Review: The Deepest Cut by J.A. Templeton

The Deepest Cut by J.A. Templeton
Series: MacKinnon Curse #1
Publisher: Self-Published
First published: June 27th, 2011
Source: Received from author
Format: eBook for Kindle
Pages: 304

Goodreads Summary:

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.

My Rating: 4.0 / 5

First thoughts:

After having read other bloggers' reviews I expected this to be a suspenseful and creepy read and I definitely wasn't disappointed. With an intriguing setting and a ghost that makes me want to hide beneath my bed covers, J.A. Templeton managed to create an addicting novel which I can definitely recommend for lovers of paranormal Young Adult stories.

More detailed:

The Deepest Cut tells Riley Williams' story who moves with her father and her brother to a small town in Scotland to get over the accident who has taken her mother's life and given her the ability to see ghosts. One of them is Ian MacKinnon, a good-looking boy who is cursed to be bound to the place where he died and who might just be able to steal Riley's heart.

Riley is a very intriguing and three-dimensional character. Her mother's death and the way she is constantly blaming herself for this turn her into a sad, but not whiny, young girl. She has to deal with a lot of different feelings and I loved witnessing her journey from being hopeless to starting to feel happy and content in Scotland.

Meeting Ian and helping him to find a way to lift his curse helped her to move on. While I would have loved to find out more about Ian and found him to be a somewhat one-dimensional character, I loved how his presence changed Riley's life. Their feelings for each other moved a bit too fast for my taste though, but nonetheless I enjoyed reading about them.

Luckily Laria, the woman who killed Ian and is now a ghost as well, doesn't enjoy seeing them together, so she tries to make their relationship and their attempts at freeing Ian a lot more difficult. She is definitely not a nice ghost and increases this novel's creepiness factor a lot. No matter how much I wanted to hate her, the scenes in which she appears are awesome.

I absolutely loved the ending of The Deepest Cut. It was sad but hopeful and beautiful at the same time and the cliffhanger of the last paragraph makes me want to pick up the second novel of this series as soon as it's released. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and think you should pick up a copy of this if you enjoy creepy ghost stories with a heart-warming love story.

Books in this series:

1. The Deepest Cut
2. The Haunted (Jan 2012)

Have you read The Deepest Cut? What did you think about it?

Do you plan to read it?

Carina