They say “third time’s the charm”, and for sixteen-year-old Brooke Day, they had better be right. She’s been here before, twice in fact, and an evil demon-witch wants her dead a third time.
When Brooke is forced to leave Boston for the small town of Deadwich, she thinks her life is over. Before long, her new friends start acting strange—downright evil. But worse than that, nightmares she’s had her whole life become reality.
Enter Marcus Knight; popular, hot, and the only person Brooke can trust. Not to mention, they’ve shared the same nightmares.
With the discovery of an ancient Celtic amulet, Brooke and Marcus unravel the secrets of her past, which reveals the key to her future.
As the equinox approaches:
Darkness and light merge for the first time in a century.
Soul-mates reunite.
Magic awakens.
The Gathering Darkness by Lisa Collicutt, and published through Curiosity Quills Press, is a young adult paranormal set in a small town in Massachusetts called Deadwich. This fictional town is set somewhere near Boston and Salem (great places to visit, full of history and mystery). With that in mind, what is New England famous for? Well, it’s not the vampires (though they are known for being there too), it is the witches.
Due to one too main infractions at home, Brooke is forced to live with her Aunt, Uncle, and cousin in Deadwich, Mass. It’s a tiny town with its own dark history filled with witchcraft and mysterious murders. Needless to say, Brooke isn’t too happy. Collicutt weaves an interesting story filled with magic and love. The epicenter of Brooke’s fears is a dark looming hotel that seems out of place, but no one notices it.
The darkness in the book isn’t as disturbing as some of the books I’ve read, but there is darkness and it can be creepy. The hotel was well described and definitely had a feel that it was living. Along with the hotel are Brooke’s dreams. They are just as disturbing and get worse as the book goes on. I would not have wanted to experience those dreams.
Brooke is a typical teenager in my opinion. I found her to be easy to relate to. She may had a little issue with setting certain relationship issues straight, but once that was taken care of, she showed to not be a damsel in distress character. No, she wasn’t a Buffy, but she held her ground and only faltered in her convictions slightly. Then again, given her situation, I probably would have done the same thing.
Marcus is the dark and mysterious kind of character. Though the reader and Brooke don’t learn a lot about his life and likes, we do learn his character. He can be jealous, but he’s extremely loyal. Whenever I read the two of them together, I smiled. Their relationship and pur love for each other was hard not to smile at. Pure love like that doesn’t happen all the time and is even difficult to see in books, but Collicutt was able to do it.
Though I did foresee some aspects of the book, Collicutt did throw some curve balls. I didn’t see the Celtic connection coming and I thought it was interesting. I did love how they got their information and even that wasn’t completely accurate. The reader ends up learning the next curve ball near the ending of the book.
The story was an easy read. The story pulls you in during a sort of safety net and throws you to the witches den by the end of it. You will find yourself wondering just how Brooke and Marcus was going to make it alive and together.
About Lisa Collicutt:
Lisa likes to write dark and twisted tales of magic and romance. She has a passion for Young Adult and New Adult Paranormal Romance. When she’s not conjuring tales about witches, demons, and other magical beings, she can be found leathered and bound to the back of her husband’s Harley, touring her homeland of Nova Scotia, Canada.
Enter Lisa’s imagination where realism ends and fantasy begins. But heed these warnings … it’s dark, it’s magical, you may experience tingles.
Casia's Corner 