Review: Sweet Unrest by Lisa Maxwell

Sweet Unrest by Lisa Maxwell

Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance

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Lucy Aimes has always been practical. But try as she
might, she can’t come up with a logical explanation for
the recurring dreams that have always haunted her. Dark dreams. Dreams of a long-ago place filled with people she shouldn’t know…but does.

When her family moves to a New Orleans plantation, Lucy’s dreams become more intense, and her search for answers draws her reluctantly into the old city’s world of Voodoo and mysticism. There, Lucy finds Alex, a mysterious boy who behaves as if they’ve known each other forever. Lucy knows Alex is hiding something, and her rational side doesn’t want to be drawn to him. But she is.

As she tries to uncover Alex’s secrets, a killer strikes close to home, and Lucy finds herself ensnared in a century-old vendetta. With the lives of everyone she loves in danger, Lucy will have to unravel the mystery of her dreams before it all comes to a deadly finish.

  So. This is one of those books that I'm on the fence about. As soon as I saw voodoo, New Orleans, and Young Adult, I was like sign me right up.

  Don't get me wrong. I got those things. But something felt off. For starters, it was a slow beginning. It felt like a chore to stick around long enough to get into the story. Lucy was a hard character to follow. She wasn't outwardly bad. But I struggled a lot to rationalize some of her reactions and actions. I wanted more from her I think. I still don't exactly know what I wanted from her. Just something different than what I got. I will say that some parts of this book were so haunting that I was legit scared while reading and had to turn on a lamp.

  The romance, and I'm using that term lightly, left me wanting for a lot more. It was predictable and boring. I never got behind Alex and Lucy as a couple. It felt like an afterthought that the author completely got into then forgot all about. Maybe that was the problem with this entire book. It felt underdeveloped. It read like a first draft instead of an ARC copy.

  I feel like Lisa Maxwell had good intentions with Sweet Unrest. The plot could work so well. But it would need a lot of attention for me to give it another go. It has everything I'd want in a book about New Orleans. But the delivery fell short of my expectations. I'm still on the fence if I liked this book or not and that's exactly how I feel about continuing the series. I just don't know.

**I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review with no compensation.