Now, some of you may know, I'm very Irish in heritage. (I'm very American in terms of where I was born and raised, but there's a lot of Irish blood in this girl.) I take Irish dance, potatoes are my favorite food, I have red bits in my hair, and I'm sooooo fascinated by Irish folklore. And one of my favorite Irish legends is that of the banshee. Don't ask me why, I couldn't tell you. But anything and everything banshee has always intrigued me, so when I heard there was going to be a contemporary book about a teenage banshee?
Color me instantly intrigued. And then Laura, the fabulous author of the aforementioned book about a teenage banshee, ask for participants in this blog tour. To which I heartily said "ME PLEASE!"
Anyway, let's stop with the blabbering and get into the review.
Keen
Author: Laura L. Zimmerman
Genre: Contemporary fantasy
Content: Uh... there's a lot of death? But I feel like that should be assumed, lol.
Main Character: Caoine (pronounced Cane)
Synopsis:
You must walk the darkness to find the light.
Half-faerie Caoine has no control over the banshee lament she sings each night, predicting the death of others. A senior in a brand new high school, she expects the same response she's received at every other school: judgment from fellow students over her unusual eyes and unnaturally white skin and hair. However, when Caoine arrives at West Lincoln High, for the first time in her life she finds friends. Real friends.
But being a teenager is never easy, especially when the star soccer player, Oliver, sets his sights on her. Allowing him to get close means revealing her curse to the human world. She can't let that happen.
Life spins further out of control when her lament comes out during the day, those whose death she predicts die right in front of her, and a dark faerie known only as the Unseelie prince blames Caoine by leaving her the creepiest notes ever. Her curse is not supposed to work like that.
In a race against time, Caoine must uncover the Unseelie prince's identity and stop a spell before it unleashes hell on earth, all while trying to control her banshee song and finding a place among her peers.
Senior year just got real.
Add on Goodreads ~ Purchase on Amazon
What I Thought:
AH. MY EMOTIONS.
This was so good! And so cool!
It's a fantasy, it's a friendship/coming-of-age type of story, and in a lot of ways, it's a murder mystery too. Which all comes together to make a story that I loved a lot.
Caoine is a fascinating protagonist. The way Laura wrote her "curse" was so cool and yet creepy and it was perfection. She truly struggles inwardly through the whole book, but not enough to where it becomes annoying. I was rooting for her the entire time.
And the supporting cast? Incredible. Aubree and Seamus and Catherine and Oliver (who is the BEST) were all amazing friends to Caione and so there for her and encouraging and GAH. Positive friendships are what I LIVE FOR in books! Also Oliver is so swoon-worthy and perfect and I adore him with my whole heart. (He and Caoine together are just the cutest *melts*)
I'm not going to spoil anything, but I saw the villain reveal coming, which is something I personally love being able to do. But there's a twist at the end I did not see coming which made me tear up a little, I'm not gonna lie. This book had two misty-eyed, "oh dang" moments for me, which are always great. And painful. But great. And that lesson of how even when things don't end the way you think they should, there can still be hope? Amazing and absolutely perfect.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It's definitely one that's going to stick with me for a long time. It was original, it was awesome, and now that I know there's a sequel coming, I can't wait to see what waits for these characters next (will we go to the faerie realm? because that would be amazing)
Overall Rating: 4.5 mysterious notes out of 5
About the Author:
Laura L. Zimmerman is a homeschooling mom to three daughters, and a doting wife to one husband. She lives in a suburb of the ultra-cool Charlotte, North Carolina. Besides writing, she is passionate about loving Jesus, singing loudly, buying LuLaRoe and pretending to do yoga.
An avid coffee drinker, she gave up eating meat ten years ago and is a sucker for anything zombie related. She’s been married to her Mr. Darcy for 18 years and feels it’s her life goal to pass along her obsession with the Star Wars saga on to her offspring.
She loves to read sci-fi and fantasy for YA and MG, which in turn, bleeds through to her writing. (Watch your back: She occasionally writes horror, too!)
Connect with Laura: Her website ~ Instagram ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads ~ Twitter
A shout-out and congratulations to Laura on her new release and for letting me read it!! I can't wait to see what's in store next.
Do you have an inexplicable mythological fave? What mythical creature would you like to see retold in a modern setting? Let me know in a comment below!
~ Abby
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