Great concept, great execution. Reminded me a bit of Holly Black' s curse worker books in terms of the kinds of effects the magic had. There was a bit more teen drama than I really needed in my life but if I'm gonna keep reading YA I guess that's what I'm gonna get. Enjoyed the themes of morality and of good being about what you do not who you are.

Side note, the Goodreads synopsis for this is terrible who do I speak to about this. ( )

Quirky and refreshing, I think this is one of the more unique YA novels I've read recently. Though the main character is hard to swallow at times, I like the twist on the coming-of-age story here, and the magical realism is really well done. Not to mention, the title is amazing.

Check out my full review at: www.between-the-shelves.com! ( )

This supernatural novel shows how pride, arrogance, and selfishness can destroy.

Aspen Quick comes from a long line of descendants who keep a cliff from collapsing onto their town. As soon as a break occurs, three members of his family must invoke a ritual to restore the cliff. This ritual involves taking various essences from objects sacrificed by the townspeople and giving these to the cliff. After Aspen’s cousin died suddenly and mysteriously, Aspen has to live here to be the third person. He doesn’t mind. He’s brought his two friends--Theo and Brandy--with him. Unfortunately, the two friends are dating and Aspen wants to date Brandy.

Aspen’s ability is to take (steal) from people. He can take away a mole, love, fear, memories, etc. It’s easy, and it makes his life easier. When he takes away Brandy’s love for Theo, Aspen is now free to date Brandy. Life is going just fine until he meets Leah, who knows about Aspen’s cousin. As Leah tells Aspen what she knows, Aspen must rethink everything about his family, for his family is not what he thinks it is.

Aspen is not a nice person, and it’s always hard for me to thoroughly enjoy a novel when someone isn’t nice. What I do like is that this is a stand-alone novel--no sequels--yea! Is this a great novel, no; but, it’s interesting and will hold your attention. ( )