Blackwood by Gwenda Bond

Release Date: Septemeber 4^th 2012

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 352 pages

Source: ARC

Let's start this review my saying that this book wasn’t my cup of tea…whatever that means. I did not enjoy reading it for a minute. I wanted to stop reading so many times, but I kept convincing myself that it might get better. And half way through, it got a little better. Maybe a little faster. But that wasn’t enough.

The main problem was the characters. The plot was fine, especially the mysterious part of it. The writing style was fine but it didn’t grab my attention. The pacing was very slow…it made me lose interest. Miranda's voice wasn’t strong enough. I didn’t care for her. And maybe that was because I didn’t know much about her background. I like a character more when I know them better. I know their habits, hobbies, etc, and if you asked me about Miranda, I wouldn’t know anything about her except that she had a cat.

Phillips was obviously in love with Miranda. He cared a lot about her. But why. I never knew why Phillips decided to move back to his hometown…just for Miranda. I wish their story was shared to us (readers). They both knew each other well so how did they leave each other and what was between them…I don’t know. And maybe that’s what kept me reading the book. Because I really wanted to know their story.

Sadly, there were parts that were confusing and unrealistic. Therefore, it wasn’t convincing at all. I was really looking forward to this book but it had disappointed me.