Review: A Magic Dark & Bright by Jenny Adams Perinovic

I was provided an ARC of this book through NetGalley. This title will be released on April 28, 2015. This review will be spoiler free, as this title has yet to be released.

She meant to help a ghost…not unleash a curse.

Amelia Dupree hasn’t seen the Woman in White since the night her brother died.

The ghost seems to have disappeared from the woods surrounding Asylum, Pennsylvania—that is, until Charlie Blue moves into the creepy old MacAllister House next door. Amelia can’t help liking him, even though she spent her childhood thinking his grandmother was a witch. And she definitely can’t ignore the connection between his arrival and the Woman in White’s return.

Then Amelia learns that the Woman in White is a prisoner, trapped between the worlds of the living and the dead. Devastated by the idea that her brother could be suffering a similar fate, Amelia decides to do whatever it takes to help the Woman in White find peace–and Charlie agrees to help her.

But when Amelia’s classmates start to drown in the Susquehanna River, one right after another, rumors swirl as people begin to connect the timing of Charlie’s arrival with the unexplained deaths. As Charlie and Amelia uncover the dark history of Asylum, they realize they may have unleashed an unspeakable evil. One they have to stop before everything they love is destroyed.

I’ve been in a reading slump lately. Until a few days ago, I didn’t post for a while. I was stuck trying to finish One More Minute With You by Sierra Hill, and you all know how that went. In combination with Soul Crossed by Lisa Gail Green, this book manged to cure me of my slump, and now I’m back!

A Magic Dark & Bright is a Young Adult Paranormal, with a touch of romance and even a bit of horror thrown in. I was intrigued from the beginning to the end. It was most definitely a page turner. I started reading around nine or ten PM, and finished the book at two AM. The atmosphere is creepy, sporting old Victorian houses, lush woods, and dangerous ruins of an ancient mansion. When a character was lost in the woods, I felt their tension. When they were exploring the ruins of the mysterious mansion, I was somehow curious and apprehensive at the same time.

The characters are memorable and loveable. Amelia, Charlie, Leah, and Ransom all really came alive for me. I could really experience their fear, their anger, and their love. They acted like normal teenagers, which is refreshing in a world of unrealistic teen characters. Every character has been touched by some kind of tragedy, the most obvious being Amelia’s loss of her brother. Her guilt and grief is tangible and heartbreaking. She’s most definitely damaged by the experience.

The story culminates in an ending that I certainly did not see coming. The last few pages of the book had me (proverbially) on the edge of my seat, flipping page after page to find out the fate of the characters. I can’t go too much in to detail without giving away any key plot details, so I’m being forced to be vague. This is a book where it’s good to go into it without knowing too much about it.

Overall, I loved it. This book was creepy, atmospheric, and romantic. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA fiction. Five out of five stars, all the way.