The premise of this book was unique and interesting however I struggled to follow what was happening and felt the plot points often lacked cohesion, I think sometimes less is more. Made for a bit of a confusing read at times but I did enjoy the characters.

2.5 stars

A blood curse runs in Savannah's family, one that gives some of the girls an unparalleled anger and causes them to die young. Savannah's beloved aunt died from the curse, and now signs point to Savannah being next, and soon.
Savannah struggles to contain her anger, but she must if she wants to find a way to stop the curse before it is too late.

The premise for this book really intrigued me, so I was excited to read it, but, unfortunately, it ended up being a mixed read.
Savannah was an OK protagonist - there were times when I found her annoying, and times when I felt sorry for her - but I never felt that I really connected to her, or was invested in what happened to her.
None of the characters particularly stood out for me, but I did like that Savannah had family members and friends that looked out for her.
The setting of Cape Town was interesting, as was the magic in the book - the Four Sisters and the Veil Witches - but I would have liked a bit more information on these.
The plot was mixed for me, as there were parts where I got a little bored, but I found other parts interesting. However, I wasn't invested in what happened and did get confused a couple of times - partly due to the writing feeling a bit disjointed.

Overall, this was a mixed read.

I thought this book was well written, clever and just the right side of mysterious

Unfortunately i didn't fully connect with the main character as much as other books I've read not that this is a bad thing. Maybe that was the point.

I would definitely read more from this author

This book had so much promise and sounded exactly like the type of book I would love but it just didn't work for me. The story felt disjointed and things would happen without any explanation and it just made me lose interest. I really struggled to get through the story.

I ended up picking up this book as a physical copy and was quite surprised, I really enjoyed the liveability of the MC and the overall world building which wasn’t too heavy. A great little read!

I enjoyed this book, it wasn't great but it was ok. I felt the writing was more geared to young adult fiction as opposed to mainstream readers. I enjoyed the mystery and the magic of it but that was all. I didn't feel connected to the characters and feel they could have been developed further than they were.

I absolutely loved this book! Mary in my opinion is the Queen of Spookiness and Storytelling. She does an excellent job of weaving her South African background within an Irish story. Her characters are strong, stubborn and badass and her writing keeps you wanting more! I recommended this to everyone I know

There were a lot of aspects of this book that I really enjoyed, but some parts I wasn't so hot about. I loved Savannah as a protagonist and the way her anger was an almost physical manifestation in the narrative worked really well. I really enjoyed the magical elements of the plot, although I do wish they had been a little bit more fleshed out and again, I thought the integration of a slave narrative was great, but I would have liked a bit more detail on this. The setting was fabulous and Mary Watson did a fantastic job at bringing South Africa and specifically, the Western Cape, to life. The descriptions were vibrant and evocative, which I really appreciated. I read the author's note at the beginning of the novel and I understand her aim in writing a YA book with these themes, but I honestly think it would have worked better as an adult novel because for me, a lot of the YA tropes felt a bit shoe horned in. Overall, this was a very enjoyable and interesting book and I would definitely recommend it.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The premise sounded cool but the actual writing style didn’t make me that interested and the fact that the main characters anger is entirely supernatural in nature and not like bc of her very real circumstances made me a bit eh. I kind of wanted to know more about the past characters than modern day just by virtue of the fact that I’m not big into urban fantasy when the fantasy part isn’t very strong. The fantasy part of this book is really more a concept than actual fantasy and it felt too realistic and gritty and depressing, whereas all the MCs justifiable anger was told to be supernatural and that it was bad, which felt a bit unfair to a black girl in South Africa Who did have justifiable reasons to be angry as well.

Savannah is one in a long line of cursed women, each fated to die sooner than the last.
She finds herself the target of evil witches, and a ticking clock.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story follows Savannah, a descendant of Hella, an enslaved woman whose fury and magic cursed her abusers and their descendants for the rest of time. Unfortunately, Hella didn't know she was pregnant, and her own family are affected.
Not every woman, but there are a couple every generation who burn with anger.
Savannah is the latest victim. She has always been angry and aggressive, but now her wrists are marked with the curse that will kill her.
As the magic comes to the surface, she starts to attract the attention of good and bad witches, and realises there is a hidden world existing beyond the notice of normal humans.

I really enjoyed this story. I loved the folklore and the magic. It felt realistic and dangerous.

As Savannah discovers what she needs to break the curse, and she has to go to some pretty extreme lengths. She has a cast of characters around her, and it constantly keeps you guessing as to what side they are on, and who the Big Bad truly is.
There are some big red herrings, and I was impressed at how misleading they were! I was wrong at least twice!

I felt that the writing was a little chaotic at times, and with so many conflicting and fantastical elements, it made it hard to follow sometimes.

But overall, I really enjoyed it, and I loved the ending, and the choices that Savannah made.

A contemporary fantasy that brings together generational curses, angry young girls, and witches in a world that blends magic into present-day South Africa while also sensitively exploring the history and horrors of this place. Quite refreshing with the high staked-plot and fast=paced narration. The familial relationships makes room for complexity, giving fuel for the young woman to strengthen throughout the story.

definitely aimed at ya readers...while i can say that there were elements that had potential they all added up to an underwhelming melange that feels kind of underbaked.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC to review. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A beautiful, bold voice throughout the story and wonderfully realised characters and settings.

A fantasy book with a very contemporary feeling. I love books with curses and this one is well written and exciting to learning more about the history of the curse. Definitely one to get stuck in to

This excellent book covers some hard-hitting topics. I love books that enable you to look at society or aspects of it from a different perspective, which I would say this does. Savannah is easy to root for and the book does have an unputdownable quality. I would read more by this author!

Savannah is seventeen-years-old and she is dying. She knows this because of the anger eating away inside of her and the family lore she has grown up listening to. Her family is cursed with Hella's girls, one female in each generation who explodes with anger at the injustices of the world and dies young because of it. In this generation it is Savannah, but she is determined to use her building rage to fight against the prophecy and not to succumb to it.

I usually prefer my fantasy rooted in an equally as magical world, but here I adored the gentle weaving of fantastical elements in a contemporary setting. Savannah was our eyes into it and she was an easy individual to like and empathise with, because of not despite of her rage.

Every catcall from a stranger, every lingering look at her underage body, and every man who disrespected her ignited this rage and I too felt a burning desire to see them tremble before the one they had just overlooked as nothing more than a body without a soul or a mind attached to it. Her anger was justified, as were both her attempts to control it and unleash it upon those deserving.

This proved a powerful and thought-provoking read, when I had anticipated nothing more than a fun and fantastical one. You could feel this story as a burning ember, with Savannah at its centre but implications about our modern-day society at its roots.

The premise of this intrigued me. I had high hopes of this. But sadly it just didn't work for me. I spent most of the book just struggling to stay interested.

Savannah as a character annoyed me at times. She felt a little under developed. I needed more from her. She just constantly felt just angry at the curse.

The plot itself lost me throughout. Things felt disjointed and under developed. Important moments didn't feel as built on as they should be.

This one just wasn’t for me. It didn’t grab my attention and I wasn’t really bothered about what happened to the characters.

An intoxicating mix of magic, folklore and a world that draws its inspiration from South Africa. Peppered with African colloquiums, it has both a contemporary feel with a mystique magic, not specific to, but one that engenders a voodoo-esque atmosphere.
There is a strong sense of danger, wrapped in a warped carnival like veil of magical goings on. Savannah carries a family curse through the female line, that results in an early death. Each woman seemingly carries a raging anger, that intensifies as death nears. There have been attempts to unlock the curse, recorded in a book, which Savannah refers to, to try and make sense of it all.
There is a sense of impending doom that is dark and foreboding throughout the book. Some of what is going on is opaque and not readily understandable, which also feels satisfactorily disorientating, much like Savannah feels through her dreams and night-time kaleidoscope experiences.
Despite this there is a strong theme of family, protection and love. This brings a much-needed element of warmth and hope in a dark world. It does stall & loose its momentum two thirds of the way in the book, but then recovers. Race and a tough upbringing lightly feature but with a more overt theme of anger and its use in a contemporary world of simmering violence evoked to achieve power; to deflect oneself from the ubiquitous risk of simmering violence that could otherwise be used against you. How pernicious this pervading behaviour is so that it becomes a lived culture. There are also the influential role women have in supporting and neutralising oppression. This backdrop could be used as part of a good book group debate, or you could just run with the story and let the deeper messaging wash over. Either way, this is a unique and mesmerising read.

Fantasy is not usually a general that I would go for, but this book is bold and punchy.

I loved the mythology interlinked with other concepts such as sexism, racism and historical issues, such as slavery and apartheid.

I like that the main character is angry, and rightly so, and that anger is seen as both a strength and a weakness, depending on how it is framed.

A fantastic book.