Blackwood by Gwenda Bond

Blackwood by Gwenda Bond
Release Date: September 4, 2012
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Source: Publisher
Rating: Bland

On Roanoke Island, the legend of the 114 people who mysteriously vanished from the Lost Colony hundreds of years ago is just an outdoor drama for the tourists, a story people tell. But when the island faces the sudden disappearance of 114 people now, an unlikely pair of 17-year-olds may be the only hope of bringing them back. 

Miranda, a misfit girl from the island's most infamous family, and Phillips, an exiled teen criminal who hears the voices of the dead, must dodge everyone from federal agents to long-dead alchemists as they work to uncover the secrets of the new Lost Colony. The one thing they can't dodge is each other.

Blackwood is a dark, witty coming of age story that combines America's oldest mystery with a thoroughly contemporary romance. - Goodreads

After reading Lies Beneath and finding it completely dull, I was hoping I wouldn't come across another novel like that any time soon. As you do. I picked up Blackwood because I received it for review, and I feel pretty much the same way about this book as I do about Lies Beneath. Just without the creepy male protagonist and the idiot female who falls in love with a stalker.

The premise was so, so intriguing; I was excited to pick this up because of it. I'm a HUGE fan of the TV show Supernatural, and there are a couple of episodes in which the Croatoan colonists are mentioned. I love unsolved mysteries, and this is one that fascinates me. Where did they all go?! Needless to say, I was really looking forward to reading this because it sounded like something the Winchester brothers would investigate. But, unfortunately, it fell flat.

Like I said, the premise was intriguing, but I think I was put off by the writing style. I can't pin point exactly what I disliked about it (being a terrible book reviewer and all), but I just couldn't get sucked in no matter how hard I tried.

I don't even have any strong feelings about the main characters, because I honestly felt nothing for them. Miranda did, however, have a nice collection of DVDs, which I appreciated. The references to those were funny.

Give this a go if you think the storyline would be your cup of tea, but read some other reviews first because I wouldn't want you to go into this thinking it's awful. It's just not something that could captivate me.