Review: The Blessed by Tonya Hurley

The Blessed by Tonya Hurley

The Blessed #1

Release Date: September 25^th, 2012

Number of Pages: 416

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Source: ARC from Publisher

 From the author of the New York Times bestselling ghostgirl series, the start to a captivating and haunting teen trilogy about three girls who become entangled with an enigmatic boy—a boy who believes he is a saint.What if martyrs and saints lived among us? And what if you were told you were one of them?
      Meet Agnes, Cecilia, and Lucy. Three lost girls, each searching for something. But what they find is Beyond Belief.

If there is one thing that I absolutely loved about The Blessed, it’s how different the book was from what I have been reading lately. No, not even lately, for about the last year. More than different, there was that weird and almost crazy side to the book that really got me hooked (and when I say crazy, I mean it in a good way.) This book was really different from what I first expected, but I really enjoyed it. I was a little skeptical at first when I heard it was about Saints. I mean, I rarely enjoy books related in anyway to religion, but here it is so different. No preaching (which is what usually annoys me when it comes down to religion in books.)

The Blessed follows three extremely different girls: Lucy, the it-girl, Cecilia, the struggling artist, and Agnes, the sensible and suicidal girl. So different, yet they are brought together by fate in a way. I was fascinated and in a way heartbroken by all they have and are going through, since it seems so extreme by moment.

There is something really dark and twisted in the book, but it is in a way what made it so addicting. There was simple so much mystery around the girls, and of course the illusive Sebastian. I have to say that Sebastian was one of the characters I never was 100% sure of his intention.

The Blessed was really a book that will catch the attention of fans of dark and twisted stories. It isn’t the kind of book I would recommend to a younger audience, since there can be some pretty violent scenes. I’m really curious to see when Tonya Hurley will be taking Cecilia, Lucy and Agnes next. No need to be religious to enjoy this book (I actually think that the fact that I’m not really religious helped me enjoy this book since I know next to nothing about Saints and their history.) Of course, being the cover lover I am, I cannot stay silent about this gorgeous cover. Simon & Schuster, you really did an amazing job with this one.