Synopsis :

Three plantations. Two wishes. One ancient curse.
All her life, Barrie Watson has been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lives with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt’s South Carolina plantation instead–a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.
Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family’s twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn’t what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.

My review :

Barrie just lost her mother and her godfather, Mark, send her in South Carolina with her aunt. The problem is she doesn’t know her family. Her mother never talks about her family. The Watson family has a gift, she can find all the lost things. Barrie’s aunt live in a plantation on an island. There are three founding families in this Island, The Watson, The Beaufort and The Colesworth.

Barrie will find a hot boy, Eight Beaufort and two cousins, Cassandra and Sydney Colesworth. Barrie was in a sort of prison since her birth, she was alone except for Mark, her gift wasn’t always a good thing. Barrie is a good girl who wanted a normal life, with a normal mother who loved her and nothing more. She must make some choice and her curiosity will push her.

Aunt Pru is really a great woman but she can’t leave Watson’s landing, Pru loved Lula, Barrie’s mother, and I won’t tell you more because it reveal too much.

Eight is THE boy, he’s so sweet, kind, protective and I like him. I like the fact that even if Barrie is always angry with him, he understand her and help her.

The story is really good, I like when a book tell us a story with a little magic and this one do that very well.

The characters are awesome and they aren’t perfect, all the characters have default but it’s what makes us love them.

I like that the story is about three founding families with their gift and curse. Martina Boone made us want to close our eyes and go in this book. I want to see Watson’s landing, or the Eight column of Colesworth house and all the landscape. Even if the stories are sad once you begin you can’t stop, you want to know all the secret of all the characters.

I have just one point who annoyed me, I would have wanted to know more about Pru and Lula’s childhood. But maybe in the second book more answer will come. I can’t wait to see what will happen to Pru, Barrie and Eight.

If you want families story, curse story and a little of magic, love, attraction, fire and compulsion, this book is for you.

Thanks to Martina Boone for writing such a good book and thank to Simon Pulse who provides me an arc for an honest review.