The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond by Amanda GlazeRATING: 4 STARS
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“The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond” follows the story of seventeen-year-old twins who, just like their belated mother, are powerful mediums. The gifts that have been passed down from their mother, split into two—Violet can open the veil between life and death, and Edie can cross into the spirit world—unfortunately couldn’t save them when their mother died in the veil and their father threatened to commit them to a notorious asylum one year prior.
The night of their mother’s passing, the twins became runaways and now are part of a traveling Spiritualist show, a tight-knit group of young women who demonstrate their real talents under the guise of communing with spirits. Each night, actresses, poets, musicians, and orators all make contact with spirits who happen to have something to say. But when Violet’s act goes terribly wrong one night, Edie learns that the dark spirit (what I would deem as the “Shadow Man”) responsible for their mother’s death has crossed into the land of the living. As Edie investigates the identity of her mysterious final client, N.D, she quickly realizes that someone… or something is hunting mediums and they may be next. Not wanting to cause Violet fear, Edie keeps the secrets of not only the dark presence that has surface but the reason cause of death of their love one is causing a wavering bond among the twins—Edie soon realizes she can’t only trust herself to uncover a killer who will stop at nothing to cheat death.
If that synopsis doesn’t push you to pick this book up this holiday season, I don’t know what would. I can’t begin to describe how much I thoroughly enjoyed this YA paranormal murder mystery book. I came in with low, low expectations and was blown away by the author's research (asylums, women’s rights during the era, society in the late 1800s, spirituality, etc.), writing style, great assemblage of characters (Laws has my heart!), themes, perfect mix of genres that I am living for, pacing, storyline and surprisingly enough, the mild romance that typically tends to fail time and time again in other YA paranormal books. Another thing I was highly impressed by was the fact that each of the sisters had their own identity. They had their unique personalities, quirks, abilities, strengths, and opinions—despite that, there was a strong sense of understanding between them.
Despite the raving review, I do want to point out the one thing that I highly dislike was the lack of Violet. Her skills and gifts were only showcased during the later book of the novel but all throughout, the story primarily focused on Edie. Maybe it’s just me but I really wanted Violet to more heavily involved in the murder mystery investigation.
Altogether, “The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond '' downright unputdownable and has become the first YA I have come across in a long time that lives up to the hype. Across the board—a phenomenal read I know I will pick up time and time again this spooky season.
