Haunting the Deep by Adriana Mather Book Review

I love YA books and I love ghostly, witchy stories. Bringing the two elements together is like a dream come true for me. When I had the opportunity to read and review Haunting the Deep by Adriana Mather, I knew I couldn't pass it up. Did it live up to my expectations? Read on...

© Susan Barton, DIY Mom Blog

Samantha Mather is back and she’s still seeing spirits. Samantha lives in historic Salem, Mass., which certainly comes in handy for all her witchy experiences. When Samantha begins dreaming about the Titanic, she’s confused. Then, when the announcement that her school dance will be Titanic-themed, Sam knows it’s much more than just a freaky coincidence. With the help of her new friends, The Descendants, Sam finds herself embracing and using her magical abilities. It doesn’t take long for the group of four to realize things are about to get deadly.

Haunting the Deep is the second book in a series – How to Hang a Witch having been the first. I didn’t read the first book, but I have to say that it wasn’t necessary to have read it in order to follow the story. The author injects plenty of backstory into this new installment

First off, I’m not at all a fan of first person, present tense books. I know a lot of YA authors use this POV and tense, but personally, I dislike it intensely. I find that it ends up sounding more like a long, drawn out monologue than an actual story. There were A LOT of paragraphs that began with the word ‘I’, as in “I did this” and “I did that” – to the point that it began to get a little too repetitive for my liking. In my opinion, first person, present tense can work if you change it up by limiting the amount of ‘I’ paragraphs. Not a deal breaker here and it didn’t stop me from reading. I read on because I really did want to find out where the plot would go so points for that.

Then…the reason behind the haunting was revealed and I found it was a little silly and a bit thin. No spoilers here, but the reveal didn’t impress me. Once I found out who was behind the haunting and why, I kind of wanted it to just be over, but it seemed the ending dragged on.

Finally, I didn’t find Samantha’s character all that likable. The love triangle angle was lukewarm and I struggled to care much about what happened to any of the major characters in the end – a sure sign that a book has left me cold.

I think Haunting the Deep is probably a book that will appeal more to tween girls. I’m a big fan of YA books, but this one just didn’t keep me anxiously turning pages.

Thanks to Blogging for Books and the publisher for providing a complimentary copy of this book!

3 of 5 Stars, Review by Susan Barton, DIY Mom Blog