I really had trouble getting into the book initially and there seemed to be too many characters and situations thrown into the beginning that I felt kindof lost.  Not to mention being unable to get caught up in the emotions of those characters.  The blurb was great, but overall the book just fell flat for me.

I am a fan of fantasy but struggled to enjoy this book. I couldn't bond with the main character, Kara who I found a bit sappy and so despite the clever and engaging story ine, I wasn't invested in the outcome for her. Complicated back history didn't help. Other people who enjoy a Celtic twist may enjoy it more.

I feel nothing about it. I don't feel a reason why I should continue when there is obviously nothing sucking me in. I just can't, not when I definitely spent enough time reading this. I give it up until the first half, and well I was ready to give up then.

Most of the writing was still rather okay, and on some level in the beginning emotive. But after that, it was so dreadful, and again I don't have any reason why I want to even read this.

The plot and the characters were classic, I do admit that the premise was even relatively interesting. But after a while, I really lost interest in read this book as a whole. Nothing was making me invested, and as a reader I won't waste my time any longer.

Again, do check it out if it is to your taste. But if is not, well don't be afraid to drop it like I did. Well developed characters are so hard to come by and I just cannot read on when I can't find a character to relate to, or the writing to be the main issue why I can't continue.

The story focuses around Kara O'Keefe - a girl struggling with the many downs life has thrown towards her and her parents.  She decides to sell her most prized possession -  a violin passed down to her from her grandfather. - in a last Hail Mary to prevent her and her family from being evicted from their home.  Little does she know that there is an unseen world of magic and creatures she thought were just part of mythology and folk lore stories and that there is a malevolent force who has turned its sights on her. 

The story description and cover are definitely eye catching.  The story premise and magic/history was interesting as well.  Unfortunately, that's where the good things really stopped.

The beginning of the book felt like it was trying too hard to come off dramatic.  Instead of hooking me into the story, it actually did the opposite.  I also felt it was confusing, muddled, frustrating to follow and overly descriptive.  The immersive factor was just not there.  The writing was stiff and choppy (though it did begin to improve after 2/3s of the book) and the dialogue was also choppy and just not believable.  

The characters lacked depth and combined with the writing, just made it near impossible to really connect, like, or understand at all.  The main character, Kara O'Keefe, came off too "perfect" in her martyrdom.  I also got the impression of her being more a wet noodle versus someone strong who shoulders more than her fair share of burdens.

In fact, half the time I thought Maggie was more the MC than the MC.  And speaking of wet noodles- that's also a description I'd be tempted to apply to the antagonist.  The bad, evil guy just came off lukewarm rather than nefarious.  And most of the time, I don't' mind when characters speak with an accent but since the dialogue was off, the accent writing made this painfully more obvious.

Overall, it was tedious.  Not saying this had to be an "action" based book, but there really needed to be more actual things happening versus memories and explanations.  It felt very stagnant, mostly and it was hard to get through.

Because the writing wasn't horrible and the story/series idea was easy to understand and appreciate - I went ahead and gave this a 2 star rather than a 1.  Unfortunately, though, not a book or series I'd end up recommending.

I really thought I would like this one from the blurb but it took me days to get through, I finally gave up trying to read it page by page and skipped to the last third and still don't feel like I missed anything.  The writing wasn't bad it was just the pace that rambled on and on without adding much to the story.  I also found the fact that 90% of the book was the characters talking with an Irish accent  annoying it got old fast and also added to the pacing issues...definitely wouldn't recommend anyone reading this one as it is now.