It is hard to admit, but this book didn’t work well for me.

It took me a while to get into the story. Even had to go back and reread pages. For me, it has a very weak start and struggles to gain speed to keep readers attention. I put a lot of efforts not to fall asleep.

This book was really anticipated. Not only because it has a beautiful cover. The blurb was so promising. If you’ve read some of my other reviews, you will probably know that I love mythology. And The Furies are not that familiar as characters in comparison with The Fates. I was so excited, but…

First of all, the author’s writing didn’t work for me. Sometimes I really got confused and as I already said- I had to go back and reread paragraphs or pages. It is a huge mess. We have a dialog or monologue and somewhere between we have the character’s inner thoughts. But they sound with the same voice it is hard to separate them. On the other hand, we have a series of events which are completely different but again they sound the same.

For me, she failed by giving each character their own voice. To make them pop and be distinguished from the mass. Our narrator – Violet, felt not so convenient. While Robin pops a bit more. I don’t want to talk about Alex and Grace because although they are part of the crew, their presence is as unnoticeable as their absence. The story is said to be about four reckless girls, not so sure about it tho.

A bit about the plot. As I said the story is told by Violet point of view. Everything begins after she joins private girl school Elm Hollow Academy. The school itself has a dark history of witch trials and secret clubs of witch crafting. There she meets Robin, Alex, and Grace and soon became part of their advanced study group led by their art teacher Annabel. A strange thing happens in these classes. Their previous member, Robin’s best friend Emily, mystically disappears and later she is found dead. Violet is involved in Robin’s lifestyle. She is manipulated by Robin to take drugs, sleep with older men, get drunk. To be fair – a lot of drugs, booze and reckless, uncontrollable girls are involved. It was too much for me. There is no page without a description of the girls getting wasted. You somehow want to feel bad for Violet, but with her actions, she doesn’t show affection or that these situations bother her. Again – the characters were light and didn’t make you care for them.

There were some murdering scenes, which I didn’t completely understand. They were so naive and were mentioned somewhere between the drugs and stayed unnoticed. Like someone said that the story should have a couple of deaths. Yes, they are there, but completely out of place.

It is more focused on the girls-going-bad theme, as well on toxic girls friendship. How easy you can be manipulated while you are grieving and lonely. To be involved in a life-ruining environment. It tried to reach very deep and disturbing subject but it was simply not engaging.

The ending was… I don’t know. Like the story is cut with the sharp knife and just end there. A lot of things stayed up. What happened with Alex and Grace? With their teacher- Annabel? I don’t think that the officers are that stupid to put a couple of deaths, clearly forced ones, into ‘incident’ cases. Lots and lots of misfits and unclear points.

Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for this book, but I really struggled with it. In the end, I tried to clear my head and find any sense in this ending, and I’m not quite sure I fully understood everything that had happened. It didn’t manage to pull me in the story.

This was such an atmospheric and twisting read that left you questioning weather the events of the book were true or the exaggeration of the narrator. The choice of the narrator is a truely fascinating element of this novel. It is told from the perspective of Violet, our main character, as she reminices back on her teenage experience from 20 years in the future. Violet is now in her 30s looking back to 1998, when she was 16 and was trying to cope with the loss of her father and little sister, dealing with survivors guilt by isolating herself, before being placed at an elite all girls school, where she is determined to make friends and not feel like the outsider.

I enjoyed how unreliable Violets perspective was. Her disillusionment with the run down sea side town in which she grew up was fantastically atmospheric, you could feel the greyness of it all seeping into your imagination. It captured the feeling of being a British teen, stalking the streets, haunting the parks and huddling from the rain in school playgrounds all to be out of the house. It captured the sheer excitement of trying to act older than you are to attend parties in run down, dreary and often sticky flats with your friends. All of this with a voice that is both fond of the memories but also with the knowledge of how stupid teenage you was.

This also all made the ancient institution of the Academy make it stand out as almost magical and mysterious. It lends the element of darkness looming over violet and her group of friends, its historical links to witchcraft proving an inviting and potential escape from the girls troubles. All bolstered by the encouragement of their Art teacher, Annabel, whom teaches them to explore how women were exploited through out the history of art, and to stand strong as promising female artists themselves.

All of this allows the reader to explore Violets memories, the trails of teenage friendship, navigating the world at the edge of adulthood, feeling up against it all by yourself, and focusing all your energy on friendships that may not be healthy. It isn’t afraid to go dark, and violent, twisting and turning but also leaving enough doubt to have you questioning if the events really happened or if it was just Violet, imagining and misremembering events, to provide rational to herself for how she acted during those years. The calm tone of Violet, especially in moments of violence, made me question her sanity and the events as they unfolded. That made my spine tingle, questioning weather the witchcraft was real!

I enjoyed this book, while i wish it touched on some topics a bit more and I wish I got a bit more characterisation for some characters, the inclusion of the relationship with Annabel would have been nice to explore more. As it was told in such a way that we are only getting the unreliable memory of one participant of events, the lack of information about these elements was not fully a detriment to the book. At times the language could be a little flowery, some of the action scenes were confusing and required a re-read to full grasp what had happened and often relied on further elaboration in subsequent pages before I understood why these scenes had played out, but again that was a factor of the interesting narration. It was a creepy book, with parts I am sure most brits will relate to, all of which acted to make the violent and dark areas even more jarring, to me at least.

This is a dark, intense book about Violet, a troubled teenage girl who survived a car crash and is now attending a private girls school which has a history which involved witchcraft. She soon becomes entangled in the dark world of her new friends.

There are lots of books exploring similar themes to the ones in this book and this one falls a little short of the mark. It is a bit of a slow burner but I did keep reading until the end. The characters were all quite unlikeable, and I didn’t particularly like the ending.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Furies is a perfect blend of mystery, witchcraft, peer pressure and toxic relationships.

Suffering from survivors guilt and being unable to cope with her mothers drinking, Violet is given an opportunity to study her A levels at a prestigious girls school. Hoping to find the friendships she has always longed for Violet is drawn to Robin, Grace and Alex in a spiral of parties and witchcraft.

If you're a fan of Pretty Little Liars, or 90s pop culture witches like The Craft and Sabrina the Teenage Witch then I suspect you'll enjoy Katie Lowe's deliciously dark tale of high school witchcraft.

It follows in the vein of other YA witch titles such as The Merciless and The Graces, a tight-knit group of friends with whispered rumours that they may be witches. It relied a little heavily on tropes for my liking - three girls waiting for their fourth to join, a group of outcasts and wild behaviour. However it gets points for the atmosphere. Setting the story in a prestigious girls' school the story unfolds in a tense and claustrophobic manner, with lead character Violet forming an almost instant, unhealthy bond with rebel Robin.

I really enjoyed the first few chapters as they set up the story, but sadly for me it descended from there. It became almost a bingo of witch novels - stamp your card for a rebellious leader, recreational drug use and a troubled, but kind friend. I also found some of the later chapters rushed and confusing.

I enjoyed the premise, and I'll always be here for a book about teenage witches, but sadly this one just didn't light my fire.

My thanks to Harper Collins U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of Katie Lowe’s debut novel ‘The Furies’ in exchange for an honest review.

An intriguing opening recounts the discovery in the summer of 1998 of a teenage girl’s body clad in white and posed on a swing in the grounds of a private girl’s school.

The story is narrated by Violet who in 1997 at age fifteen has transferred to the prestigious girl’s college, Elm Hollow Academy. This move was made possible by a financial settlement granted following the death in a car accident of Violet’s father and younger sister. The tragedy has left Violet’s mother barely functioning and Violet deeply traumatised.

The college has a reputation linked to an infamous 17th Century witch trial. Violet is soon drawn to a group of outsiders: Robin, Grace and Alex. A charismatic teacher, Annabel, invites Violet to join the others in her secret advanced class where they study aspects of mythology, art and history.

Annabel warns them off undertaking any ancient rites or rituals but, of course, the lure of magic proves too seductive. The four are soon trying out spells and calling on chthonic deities such as Hecate and the Furies. A great deal happens before we loop back to the macabre discovery that opens the novel.

While it has young protagonists this doesn’t read as a YA novel as it explores mature themes and contains a fair amount of drug and alcohol use and graphic scenes.

Some publicity material and editorial reviews cite it as evoking elements of ‘The Secret History’ and ‘The Craft’. I feel that this is a fair reference as the concept of students dabbling in forbidden lore and getting in over their heads is a popular theme in horror and Gothic fiction. Just add some murders, toxic friendships, mysterious tomes, an atmospheric setting, and innovative twists and voila an almost perfect novel for my tastes.

I was completely hooked and zoomed through it in a single sitting. I certainly will look forward to Lowe’s future projects as this was a very promising debut.

If I don’t hit it off with a novel right away – if I’m not feeling ‘it’ – it’ll be difficult to turn that feeling around and, unfortunately, that’s what happened when I started reading The Furies. The fact is that for some reason I didn’t take in some of the narrative in certain paragraphs and I had to go back and reread parts of the story. I believe the reason for this could be because of the lyrical and descriptive writing style and the plot didn’t really capture my attention after the – I must admit – wonderful first chapter.

I loved the rich history of the school and how the author broached the Greek mythology in the story but the characters fell flat for me and weren’t all that interesting. The plotline involves four girls (Violet, Robin, Alex and Grace) but in reality there are only two stealing the show which are Robin and ‘Vivi’. These girls have quite a toxic relationship where one is being manipulated by the other and I should maybe have felt for Violet but she didn’t really say or do anything to make me care for her very much.

There was even one disturbing scene where she was involved (I might say it merits a trigger warning) and it didn’t sit well with me at all, not her behaviour at the time but I was appalled by her reaction afterwards as well. Let’s just say that her way to deal with a situation was taking revenge with some witchcraft where she should have acted rationally. I do love young adult and have enjoyed many novels in this genre before but I feel this one must be for younger readers. I know I was looking too hard into their actions and struggling with the decision-making in the novel so much I wasn’t able to really enjoy it like I should have. The Furies contains storylines of peer pressure, revenge and assault so it does touch on some interesting and not so easy topics but the girls are naïve and the surface was only scratched for me, I was not able to feel the emotions that such tough subjects could provoke.

The Furies reminded me of tv shows as Pretty Little Liars and The Craft, and it does show some similarities so if you really enjoy voodoo-doll and animal sacrifice rituals then you’ll find the storyline to your liking. I think this might work better for me as a tv show.

https://lynns-books.com/2019/05/06/the-furies-by-katie-lowe/
The Furies is a book that grabbed my attention immediately with it’s mention of the Greek Furies, a school setting, a small clique of girls and a murder. How could I possibly resist? I couldn’t. And, I’m pleased to say that from the dramatic opening chapters in which the narrator paints a scene where a young girl is found dead in a staged pose I was quite hooked to the page with the need to discover more.

Violet is the narrator, an adult now, she is reflecting on a period in her life that was a dark and dangerous time full of obsession and toxicity that starts off with a hint of glamorous danger and spirals fairly quickly into something desperately dark and at times a little seedy.

The story gets off to a fairly intense start. We meet Violet and soon discover that her family life has been torn apart by tragedy with both her father and sister being killed in a terrible car accident, that Violet survived and her mother going into a state of numbness from loss. After a year of home schooling, and making use of compensation from the accident, Violet makes a fresh start accepting a place at an exclusive private girls school set within its own grounds.

Almost immediately Violet makes friends with a group of three girls who keep themselves remote from the rest of the students and appear to be something of an enigma. Particularly Robin who decides that Violet will be her new best friend. Violet is much more lonely than she realised and this attention makes her desperate to fit in and be part of the group although she struggles to feel like anything other than an outsider.

The story takes place in the UK and the author has written it so that we have the contrast between the expensive school and the dilapidated and rather tired seaside village it neighbours. It’s a rather sorry place with very little going on and a bleakness that made me despair a little. Alongside this we have Violet’s very sad home life. Her mother seems to spend the majority of her time inebriated and the house is slowly turning into a wreck. This is all in contrast to the rather grand appearance of the school, Elm Hollow Academy. This is a school that expects it’s students to excel. It has a feeling of almost casual indifference,a laziness to the teaching that almost comes across as boredom of going over the same ground. Except for Annabel, a teacher who all the girls seem to want to impress. Violet manages to find herself one of only four students invited to her exclusive (and secret) extra curricular lessons where discussions on art, philosophy and the role of women over the centuries inspires the girls and empowers them.

Then we have the characters. Violet and Robin play the major roles here. Violet ever desperate for acceptance and Robin keeping her dangling, drawing her in in tantalising snippets followed by pushing her away whenever the mood suits. Robin is an unusual character, I’m torn between wanting to help her or shake her. She’s on a self destruct mission that’s for sure, dating older boys, constantly drinking alcohol and mixing that with a heady cocktail of drugs. Violet is completely in awe of her and in her shadow and will do virtually anything to gain favour. There are whispers around the school that Robin only befriended Violet because of her uncanny resemblance to a very good friend of Robin’s who went missing and hasn’t been found. Then there are Alex and Grace. Alex seems to live a charmed life, her mother is incredibly wealthy and she lives in an impressive house, but, you wouldn’t exactly call it a loving home. Grace’s home is even worse. Her father is abusive and she is constantly hiding bruises and making up falsehoods to hide the truth. All told this is a group of girls who have their own reasons for misery and despair and to be honest it comes out a little in their behaviour and makes them quite often difficult to like. They’re prickly and unapproachable, not the easiest characters to champion and yet you can’t help but have sympathy for them.

I enjoyed this. The writing is good and the tension mounts in a twisted way. You just know everything is going to go bad, very bad indeed.

In terms of criticisms. Well, like I mentioned above, the girls can be prickly, they can be nasty, calculating and manipulative, but, you have to look at the bigger picture, although even then it’s not easy to get on their side sometimes – the author does manage to do a good deal of twisting herself when it comes to these girls. The thing is, this is a dark story with some ugliness and so you can’t really expect the characters to be all soft and fluffy. I enjoyed the author’s style although every now and again she does become a little over the top with her prose – fortunately, not enough to become too much. And, I think I would just point out that the Furies are more a suggestion here than an actual presence. I quite like that though. Violet is telling the story with the benefit of many years in between to deaden the memories and give them a different and more sensible explanation. Even with that though there’s still an element of ‘what really happened’. I will also say that some of the threads here really do push the limits of credulity – but, it’s a story of ‘what ifs’ so it doesn’t make sense to scrutinise the finer elements too much.

All in all, I think this was a very engaging read. If I was going to chuck a few extra thoughts into the mix I’d say this is a story of obsession, of cliques, of secrets and lies. A dark tale where magic and myths are made possible and overall a cautionary tale – be careful what you wish for.

Be aware that there is an element of language, mention of drugs and alcohol and sexual content including rape. None of these elements feel out of place but I wanted to mention them.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

Every book that has it’s setting within a school/university is compared to The Secret History from Donna Tart. This masterpiece book stands out and every book with a similar topic has to stand up against it. This is hard. And unfair. But Donna Tarts book is exceptional and this book is not.

I had a hard time getting into this book. As a matter of fact I never got into it. There is the problem with the characters. Violet is a whiny and needy person. She lost her father and sister in a car accident years ago. She was there, too, but wandered out of this accident unharmed. Her mother drifted into an alcohol infused oblivion after that. Violet got into Elm Hollow Academy. She is insecure and shy but soon becomes friends with 3 other girls who are also in a secret class about mystic things. Violet is an awful character. She has no real profile. She just wants to please her new friends, especial Robin. I don’t understand why anybody would be interested in Violet because she is absolutely uninteresting. And Robin is just awful. She is doing awful things all the time and she is absolutely manipulating Violet. All the characters are just horrible persons and they are doing horrible things. The four friends are all kind of psychopaths. And I never really got what was going on.

English is not my native language but I am reading English books for many years now. But this book made me ask myself if I really understood what was going on. I just kept asking myself if I got everything right and understood everything because the writhing was kind of weird. This did not happen to me for a long time. I really thought I did not understand this book because it was erratic. I missed the promised topics about the female power and witchcraft. The secret society part was just a side note and it was never deepened.

This book just did not grab me and I never got into it. The characters are horrible persons and the story also did not work for me.

A deliciously dark thriller that begins with a sixteen-year-old girl found dead on school property, with no known cause of death. What slowly unravels is a hauntingly intense tale of obsessive friendships, the power of sisterhood and the sinister revenge that comes at the cost of keeping secrets, all skillfully rooted in witchcraft and murder.

I received a copy of The Furies in exchange for an honest review, so thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins.

I saw The Furies described in a review on Goodreads as The Secret History meets Girls on Fire. These are two of my favourite books, so immediately, I was super excited.

The Furies follows Violet as she joins a new school, and is invited to join a secret study group. This isn't a school approved study group, though. Annabel, the art teacher, talks to Violet and her three classmates about witchcraft, mythology, the history of the school. But as Robin, Grace, and Alex introduce Violet to life in the study group - and outside of school, that involves rituals and ceremonies, the body of missing teen and former study group member turns up on campus, leading Violet to question her new friends, her new teachers, and the rituals she's been carrying out.

This mix was always set to be a killer, in my eyes at least. A private school, a selective clique, witches, murder. What more do you need in a novel?

While I can see the similarities between The Secret History - lessons on mythology, a tight knit group, secrets and lies and murder - and Girls on Fire - witchcraft, intense friendships, worship - this was much slower paced book. 

I loved the focus on the friendships between the girls, and the toxicity of them. This wasn't a simple high school friendship gone wrong though, with jealousy, falling out, the usual. This was heavy on the manipulation, lying, coercion. Robin was not kind to Violet, and pushed her to do things she didn't want to do, forced her way in where Violet didn't want her, and dragged her into a world that Violet wasn't capable of dealing with. But Violet was no angel either, and together they made for a messy, harmful relationship. 

Above the friendships, I loved the focus on women. Women taking power, and women taking revenge, taking back what was taken from them. They are belittled and overlooked and taken for granted, and these four are trying to put a stop to that.

Similar to The Secret History, a lot of the secret study group's lectures revolve around mythology, myths, and ideas above these girls heads. But, while in The Secret History I could follow along easily despite not knowing anything (and I mean, literally anything) about Greek mythology, in The Furies I found myself getting lost in Annabell's lectures and often skipped those parts. 

It was, however, enchanting from start to finish. Albeit, a little slow paced, and sometimes Violet's voice became somewhat monotonous, the plot and the fire behind The Furies was enough to keep me going. 

4 out of 5 stars, and I'll definitely be checking out what Katie Lowe writes in the future. 

The Furies is out now.

When a sixteen year old girl is found dead at school dressed in white and sitting on a swing no one knows the cause of death or what happened.
Four girls know the truth but will they keep the secret?
Murder mystery teenage witchcraft his book has it all.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and of course the author for this digital ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.
This book is a twisted psychological thriller and was a very enjoyable read!

I am torn with this book.

I didn't love it but I also didn't hate it.

I am stuck somewhere in the middle of love and hate, and there are not many books that leave me in this state.

Going into this book I had conjured up feelings of it being very much like The Craft - and whilst there are some elements (4 girls ancient texts) it fell flat. The Furies were only mentioned a few times and "seen" once, which left me sorely disappointed. I wanted more witchcraft, more spells, more Furies. But instead you get the toxic friendship that Robin, Alex and Grace have with Violet. Mainly between Robin and Violet, Alex and Grace don't seem to want to pass the time of day with Violent with Robin isn't around.

I think reflecting on the story for me the main line was the peer pressure and toxic friendships rather than the whole witchcraft one. Violet comes to Elm Hollow Academy looking for a new start following a year off school after a tragic car accident that saw her father and sister die. Violet is in a place where having the attention of Robin is something that she is craving, but she soon gets caught up with drugs, drinking and sex (actually rape which lead to the girls calling on the power of the Furies).

This is a very ominous and foreboding book that left me questioning what really happened. Was it the Furies or was it just the fact that these girls were just plain evil?

This is a book all about toxic teenage friendships and the lengths some people will go to fit in with the ‘in’ crowd. The book is set in an elite private all girls school rich in sordid history and I was just as interested as reading about the schools history as I was about any other aspect within the book.

Robin, Grace and Alex used to be a ‘foursome’ until their friend Emily tragically passed. So when Violet starts at the school she is soon snapped up by the three girls to join their group. Violet comes from a troubled home and seems to desperately seek friendship and approval from her peers so it’s no wonder really that she allowed herself to be taken in so completely by the group.

I wouldn’t say any of the characters are necessarily likeable in this book, but it still has that general pull that makes you want to read on to find out what happens to them. I think I was personally more interested in the mystery and magical side to the story and I would have liked the book more if these aspects had been expanded but still a very good debut from this author.

Fantasy fiction isn’t usually my thing but Lowe’s debut novel treads the line between fantasy and realism perfectly, leaving you wondering exactly what has gone on. Like The Secret History but with an all-girl gang, this novel of teenage “witches” in a drab 1990s seaside town is dark, intelligent, gory, and extremely entertaining.

I received a free ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the Harper Collins and Netgalley for the opportunity.

First of all TRIGGER WARNING for date rape both in the book and the review.

This book opens with a dead 16 year old girl, sitting on a swing, as described by a very sad older female teacher, then slides straight back to the time before this death. Despite the backwards time jump, the feeling of melancholy pervades the whole book. However, it is a hypnotic read that pulls you in and keeps you turning the pages, right to the end.

The main character and narrator, Violet, loses her father and baby sister in a car crash in the opening pages. She reluctantly uses the compensation money to fund an education at a local private school, that was built on grounds where witches were burnt in the seventeenth century.

Violet bears an uncanny resemblance to a pupil called Emily who has recently gone missing. Violet becomes friends with Emily’s three best friends, in particular Robin who has a history of drink and drugs. She is invited alongside them, to join an exclusive study group, which looks at art through a feminist perspective, including the local history of witchcraft. The girls obtain a book on witchcraft and attempt to curse two people, the school gossip, and a date rapist on whom they call down the Furies.

Much of the book is dedicated to Violet’s feelings of being an outsider. She is described as resembling Emily, but not as pretty. The teen friendships seem to be a game of which she is never clear of the rules and therefore destined to fail. Feelings I remember myself from high school. I felt for the character, and understood her feelings of alienation and frustration. Violet’s life goes into a downward spiral as she desperately tries to keep up with Robin and remain part of the clique. The consequences are unexpected and brutal.

Lowe describes herself as an ‘angry feminist’ and this comes over throughout the book. Male characters are infrequent and unsavoury. The girls, and by extension, the readers, are educated in the misogyny of art and literature via tuition from teacher, Annabel. I have no problem with being offered new ideas through storytelling. I will admit it piqued my curiosity.

On the down side I found some of the action paragraphs so overly descriptive that I wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, even after slow rereadings. I had to infer the action from what came afterwards. This might have put me off reading further but actually, this is one of those books which, just as you think you know what is going on, pulls the rug from under you, turning the story on its head and pulls you into the next few chapters. Even the closing pages offer another twist to mess with the reader’s head.

This is not a book to read if you’re depressed. Lighthearted and cheery, it’s not. It is though a cracking first novel from a writer whose career I will follow with interest.

This book perfectly depicts peer pressure, and the pressure put upon girls, by men and by other girls, it also shows just how toxic some friendships can be. Violet is clearly still grieving after the accident which took her dad and sister, and in all aspects except physically, it took her mum too. Robin comes along into her life and seems to be clearly what Violet needs, a breath of fresh air, but all isn't what it seems and she is led down a path of alcohol, drugs and murder.

I really liked Annabel's character, although as their teacher and spending so much time with the four girls in her extra lessons with them, I would have hoped she would have picked up on their reckless behaviour and possibly stepped in. 

My favourite line in the book, and possibly because I think every woman can agree on just how true the statement is; "It is the actions of men that make them vengeful, not through mismanagement or absence, as the text says, but out of cruelty and selfish desire."

A real page-turner with more twists and turns than a twisty-turny thing!! Could not put it down and ended up reading in one sitting. Was expecting something similar to The Craft, and got a mash up between The Crucible, Heathers and Girl Interrupted. It is mysterious, ominous and foreboding and you're often left doubting what really happened. Lowe nails the disturbing toxic teenage relationships and successfully maintains the suspense and tension right up to the last page.

Recommended for those who like Pretty Little Liars, Little Monsters and stories of angry young vengeful woman.

This is an intense novel, is follows a troubled teenage girl through the darkest time of her life and plays on all the turbulent emotions we feel during that time in all of our lives.

I love books about angry women, angry YOUNG women are even more brutal and this book thoroughly explored that. It covers the intensity of best-friendships between teen girls, rivalries, schooling and relationships in general.

This book reminded me very much of the 90s classic film 'The Craft', in terms of both storyline and characterisation, but with less of the campiness.
I was sucked in by the pure angsty goodness and tempered rage in this book, the writing style is mysterious and completely compelling. I can't recommend it highly enough for anyone who wants to relive/get insight into the weird vibrancy of being a teenage girl and believing that anything is possible.