The Deepest Cut by J.A. Templeton Book Review

Title: The Deepest Cut
Author: J.A. Templeton
Series: MacKinnon Curse #1
Publishing Date: June 27, 2011
Language: English
Genre: Horror, YA, Paranormal
ASIN: B0058HTU0G
Edition: Kindle
Size: 301

Sixteen-year-old Riley Williams has been able to see ghosts since the car crash that took her mother’s life and shattered her family. Guilt-ridden over the belief that she’s somehow responsible for her mom’s death, Riley is desperate to see her mother’s elusive spirit to gain her forgiveness.

When her father moves the family to Scotland so they can all start over, Riley believes her life couldn’t get worse––that is until the ghost of nineteen-year-old Ian MacKinnon catches her purposely cutting herself. An uneasy truce quickly turns into friendship, and soon Riley’s falling hard for Ian.

Riley believes her gift could help Ian end the curse that has kept him tied to the land for centuries, but that would mean letting him go forever and she’s not sure she is strong enough to do that. As if her life wasn’t complicated enough, the spirit of the woman who killed Ian returns and she’ll stop at nothing to keep Riley from helping Ian find eternal peace.

Review

I think I'm getting obsessed with reading books about 16-year old girls having strong feelings for ghosts/phantoms/demons or those entities without a physical form that these girls are having an almost-relationship if not a real relationship with. For those of you reading this review, please comment below about similar books. I can't get enough of them! What I like more about this book is the fact that at least the love interest made it to first base unlike others. Ha ha! Oops... Well, first base is kissing to most cultures.

Among all the books I've read so far with the same premise (16-year old girl falling in love with a non-physical entity), this was the most satisfying. It left me grinning from ear to ear upon closing the book. It's a happy book altogether. Not once did I feel scared reading it, instead it made me feel mushy to the core and giddy getting excited over Riley William's encounters with Ian MacKinnon. I love that it made me feel so much!

I love the plot. Although some elements feel tropy which is much needed for books with the same topic, The Deepest Cut was unique all on its own. The plot stands out. It contains the usual tropes but it doesn't feel redundant. It feels fresh because perhaps, the setting was perfect. The way things where glued together for the story was nothing short of perfect.

A year since the accident that killed her mom, Riley's father brought her and her younger brother from Portland to Scotland for good. She's been seeing ghosts since the accident (sounds familiar? I've read a similar case in at least 5 books). For her unusual behavior, claiming to see ghosts, she had constant visits with a shrink and has to undergo medication to stave off her craziness (as usual, same case) before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. She's been diligent in ignoring ghosts who'd pester her just because she's the only who can see them (yup, read them all like that) until she mistakenly reacted to a beautiful voice, got in contact with piercing blue eyes which belonged to a very hot ghost (no matter how many times I read something like this, I still swoon).

Now, that's where the similarity stops.

Those other books I read were set in America. Fortunately, the author brought the story overseas and set it in the UK with such beautiful history when it comes to the nobility with their extravagant castles and all. For characters, it's like new world meets the old world. Yes, there's that classic trope of a character's painful past (the male protagonist) in a place with rich history. But instead of reading a historical fiction, I'm reading a modern one. We also get to see glimpses of the past through a trance but the setting is not in a scifi time-traveling plot nor the character have the powers of a witch (or some powerful whatever with abilities inherited from the lines of formidable ancestors), she's just a normal human being who just happens to see ghosts. Isn't it neat?

So there Riley was in her first day of Braemar, Scotland. Her father had brought an inn which could be older than the castle just almost across the yard from them. For the first time, she made friends with a ghost, and a gorgeous one for that matter. Barely a day has passed and she crossed upon a malignant female ghost who turned out the be the very cause of the death of her new friend. Worse, she cursed him to never pass on for eternity. Despite this ghost hurting her and her loved ones, Riley was more than determined to end the curse and help Ian cross over even if it means losing him forever.

Aw, I find that so romantic. The whole book revolves around that plot but that's not the only thing that happened. There's a gang of teenagers too. After all, Riley is going to a new school. I was having fun having my heart go on an overdrive reading this book. I can't wait to get my hands on the sequels.