Angie Dovage can tell there’s more to Reece Fernandez than just the tall, brooding athlete who has her classmates swooning, but she can’t imagine his presence signals a tragedy that will devastate her small town. When something supernatural tries to attack her, Angie is thrown into a battle between good and evil she never saw coming. Right in the center of it is Reece—and he’s not human.
What's more, she knows something most don't. That the secrets her town holds could kill them all. But that’s only half as dangerous as falling in love with a harbinger of death.
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Review:
Black Bird of the Gallows is Meg Kassel’s debut novel and is a deeply engaging paranormal read that offers readers something new and addictive in this fast paced, romantic and well written tale that thrills from the very beginning.
Seventeen year old Angie Dovage knows there is more to her new neighbour Reece Fernandez than meets the eye. With her own painful past, Angie understands the shadows and figments of grief that lurk behind Reece’s well placed smile and can’t help the thrill that runs through her when she sees him. Reece and his family are harbouring dark histories and when something supernatural begins to affect Angie’s town, discovering Reece’s secrets is only the beginning; catapulting Angie into a dangerous world of ancient magic and violent creatures. Falling in love with Reece may seem next to impossible to avoid but with Reece’s very presence signalling an impending disaster, Angie is facing more than just the possibility of losing her heart. She may lose her very life if she and Reece can stop the forces threatening to tear them apart….
From the opening chapter of Black Bird of the Gallows, I knew I was going to enjoy the story. The prose Meg Kassel employs made for effortless reading and managed to be descriptive without being too wordy. I found myself intrigued by Angie and the world she inhabited from the get go, keen to discover more about who she was and her past, as well as the mysterious new family who had just moved in next door.
Angie was an intelligent and down to earth character who had a very personable voice. She was easy to follow and made smart choices and questioned things to my liking. I appreciated that Meg Kassel gave her a bit of a history which allowed her to be more layered and complex. She just fit within the story effortlessly and made you genuinely keen to see that she figured things out and made it out unscathed.
Kassel takes a basic YA recipe—teen girl, mysterious new boy and supernatural element—and gives it a fresh feel with Black Bird of the Gallows. The mythology and paranormal history was highly interesting with the carrion bird and bee element something I have never seen before. I loved the way Kassel took harbingers of death and wove them into the story. It was refreshing to read something very different and I find myself keen to learn more about the Beekeepers and about the Harbingers themselves.
The nature aspect of the story was also something I very much enjoyed with the disaster that effects Angie and her loved ones exciting and thrilling. Kassel wonderfully mixed the dangers of a natural disaster with threats of a supernatural kind beautifully. It was truly thrilling and action packed reading.
A beautifully written debut filled with wonderful characters, sweet romance and a different paranormal aura, Black Bird of the Gallows was a very satisfying read. Meg Kassel has introduced me to some refreshing mythology I’m looking forward to seeing more of in the future. This is definitely an author to keep an eye on!
Rating:
Source: Sent for review by publisher (Thank you guys!)
Publisher: EntangledTEEN
Format: Kindle ebook
Release Date: September 5th 2017
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | The Book Depository
Final Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read the companion tale Keeper of the Bees when it releases in September of 2017
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