Sweetly

Sweetly
Author: Jackson Pearce
pages: 310
publication date: August 23 2011





Summary:
Twelve years ago, Gretchen, her twin sister, and her brother went looking for a witch in the forest. They found something. Maybe it was a witch, maybe a monster, they aren’t sure—they were running too fast to tell. Either way, Gretchen’s twin sister was never seen again.

Years later, after being thrown out of their house, Gretchen and Ansel find themselves in Live Oak, South Carolina, a place on the verge of becoming a ghost town. They move in with Sophia Kelly, a young and beautiful chocolatier owner who opens not only her home, but her heart to Gretchen and Ansel.

Yet the witch isn’t gone—it’s here, lurking in the forests of Live Oak, preying on Live Oak girls every year after Sophia Kelly’s infamous chocolate festival. But Gretchen is determined to stop running from witches in the forest, and start fighting back. Alongside Samuel Reynolds, a boy as quick with a gun as he is a sarcastic remark, Gretchen digs deeper into the mystery of not only what the witch is, but how it chooses its victims. Yet the further she investigates, the more she finds herself wondering who the real monster is, and if love can be as deadly as it is beautiful.



Review:

After reading Sisters Red last year I fell in love with Jackson Pearce’s writing. I LOVED Sisters Red, that’s why when the ARC of Sweetly came in the mail I was excited to start it. I was very disappointed. For some reason Sweetly didn’t match up to my expectations.

Ansel and Gretchel have been kicked out of their house by their step-mom, they leave and get stranded in a little town that doesn’t have many people, and it doesn’t help with all the crazy rumors spreading around.

They find Sophie, the chocolate maker and the girl that most of the town hates, there’s been rumors that she’s the one who made the girls disappear. Ansel and Gretchel help around the house and live with Sophie, Ansel falls in love, and Gretchel becomes suspicious, while she falls in love the town outcast.

The whole time I knew something was up with the way Sophie was acting and all throughout the book they showed signs here and there of suspicious activity and I knew something was up but both Ansel and Gretchel were too dumb to realize it for the longest time. 

I’m glad Gretchel figured it out, and did what she did, but we didn’t find out what was really up with Sophie and the whole disappearance thing until the end of the book. While reading it I became frustrated because I couldn’t figure it out and they weren’t figuring out anything, finally after about 300 pages I found out, that was the longest suspense moment for me.

I don’t know about you but while reading Sweetly I started drawling from hearing about all that chocolate and candy. I craved chocolate so bad, and we had none, then mom came home with some chocolate and I all but pounced on top of her to get it. For those of you who are allergic to chocolate I totally knew what you feel like. While reading about chocolate and candy throughout the entire book (and let me tell you, there was always a talk about it, I became so hungry for it, but we had none.

All chocolate and sugar aside I did enjoy Sweetly, I haven’t really read much about the Hansel and Gretel story when I was younger but I remember most of the story to be able to incorporate it into the book while reading it. I heard somebody say that  some of the characters in Sisters Red were slyly put into this book, but it was such a long time ago that I read Sisters Red that I had no idea what part it was at.

I can’t wait to read about what Jackson Pearce writes next.

3/5 stars