Review of The Curse Keepers by Denise Grover Swank

The Curse Keepers by Denise Grover Swank

★★★★

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Young Adult, Romance

Synopsis:

The wall between our world and that of vengeful spirits has protected humanity for more than 400 years. It’s about to come crashing down.
Ellie Lancaster has lived her whole life by the site of the mysterious Lost Colony of Roanoke, the Virginia settlement that vanished without a trace around 1590. Only the descendants of the two men who banished the spirits of an enemy tribe from the material realm know what really happened to the colony. Ellie is one of those descendants—a Curse Keeper. Her father took pains to teach her what he knew of the curse and the responsibilities of its guardians. He taught her that if the two Curse Keepers ever meet, the curse will be lifted, the gate will open, and the raging Native American spirits will be unleashed to seek their revenge.

Despite her father’s seriousness, Ellie has always taken the legend for a harmless fairy tale. Until she meets the darkly handsome, but downright infuriating, Collin Dailey and realizes everything she was told is true. For when they meet, it’s like the air is sucked from the room. Collin’s presence is electrifying… and it’s not just attraction Ellie feels, but the inexorable pull toward her destiny. The prophecy is real, and now Ellie and Collin must battle supernatural forces and their loathing—and passion—for each other to set things right.

The Curse Keepers are all that stand between the world and its destruction.

Review: 

I greatly enjoyed the Curse Keepers. It took me a few chapters to hook me in, but once I was, I was glued to my nook. (Which was a good thing because I was on a plane for several hours going to Boston.) Also I was rather suspicious of Collin as a character. The way he was presented in the first chapter made me believe he wouldn't be well develloped. Quite the contrary, in fact. I loved Collin as a character because his many flawes are believable, making him an incredibly real character.

Another thing I loved was the Native American lore (which I am a huge sucker for anyway) and the author's take on the Roanoke Colony. The author put a lot of time and effort into research and it shows in her writing. 

The novel had a good pacing which took place over the course of 7 days, making the build towards the climax steady.

Ellie, the main character, is a girl who is her own person and takes no shit, which was absolutely fantastic in my mind. She was very well develloped, with her background being revealed at the correct moments. I loved her, and found myself cheering her on on more than one occasion.

There were a couple negatives to this novel, but nothing too major. The story is focused towards young adults, especially with the plot and how the story is written, but there is sex. A lot of sex. Descriptive sex. (It certainly isn't for the young or innocent reader.) A couple of times, I became impatient with these scenes, finding them slightly ill timed when there were more urgent things to be doing to save the world, you know, outside the hotel room. 

And of course, this novel ends on a cliff hanger, which was pretty kick ass.  However it still means I'm waiting for the second book!

I would definitely recommend this book.

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Other Books By This Author: Denise Grover Swank has written a number of novels, her most popular being the Chosen Series and the Rose Gardner Mysteries.