Review: The Graces by Laure Eve ~ Once Upon a Bookcase

The Graces by Laure Eve (proof) - Everyone said the Graces were witches.

They moved through the corridors like sleek fish, ripples in their wake. Stares followed their backs and their hair.

They had friends, but they were just distractions. They were waiting for someone different.

All I had to do was show them that person was me.

Like everyone else in her town, River is obsessed with the Graces, attracted by their glamour and apparent ability to weave magic. But are they really what they seem? And are they more dangerous than they let on?

This beautifully-written thriller will grip you from its very first page. From Goodreads.

ETA: Since reading this book, I have discovered that it is problematic due to biphobia and racism. Because of this, I can no longer recommend this book with a clear conscience - but I am leaving my review here for purposes of transparency. Read more in @eternaldelicacy's thread (though it contains spoilers), in Lisa the Bookworm’s review, and in Delicate Eternity’s review.

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My interest in The Graces by Laure Eve was sparked when I went to the Faber Children's Blogger Event. Eve read out an extract, and that, along with her telling us she was inspired by the movie The Craft, had me in desperate need of this book. Once the proof arrived, I flew through it! I cannot tell you just how brilliant this book is!

Thalia, Fenrin and Summer. You'd know the Graces as soon as you saw them. There's no denying the draw they have, their magnetism. You can pretend you don't care, but you will. You'll be intrigued by them, want to know them, want to be close to them. There's just something about them; they're beautiful, sure, but it's something more that has heads turning as they walk by. It's rumoured that they're witches, and it's not hard to believe. River is new to town, and only just learning about The Graces, rather than growing up with them - but even she isn't immune. River is completely enamoured by them, and does all she can to be the person they'd want to be friends with. But when Summer, the youngest Grace, takes an interest in her, River becomes obsessed. River won't stop until she knows everything she can about the Graces, about their witchcraft, until she becomes one of them.

Oh my god, this book! It is so absolutely gripping! This book is everything I was interested in as a teenager, and so it wasn't hard to fall in love with it. I was so interested in magic and witches as a teen; I had varioud teenage spellbooks, I had an oracle, a dream dictionary. I was so interested in the occult, and while I can't say I believed in it all, I so desperately wanted it all to be true. So The Graces would have been perfect for me back then, and reading it felt very nostalgic. This isn't about witches that wave wands, say magic words, and have lightning flash from their fingertips - The Graces are more Pagan witches, or Wiccan witches. Witches that use the natural world; crystals and candles and feathers and water; chants and will and energy. And I was captivated. The Graces are my kind of people, and the mystery around them was delicious. Like River, I was desperate to know more.

But River herself is really fascinating. She and her mother have moved to the town after her Dad disappears. Her mother says he's been in touch, but River doesn't believe her. She so desperately wants him to come back, and believes the Graces' magic could help. But her interest in the Graces is more than just because she wants her dad back, but because she is completely sucked in by them. She seems really troubled. Her every thought is for The Graces. She buys spell books and studies them like her life depends on it. She is enchanted by their power - not just as witches, but as people, how everyone wants to know them, how everyone knows who they are. She wants it, she wants to be a part of it, and she can think of barely little else.

I don't want to say too much more about the plot, because this really is a story that should be discovered as you read it. But that ending! Oh my god! The ending was unbelievable! Stakes get so high and things become dangerous, and this is exactly where I can see the influences of The Craft! I was on the edge of my seat, desperate to know what was going to happen! It was such an electrifying, terrifying, heartpounding climax! And we finally get some answers, and I was so surprised by all we discovered! I had an inkling, but no real theories, and it was just so brilliant! It works brilliantly as a standalone, but there's enough left open for there to be a sequel, and there will be! And I am so excited!

The Graces is absolutely incredible! I was completely swept up in the intrigue surrounding the enigmatic Grace siblings, and fell as much under River's spell as I did the Graces'! Buy this book and clear your diary. You're not going to be doing anything else until you're finished.

Thank you to Faber Children's Books for the proof.