THAT?! I felt very meh about the ending. I read the chapter of ‘The Harbour”, and I thought ‘wow, what a good ending’. But then it turned out that there was another chapter: “Land and Sea”, and I was like ‘what? why?’. I feel like Ernshaw should have left the book at “The Harbour”, because the last chapter just annoyed me so much and it left me on a bit of a downer.

I know that I’ve ended this review on a bit of a negative, but I do want to reiterate that this is such an atmospheric story that has such a good small town mystery. But it also feels like a contemporary at the same time which I loved. So if you’re in the mood for something like that, then I do recommend this book.