Table of Contents

“A year after the brutal death of her parents, Crystal Francois moves back home to the eerie small town of Lakeview Falls. When one of her neighbors goes away abruptly leaves his home to be watched by a young man named Jason Warwick, Crystal finds herself falling for him instantly because of his charming ways and dashing good looks.

Two weeks before her 25th birthday, she receives a rare antique purple amethyst stone necklace left for her by her late mother, A necklace with a deadly past and horrible consequences when worn. She finds out that wearing the necklace causes her and her friends to be the target of two sadistic tyrannical evil 18th-century old Shapeshifter brothers who will not stop till they find her and retrieve the chariot stone necklace that holds their father and 24 demonic Shapeshifters captive.

When young men from town go missing and bodies show up eaten or skinned alive. Lakeview Falls is on high alert. It doesn’t take long for Crystal to discover that the new guy in town isn’t who he claims to be or if he is even human.”

Title: The Brother’s Curse

Series: The Brother’s Curse Saga #1

Author: Christine M. Germain

Page Count: 404

Genre: Young Adult, Horror

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Date Read: October 12th, 2022

This was my first read for the Indie Ink Awards 2022. After looking at my assigned books I thought this one fit perfectly for my October theme. Other than that I had no prior knowledge of the author and her works. So I was going into this with an open mind and very little expectations. With that being said, I was correct in the October theme and was pleasantly surprised by the book in general.

Following my October theme this story about shapeshifting demons terrorizing a small rural area in Michigan was perfect!

The pacing was solid throughout. However like a lot of reads the pace does really pick up as you approach the end of book one. The suspense or anxiety really becomes thick with the story at the end when we get a conclusion give me the feeling of want more! The author presents a writing style which is very easy to read and keep up with current and past events.

The world building was done very well. We definitely get a good vibe of the area around Lakeview Falls, Michigan as it does contrast nicely with our protagonist Crystal returning from school in New York. The creepy vibe of this small town and it’s history only continue to grow as the book progresses.

The character development was nicely done as well. We definitely get to know many characters on top of Crystal along the way. Friends, family and of course the antagonists. I’m sure any reader will find some characters they connect with and others they can’t help but be annoyed by. Christine does a great job in letting us know more and more about so many characters. So much so there were definitely a few twists and turns along the way. I’ll be honest I had a few suspicions develop by the mid point that she ended up surprising me with by the end!

All in all this turned out to be a rather enjoyable read for me. I don’t think I could have picked a better time of year to dive into The Brother’s Curse! I do look forward to seeing where the remaining characters go from here in book two! As I tend to take notes while reading these days I only marked a couple of items that threw me for a bit of a loop that might be considered plot holes. These were just brief moments that made me pause, scratch my head and wonder why something happened or why someone was acting a certain way. But they didn’t detract from my enjoyment.

I’d recommend this book to a reader who is the fan of shows such as Riverdale or someone generally interested in Young Adult Horror fiction stories. In fact we are only midway through October, I’d suggest if you’re interested grab a copy of this one and work it in for the Halloween season!

World Building 4/5
Pacing 4/5
Character Development 4.5/5

This read was part of my assigned books for the Indie Ink Awards 2022. This review is completely separate from the scoring of this selection through the awards scoring. Some criteria may be similar but they differ enough that I wished to make this clear. Best of luck to all the authors, and get out there and try something different book lovers!

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Chad Barnard

Owner/Operator of The Hiking Reader Blog. Sharing thoughts on books and hiking trails and trying to find ways to continue to incorporate both hobbies together.

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