the first book was better imo but i'm not that surprised by that fact, because second books are hard to live up to the first book in a series often

Rating 5/5

Nothing short of amazing! There was abosolutely no flaws with this and I was floored with everything that happened in this!

In this follow up to The Graces by Laure Eve, the youngest Grace, Summer, is the narrator. Everything is colored by her perceptions and impulses. Family is still the most important thing to the young Graces - Thalia, Fenrin, and Summer. Wolf has become family to them too.

The first order of business becomes getting thrown out of the boarding school they've been put into since the events of the last book. They need to be together and more readily accessible to each other. As a result, they end up back at the same school as River and their other old friends like Marcus. But something funky is going on. Someone has been taking money for wishes and granting them in a way that borderlines on curses. At first, they think it's all River's doing, but as the novel goes on, it becomes clear that there is more to it than meets the eye.

A second subplot involves the curse on the Grace family and examination of whether it is possible or not to break it. A third subplot involves the possession of Wolf by a trickster spirit. Each of these plot points receives good coverage, but as the plot winds to a crescendo, things begin to happen quickly and out of control.

Magic is very much a part of the novel. Both in the ritualistic sense and in magical realism sense. Magic occurs whether they want it to or not. It's just more effective when they actually try to create it.

The resolution is well done. I was a little confused about the party and its popularity since the Graces had been somewhat ostracized during much of the book. Still, overall, I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It's interesting and well written. Being told from Summer's point of view is a plus. She is a somewhat unreliable narrator, but she suits the story.

The Curses by Laure Eve is due to be released December 31st, 2018 from Amulet Books.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions herein are my own and freely given.

I read <i>The Graces</i> when it first came out, and wanted to read the sequel since the first one ended on a cliffhanger. However, the substantial delay between the first book and second book made me realize that I don't remember anything from <i>The Graces</i>. This made is really difficult to read the second book because it picks up very near the end of the first book and doesn't really offer the reader enough information to link the two plots together. If you're going to read the sequel, it's worth browsing through the first book to remember the different relationships between the characters.

That being said, I didn't find <i>The Curses</i> very compelling. The book doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. At times the book both rushes and drags. There are a lot of small plot points that get lost in the fray (for example, do we really need all of those scenes at the boarding school? Is it critical to know that Summer doesn't fit in there?).

Thank you Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book.

I couldn't wait to return to the world of the Graces. I reread the first book in anticipation, and I'm so glad I had. Book two expands the world and the characters so well, it would have been harder to go back to the world! The magic is so much more pronounced in this sequel, and that's fantastic, as I wished there was more in the first book. Thank you, Laure!

"Insert desire, apply will. The rest is just instinct."

So sayeth the Graces, twins Fenrin and Thalia and younger sister Summer, scions of a magical house in today's modern Britain. Raised to cast spells, make poppets, and understand curses, the three siblings are the latest in a long line who work with nature to accomplish their own will. But what they will has changed. Since Laure Eve's first installment, The Graces, the siblings have set their desires on shaking up the whole Grace inheritance.

The Graces have a bit of magic, but they're only moderately more genuine than the hucksters peddling astrology water and vagina crystals.* They trade on their charisma as much as their sacred knowledge, and it's their wealth and connections that make much of their magic possible. At least, that was more of the impression from the first book, told from the perspective of an outsider. Their powers are more solid in The Curses than in the first book, and I appreciate the move to more elaborate magic and ritual.

River was the antithesis of the Graces. New in town, friendless, and poor, she wanted what the Graces had, but ironically, also had what they did not: she could do real, terrifyingly powerful magic. Her journey in book one was an impressive piece of character work, and also a thoughtful meditation on access to power.

But it's not River narrating this time around. Summer, the youngest Grace sibling, makes the jump from mysterious and cool secondary character to a charismatic narrator, fizzing over with moxie and anger and curiosity. Her magical powers may not hold a candle to River's, but that's not the only kind of power, as Eve reinforces in this book as well. Magic is a consequence of power, not a starting point: it's desire, will, and focus that make anything, mundane or not, possible. Of course, money, curiosity, and some good old-fashioned research don't hurt either. And family. That's a power that no one can escape.

The Graces, despite the glamour, are as tormented by the bonds of family as they are blessed by them. Seen now from inside the family unit, the Graces are not quite so effortlessly cool as they appeared to River in book one. Especially now, in the aftermath of that surprise ending to The Graces, each member of the family is reeling off course. Summer wants to face their issues head-on, which leads to a great deal of chaos and heartache. And also one really epic battle with titanic, elemental forces. Yes, despite the lower-magic setting, this book does rise to epic proportions.

I can't say too much without spoiling not just this book but also the ending of The Graces, which was genuinely unexpected. Suffice it to say that things did not end well—there was an unintended murder and an attempted murder—and that repairing the damage is not a matter of a ritual or two. That's the other conundrum of magic Eve uses The Curses to contemplate: if magic is power, then what happens when power is misapplied? Or when it's not enough?

I really, really liked the resolutions this book came to, and even more than that, I appreciated them. There's just enough magic for this to feel epic, but Eve is just as attuned to the psychological and the spiritual aspects of her story as she is to the magical. The bittersweet conclusions felt real and earned. They were also tempered by yet more excellent character growth and insight, which made space for joy and redemption.

This book has a fairly nuanced understanding of the practices of Neopaganism, but doesn't delve into the religious aspects of it. Now, SFF has always used religious traditions and ideas to fuel some of its creative magic. I don't object to this any more than I object to coloring your exorcism story with Catholic rites. As long as you do your research and try to be respectful—or at least understand what you're criticizing—it’s your creative prerogative. But it is interesting, constantly seeing stories that borrow imagery but neuter any mention of faith. No individual author is obligated to write about any topic; however, the genre will at some point have to grapple with the consistent absence of engagement.

The Curses will be released December 31. Review posted Dec. 20.


*If you don't know what I'm talking about, (a) good and (b) keep it that way.

I really loved The Graces, so I was very excited for The Curses. Again I got completely lost in the world, and I enjoyed the character development.

This was told from the point of view of Summer, the youngest Grace, and features all the main characters from the first book, as well as some new - and the world of magic continues to cast its spell.

There was a dark undercurrent in The Graces which was thought-provoking. The Curses isn't quite as dark, but Summer as narrator is a very different character to River.

I read the first book, The Graces, last January and it is still one of my favorite reads of the year. This book also did not disappoint. I could have read it in one sitting, and probably would have if I had read it over the weekend.

This book is told through Summer’s perspective. She is the youngest of the Grace siblings. She is a great narrator, she is perceptive and honest about what is going on in the story. She realizes that something is not quite right with Wolf and she is determined to get to the bottom of it. Her relationships with her siblings is and interesting one. She loves them but they do frustrate her, and she often doesn’t get why they do what they do. But they will defend and protect each other to the end. Her relationship to River is complicated and she is the first one to admit that. But I still like the two of them together as friends, even when they seem to be on a destructive path.

It was very interesting to see River through Summer’s eyes. Even with everything she put them all through in the first book, Summer is still drawn to her, and it is explained better in this book as to why. The Graces need River as well as needing to help her control her powers. I liked River a bit better in this book, she ends up being stronger and a better person as she comes to terms with who she is. She still makes some pretty stupid mistakes, but she realizes that she does and tries to do something about it.

The plot is pretty fast moving and this is a really hard book to put down. I loved some of the spell work they do. There is also an underlying theme of how people perceive witches as all bad and the damage that can do. The Graces do more good than harm for the most part. The curse, is an interesting one and I’m not sure if they were able to break it or not. I’m hoping for another book with one of the twins as narrator so that we can see how that all works out.

This duology is very high on my list of rereads. There is a lot of subtleties woven throughout the stories, that need a closer look. It will also be good to read them back to back to catch the two different perspectives on the relationships that develop between the many different characters.

If you like witch stories that are character driven and have many plot twists with stunning endings then I recommend that you pick up these two book immediately.

I absolutely loved the magical world of the Graces.
Full of magic and mystery, The Curses follows the Grace siblings as they deal with the resurrection of their friend Wolf from the dead, a family curse, and a mysterious witch who is granting wishes to the locals in exchange for money. When the Grace siblings attempt to put an end to the family curse, they encounter an evil stranger from the family’s past.

I loved the dynamic between the siblings, especially between Summer and Thalia, and how no matter how bad anything became, they still stuck together. There were plenty of rich people problems, and the scenes at the boarding school were hilarious. It was nice to be able to dive into a book where the characters are aware of their magical gifts and are comfortable using those gifts.

~ARC provided by NetGalley~

Yaasss witchy reads!!! Bravo to the sequel. Although a little sluggish in some parts it was definitely a more magic centered read than the first one, which I enjoyed. I also appreciated accusing everyone of being the bad guy hahahaha! I enjoyed this book, hope there's a third!!!

"You should be tolerant of every kind of behavior...except ignorance and stupidity. No one should ever tolerate behavior that ruin the world. "

This book is so much better than the first. SO MUCH. Like so much I want to hug it. Once I started it, I finished in less than a day. I could barely put it down, I wanted so much to know what the heck was going on! Considering my "meh" feelings over the first book, I am just ecstatic that this one pulled the story out off the runaway train track. In fact, had it not been for the TOTAL shocker at the end of The Graces, I probably wouldn't have picked this one up. But I think you would have to be just about inhuman to not be overcome by curiosity about that ending. 

The Curses picks up a few months after the events of The Graces, and this time is written from the perspective of Summer, the youngest Grace. This was soooo much better than the narrative voice in the first book. I really hate unreliable narrators, it makes me feel like my entire life is a lie, so I was relieved that Laure Eve didn't repeat that in this book. We also spend almost no time at the school in this one - hallelujah. 

Thalia, Fenrin, Summer, River, and Wolf are all active players once again, but they are quite changed by the previous events and are all coping in various ways. Wolf's dramatic disappearance and subsequent reappearance has cast a shadow of sorts over the entire town, and the Grace household bears the brunt of it. Everything is different, with an undercurrent of ill feeling, but no one seems able to quite put a finger on the cause. Summer, ever curious and following her gut, digs and probes until she has her siblings just as involved as herself, and eventually River gets dragged back into their circle as well. 

"Time had brought a folding inward instead of outward. They had trapped themselves in a relentless limbo of deliberate numbness. Too afraid to feel, too afraid to let go. "

The magical realism in this story is, well...so very real. The Graces are pagan witches - which is an actual thing, and I have friends who follow practices very similar (and often with similar reactions from the general public, sadly), as far as the herbal magick and belief in binding, etc. However, none of them - as far as I'm aware - actually think there is a way, or if they did, would ever actually TRY, to resurrect anyone. Which is where the magical, or fantasy if you will, part comes into play. Also, the "power" of various witches to bend events or the future to their will (such as River, particularly) is set firmly in the realm of fantasy. The use of tarot cards, spells, wardings and bindings...not so much. Perhaps it is the slightly blurry line between the two that allows this story to pull you in so very well. At times I variously felt the hairs on the back of my neck raise, as though I'd been punched in the gut, and as if my blood was actually turning cold in my veins. Some of the events are just almost too much to bear, as the pain and loss with accompanying grief is completely palpable through the page. 

My favorite part of this book though? The sibling solidarity. The Graces have each others' backs, no matter what, and they will go down without even a peep to protect one another. Even if they fight and bicker like any siblings, if anyone else threatens one of them, the outsider quickly wishes they hadn't. And when one of them is in serious trouble, the others think nothing of getting into trouble right alongside them. 

The events really just come one right after another in this one, with none of the drag I felt in the first book. Also, the foreshadowing - maybe Laure Eve should take up writing suspense or thrillers, because OMG the cellar scene where all the lies come out was INTENSE and I was just left with my jaw hanging open...and then I realized, like Summer did, that HOLY SHIT IT WAS THERE ALL ALONG. 

5/5 stars. I really can't think of anything bad to say about this one! Which totally surprises me, given that I had quite a few bones to pick with The Graces. The Curses is full of amazing quotes and feelings, and the ending - while it left me feeling sad and melancholy - was really full of closure and not without hope. The author seems to have worked out just about all the things that made me twitch in the first book, and I was just left with a massive hole in my heart for all the things the characters went through. 

Oh, and once again, let's end with a note about this freaking fabulous cover. I am obsessed and I can't WAIT to have this sitting beside The Graces on my shelf because they look absolutely stunning together.

Review will be posted at the blog link below on November 29, 2018.

Kiersten and I both really enjoyed the first book in this series, and couldn't wait to return to the world of The Graces. Eve switched things up a bit with book two, and I really enjoyed the changes.

One of the biggest changes was that the story was being told by Summer. This really changed the whole tone of the book for me. Summer was a Grace, and watching the story unfold from an insider's point of view versus an outsider's point of view, really shed some light on a lot of different things. And let's face it, this story focuses on a curse, which affects the Grace family, and therefore, the story should be told by one of their own.

The other difference that really stood out to me was that this one felt like more of a mystery, than the previous book. There were quite a few things the siblings were trying to fix. First and foremost, they were trying to figure out what was going on with Wolf, and that led them to researching "the curse" linked to their romantic pairings. Which subsequently led to the discovery of some cool magic and how it was linked to a horrible event in the Grace family history. But the mystery continued from there, and I really enjoyed following the path as the Graces uncovered more and more pieces of that puzzle.

The Curses also had all those things I loved from the first book. This book was brimming with magic and Eve did such a fabulous job wrapping it around me. She painted many a mysterious and etherial scene, which kept me captivated and wanting to know more.

The ending was rather sweet too. After all the darkness and loss, it was a nice way to leave that world. There was redemption, rekindled love, and revelations, which was all served up with a dash of hope.

A good sequel that tied up loose ends. The writing could be a bit clumsy but hopefully that will all be cleared up before publishing. The beginning was slow and hard to get through, but halfway through it really picked up.

***Disclaimer: I received a free, early advanced reader copy of The Curses from the publishers and NetGalley for review purposes.
This is going to be a different kind of review. The Curses by Laure Eve is the second novel in a series; it follows the events of The Graces, though it takes on a different point of view. This is not a review for The Graces, but as the The Curses is a sequel, and I don’t want to spoil any of the events of first novel if you haven’t read it, so I won’t be doing a synopsis like I usually do and I will try to be vague about textual details. I will admit that I was really excited to read this one. I finished The Graces in the summer and I was super impressed, so I wanted to read the sequel immediately. Imagine my disappointment when I saw that it wasn’t coming out until December 31st. However, imagine my excitement when I realized that I had been given permission to read the eARC. I was super happy.
I gave The Curses four out of five stars on GoodReads. It was a thoroughly enjoyable book. It took me a bit to get used to the change from River’s point of view to Summer’s, but I actually really enjoyed the different perspective. This story was much more about the Graces than it was about River, so having that different point of view really added to it. Plus Summer is a very interesting character to read about. She’s very strong willed and also deeply emotional. It was really easy to empathise with her character.
The story is very compelling. You want to know what’s going on and you want everything to be okay for them. Something is clearly wrong with the community and you need to know what it is. There’s just enough doubt and suspense that made me question what the cause of the wrongness was, and the magical mysteries were extremely compelling. I was kept guessing throughout the story, trying to figure out what was going to happen next and was rewarded with an engaging plot and just enough twists. I was pretty happy with the ending as well as I felt like it wrapped up a lot of the loose threads and answered a lot of the questions that I had.
I wasn’t completely blown away by the story but it was quite compelling and I really enjoyed it. I was compelled enough to finish the book today because I wanted to know what was going to happen and for me that it always a good thing. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a bit of magic in their stories and I also recommend it to people who enjoy magical realism. So when December 31st rolls around, go check it out. If you’ve read The Graces first of course. ;P

True magic and mayhem follow the Graces as they navigate their way through friendship, fitting in, and love. I loved the ending and the twists they encountered.

I loved The Graces and had been anxiously awaiting the sequel! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me this! I loved continuing my journey as a reader in this vivid world of magic.