The Blessed (Book 1)by Tonya Hurley

From the author of the "New York Times" bestselling ghostgirl series, the start to a captivating and haunting teen trilogy about three girls who become entangled with an enigmatic boy--a boy who believes he is a saint.What if martyrs and saints lived among us? And what if you were told you were one of them?Meet Agnes, Cecilia, and Lucy. Three lost girls, each searching for something. But what they find is Beyond Belief. (goodreads.com)

Release date: August 2 UK | September 25 US/CanadaI found out about this book and the SimonTeen event during BEA week. What drew me to it at first was the fact that the covert art looks like Amanda Seyfried.  Then, as all of the authors at the event took their turn on stage to be interviewed by fellow author Jenny Han, I realized that of all the authors there, I really, truly enjoyed Tonya Hurley's segment the best. She also reminded me a lot of a coworker that I like. I was also fascinated with the topic for the book, because you don't get many Catholic-based paranormal type stuff out there. And as someone who was raised Catholic (though not nearly as strict as many others), I was insanely curious about The Blessed.I put all my BEA-related books aside, by month, since most of them are Fall/Winter releases. It's been a difficult fight between my desire and consciousness about not reading them until they are out, or close to being out. Then the other day I saw something on Twitter about a book birthday for The Blessed! Yay! I could read it! I had just finished Seraphina and picked this one up right away. As I was reading I thought, "Weird, I thought this wasn't out until September." Turns out I was right. Sort of. The Blessed released in the UK this week (Aug 2) and it's not out in North America until September 25. Oops. And since this is a book I'd also received randomly from Simon & Schuster Canada for review, I felt a little bad about reading it so early. Though by then I was half-way through, totally invested and freaked out by the story and I didn't care. Since I was going to read and review this one on my own time from BEA, I thought.. eh.. what the hell! And really, it's out in the UK (with a gorgeous cover!) and since here in Canada we share a Queen with the UK, then it's like it's all good. Right? (And I am sort of torn about the cover, because yes, the UK edition would totally draw my eye more than the US one, but after having read the book - the cover girl has nothing to do with the story. I don't recall anything about a large back tattoo of roses and thorns. Kind of wondering about that. Hmm.)I have to admit, I didn't think this book was going to have anything to do with supernatural/paranormalness. It was just a freaking thriller and suspenseful ride the entire story. I didn't know what to believe, who to believe (whom?), or what to expect. I am very happy that I read this book in one sitting during a sunny afternoon. I'd have been too chicken to read it at night, in the dark. I'd not sleep well, that's for sure.The Blessed is raw and gritty. It'll keep you on the edge of your seat, trying to remember that you actually need to breathe to keep living. Your brain will work overtime trying to process what's going on and what you should be believing. I had no idea what to expect going into this book and I was pleasantly surprised in the end.My one small disappointment was that I thought this was going to be a stand-alone novel. Silly me. No one publishes stand-alone novels anymore. Why would I be so foolish to think this would be different? Alas, it's gong to be a series, and I am back to not knowing what to expect for the second book because of the way the first one ended. I am insanely curious once more and I can't wait for the sequel to come out. (And for the love of gods, publishers! Can we PLEASE start being more creative with series names? I mean, really! I am so sick and tired of the first book always having the same name as the series. Do some sort of all encompassing title type thing.. or if you like the title of the first book as the series name - then RENAME THE FIRST BOOK! This is done in adult fantasy/urban fantasy with NO PROBLEM. Why is this such a difficult thing to figure out? Gah!)*ahem*So, yes, I truly enjoyed the gritty, thrilling ride that was The Blessed. I am very happy to have been able to attend that SimonTeen event and get to meet some of the amazing authors that they publish - especially Tonya Hurley. I mean, even Finnegan D Ephelant was starstruck by her. She was kind enough to indulge him (and me) with a photo op.

 Finnegan was quite chuffed to be held by Ms. Hurley. He has shown off this photo to all of his friends. They are jealous.I will have a give-away for this book coming up! I have two copies of the ARC thanks to BEA and Simon & Schuster Canada. Keep your eyes peeled!(PS - I only have 37 more books to read in the next week if I want to bring my total up to where I was this time last year. Can I do it? Yeah.. didn't think so. Ugh.)The Blessed

1. The Blessed
2. TBA