Sweet Unrest by Lisa Maxwell

Sweet Unrest

By Lisa Maxwell

Published on October 8, 2014
Published by Flux
Source: ARC provided by Netgalley

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.

 Lucy's dad gets an opportunity one summer in New Orleans, to be the head of a new plantation museum, that he and her mom just can't resist and they drag her and her little brother with them. Lucy is not happy about leaving her life behind, but made a deal with her parents that if she sticks it out for the summer and tries her best to enjoy herself, they will let her return home for her senior year and live with her aunt. Reluctantly, she agrees. To make matters worse, the recurring dream that she has had her whole life, makes a reappearance after leaving her be for a while. What a great start to her "trial stay" in Orleans, huh?

 Lucy does what she promised, and gets involved and works, and even makes a couple of friends along the way. But the nightmares have changed... and they are getting worse. The boy she met by the lake starts showing up in her dreams, and the dreams are incredibly real. And she feels tied to them, yet she doesn't know how. As the dreams continue, the events of the past start taking place again, in present day. Young girls disappearing, and their bodies being found, mutilated. Lucy must decide if she believes in Voodoo, and if she believes that it can help her figure out what is happening, and fast.

 I really enjoyed this story, in the beginning. Getting to know New Orleans with Lucy, in real life and in her dreams, was a great pull for me. I love New Orleans, and its ties to Voodoo/Hoodoo. The plot itself was a good one, and while not exactly fast paced, it had enough substance to keep me interested in the story. However, when I was about 3/4 of the way through, I hit a point in the story and seriously thought that I had somehow skipped about a hundred pages. It felt like I was HERE in the story and then, in the turn of a page, I somehow ended up all the way over...........................HERE. It threw me for a loop, and I never really got pulled back into the story as deeply as I was. I went back several times to see if I had missed something, but I couldn't find anything. It didn't necessarily feel like there was a complete hole, but maybe just some steps were missing along the way.

 All in all, Sweet Unrest is a good story. I am very glad that I took the time to read it, based solely on New Orleans and the pretty cover with the pretty great. Great characterization and a great city, plus flashbacks to the past, ghosts and voodoo, makes for a fun, mysterious ride with some heartbreak and happiness along the way. Not the best book in the world, but definitely one that I would tell you to give a chance to. I will be keeping my eyes open for a next book in this series, or by this author. Either way!