Blackfin Sky by Kat Ellis

What if, on a normal morning, everyone reacted to you with shock and horror, insisting that you died three months ago? Died, as in fell off a pier and drowned? Died, as in they saw your coffin lowered into the ground? Author Kat Ellis explores this horrifying premise in her debut thriller, Blackfin Sky.

Blackfin is a small, insular town where newcomers are rare and odd things happen. Even so, residents wonder how Skylar Rousseau could return when she had seemed to drown on her 16th birthday. Sky remembers the last three months living her life as normal, which means she has no idea whose body is buried underneath her tombstone.

Everyone seems reluctant to help except her steadfast friend and crush, Sean . . . and a secretive man who draws her to a mysterious circus in the woods.

It is easy for readers to lose themselves in the magic of Blackfin, where weathervanes are inhabited by ghosts and fortune-tellers can be found in foreboding, walled-off forests. The sincere voices of Sky and the friends and family who love her ground the mystery in a story that is, at its heart, about protecting the people you love. A little bit The Night Circus and a little bit Wake, Blackfin Sky spins a unique magic of its own.

My Review The premise was impossible to say no to, and the book design looked so great that I dove in as soon as I got my ARC. From the first lines, I was hooked, and the story carried me through seamlessly. I can’t talk too much about the plot, but suffice it to say the setting, characters, and story made this book come alive.

It's for the older YA set, as there are a few dark moments for our heroine, particularly pertaining to a swinish set of brothers who are out to do Sky harm. The magic and the mysticism are wonderfully navigated, however, and I can't wait to explore the world further.

Fans of Sarah Rees Brennan, Maggie Stiefvater and Myra McEntyre will definitely enjoy Blackfin Sky, which releases in the US in September 2014, from Firefly Press.