As you all probably know by now I stay in a rural region of Scotland and I absolutely love when part of a book takes place over here. Phoebe is a a young girl who has grown up in a small town in Texas living with her close knit family including her maternal Grandmother (affectionately referred to as Naan throughout the book). Naan is a brilliant story teller and focuses a lot of her efforts on Phoebe, telling her about where she grew up as well as some slightly odder stories. Phoebe doesn't take too much notice of her Naans stories until she is recruited to an exclusive boarding school in Scotland where things gradually begin to make more sense.
I really enjoyed how the author revealed the paranormal aspects of the story gradually rather than all at once as we really got to see if from Phoebe's perspective where she was trying to rationalise everything and trying to stay true to her very logical nature.
Another positive for the story was that it was actually a normal school she was attending but there were a few students who had several classes separate from the rest which helped Phoebe to bond with them and turned out to be an integral part of the story.
There were no negatives for this book and I think anyone who enjoys reading YA fantasy should give it a go. The author was able to let you feel the tension and danger which the characters encountered in some situations without making anything too graphic but at the same time it didn't come across as treating the reader with kid gloves.
I'm glad to see there is a second book already in progress and can't wait to see what Phoebe does next.
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