“Slow Dance in Purgatory” – Amy Harmon

Okay… so, backstory, I literally read this book because the cover of the sequel (and the title) reminded me of Dean Winchester (the love of my life) in an AU. So I was like “well might as well read them”. And then SHE DESCRIBED JOHNNY (the main boy) AS SMELLING OF SUNSHINE AND LEATHER. This is not only a beautiful description but LITERALLY the EXACT WORDS of how I described the scent of Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) that time I hugged him (okay, that sounds creepy out loud…) but anyway. It was so specific and so perfect I fell in love a little bit more with this book and the characters.

So the premise of the book is that Maggie can see ghosts/spirits. She largely ignores this fact about her life. Until she sees Johnny. Johnny died in the 1950s in a tragic accident at the school, where he’s remained ever since. Maggie and Johnny form a friendship and a romance that transcends space and time but it’s destined to end in tragedy.

Honestly loved this book. Yeah, it’s cheesy I get that. Yeah I know I went in with a bias because of my love of “Supernatural” and everything not the show Supernatural. But come on! Ghosts. Tragedy. True love!? What’s not to get excited about? I love Maggie, her backstory and her traits. I love Johnny his tragedy and being. I love Gus and Irene and Shad.

Also the book ends on a cliffhanger. Like a pretty frustrating one so I was very glad the second book was already written. I’m currently reading it and dying.

I think this book is great for the sappy romantic and the occult lover. And if you’re both its a perfect combo!

I’ll let you know shortly how the second book is. . .

All The Crooked Saints – Maggie Stiefvater

“Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full 

of watchful desert stars.

At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.

They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect.” – Taken from Stiefvater’s website. 

You may recall me saying I have a thing for Biblical themes (this includes Miracles/Saints). So I honestly didn’t even read the summary when I opted to read this book. I just saw “oh crooked saints. cool” and started reading. Plus I’m a little bit of a cover judger and the cover was awesome…  

I had no idea what this book was about for the first 150 pages. Honestly. I was like “WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING” when the book was over I’m still not 100% sure I know what happened. I mean, I am. I followed it. But what the hell. I have read Stiefvater’s work in the past and really enjoyed it but I was struggling with this one. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be fairytale in quality, metaphoric, or just some kind of AU where people had coyote heads or turned to moss…. Maybe I should have read the description. 

Once I got past the… unusual quality of the story I was still not into it. I’m sorry Stiefvater. I just didn’t care that much about the Pilgrims or the Saints or anything that happened to them. I don’t know if it was because there were too many characters or not enough characters or too much plot or not enough plot. I honestly have no idea what I was missing from this book but something just wasn’t clicking for me. Maybe I was in the wrong headspace, maybe I was reading too many books and needed a break. I’m not sure. I feel like in an another time I would have enjoyed it but even though I got through the whole book it felt more out of obligation than any real desire to finish it. I’m so sorry.