Blackwood by Gwenda Bond

Miranda Blackwood's family is cursed, has been ever since the first Blackwood set foot on the island and ever since none of them can leave. But that's not the only secret of the island. Years ago, when the first colonists arrived, all 114 of them went missing. Vanished. Just like that. Never to be heard from again. One day, Miranda wakes up to find 114 people from her town has gone missing too and her dad has been murdered. Together with Phillips, a boy who left the islang years ago, only to come back again to save it, they will try to figure out where the missing people are, and how both their families are tied to the mystery.

I was really excited to start reading this book. It seem like a good mix of history and mystery, but it ended up disappointing me. The characters, Miranda and Phillips were never that likeable, especially Miranda. I just didn't really understand their actions sometimes, they seemed like two kids running aimlessly around a tiny island. They weren't getting any closer in figuring out the mystery or their own family secrets. It all just fell right into the lap at the end.

The story started out good, with the people gone missing and Miranda's dad dead. But then Phillips arrived and he started hanging out with her and mystery fell on the background, and then...poof...the people are back, but not really. I still want to know where their bodies went while missing. Anyways after that, it was all downhill for me. Not much action, besides a chapter at the end. A lot of things happened that I felt were just there so the author would have something more to right about. This could be so much shorter and action packed but it wasn't. So not really something I would recommend.

★★☆☆☆

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