Bebe ♥ Books

The Vespertineby Saundra MitchellIt's the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. However, a forbidden romance with Nathaniel, an artist, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own—still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him.When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia's world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she's not the seer of dark portents, but the cause.This book had the potential to be so amazing. Unfortunately there were a couple of things that bothered me.First, I must say that I LOVED Saundra Mitchell's debut novel, Shadowed Summer. I equally love her writing, her prose is beautiful, and she does it again in The Vespertine.The characters weren't so good. Aside from Amelia herself, it's like we don't really know any of them. I hate instant love/attraction between characters, so Nathaniel was another big letdown. I can't believe in their love, because Amelia doesn't even know who he is, but for some reason, they are made for each other. I mean, why??The paranormal aspects were rather interesting, although there were never an explanation why those things happened to Amelia. I'll admit, the first half of the book were very slow, then it started to pick up and I got really anxious to know what would happen, and then... that ending happened. Ugh. It was so unnecessary.So, in the end, it was a good setup with a disappointing execution. But I still have faith in Saundra Mitchell, so I hope that The Springsweet will be better.ARC received from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt through NetGalley.