Devoured by Amanda Marrone

Genre: YA Fantasy
Copyright: 2009
Pages: 304
Book Source: Library borrow

Megan’s twin sister Remy died in an accident nine years ago, and she’s been haunting her ever since. Knowing how crazy that sounds, Megan keeps this secret to herself and tries to lead a normal life. But when she takes a summer job at Land of Enchantment to keep an eye on her new boyfriend and his lovesick best friend, Samantha, she meets fellow employee Luke who can see Remy, too. Things get even twistier because Megan’s new friend Ari is sporting a massive crush on Luke, who seems to be developing a massive crush on Megan…making for a love triangle that’s positively possessed.

Megan wants to keep her distance from Luke, but when Remy’s visions get crazy violent; she knows she needs his help. Because someone’s definitely in danger...the only question is who?

Devoured was a really quick, entertaining read recommended by Alaine Queen of Happy Endings. A fractured fairytale in itself, it gives readers a modern and refreshing take on what came after Snow White. A suspenseful mystery with a chilling tone, lots of love triangle angst and the tie-backs to Snow White are nicely woven in once you make the connection.

Amanda Marrone does a great job with character portrayal, none suffer from the too-good-to-be-true affliction. They're flawed, they display common human inadequacies; jealousy, bitchiness, selfishness, they're swayed by peer pressure, and then some take these traits to a whole new, twisted level. As Megan, Ryan, Luke & Ari attempt to navigate the multiple love triangle thing, the creepy supernatural elements heat up too. Megan's best friend Nicki, was one of my favourite characters, she added quite a bit of sarcastic humour to the story so I just had to include this quote from her that made me laugh out loud -

"Land of Enchantment isn't just about stereotypically helpless women in need of rescue - there's Hansel and Gretel's Haunted Forest, which is more of a celebration of child ause and cannibalism, and the petting zoo in Mother Goose's Family Fun Farm, which is all E.Coli, all the time!"

My only complaint with Devoured is, it felt a bit rushed towards the end, I would have liked to see the 'big things' play out a little more. The romance is sweet and despite the tragic elements Devoured is a fun, original read. I'll definitely be trying more from this author.

Check out Amanda Marrone's website. 

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