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Monday, March 7, 2011

ARC Review: The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell

The VespertineThe Vespertine
by Saundra Mitchell
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: March 7, 2011
Genre: Fiction-Juvenile-Historical Fiction-Fantasy

SUMMARY
It’s the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. However, a forbidden romance with Nathaniel, an artist, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own—still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him.
When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia’s world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she’s not the seer of dark portents, but the cause.
 

REVIEW
Amelia has a special ability. She can see into the future when she looks into the vespers. At first this is a wonderful fun ability but it soon takes a tragic turn and she ends up losing everyone she loves because of it. She comes to live with the Stewarts and their daughter Zora in hopes of finding a respectable marriage. She meets a boy, Nathaniel Witherspoon, and discovers he has his own unique ability. Because this is 1889 and status is everything, he is beneath her in way of a marriage prospect. But oh, how she loves him. Definitely the forbidden love between Nathaniel and Amelia is beautifully written and you feel the immense connection. Towards the middle of the story I lost some interest but I am glad I continued to read it. The climax I didn't see coming and the conclusion was left wide open for another book (hopefully). I did want more though. I wanted to know more about her ability (how and why she has it). I want to know more about Nathaniel (where does he come from, how is ability came about). I also want to know if her friendships will ever be repaired. I want to know if Zora will recover. This is definitely not an happy ending sort of book and I am curious if there will be a sequel.

MY RATING: 3 STARS

E-ARC was provided by publisher via NetGalley.
I have received no compensation for my review and my opinions are my own
Summary from GoodReads

1 comments:

Jenny said...

Nice review Kelsey! I agree on wanting to know more about the paranormal aspect, but I really enjoyed this one overall. I know there is a sequel but it's more of a companion novel than an actual sequel, so it's not about Amelia and Nathaniel:( I was hoping we would get more of them. Maybe it will skip around like the Wicked Lovely series and come back to them, that's what I'm hoping for:)

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