Review: Compulsion by Martina Boone

Title: Compulsion

Author: Martina Boone

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publication Date: October 28th 2014

Part of A Series?: Yes- The Heirs of Watson Island #1

I Got A Copy Through: YASH prize from the author

Blurb Description: Three plantations. Two wishes. One ancient curse.

All her life, Barrie Watson has been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lives with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt’s South Carolina plantation instead—a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family's twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn't what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.

**MY REVIEW**

"You can’t lose someone you truly love. Love doesn’t come with an on- off switch. It’s made of too many threads of memory and hope and heartache that weave themselves into the very core of who you are."

Barrie Watson is not normal. Barrie Watson has baggage. Barrie Watson had a silent, tough, mother, who never really approved of her and never left their house because of the scars she bore, leaving Barrie to be raised be her gay Godfather, who was brilliant until he announced that he has pancreatic cancer and he was dying, which made Lula Watson die of a heart attack instantaneously.

So, Barrie is shipped to her ancestral home. A huge, falling apart plantation, with an eccentric aunt, a beautiful boy with a number as his name, a slimy uncle and a gorgeous cousin- none of who's intentions are clear, none of whom will explain what the mystery about Watson Island is all about- it's magic, it's history, it's abnormalities.

Except, Barrie isn't normal either. She has a gift- to find lost things- and the house is filled with them. Then she sees a man made of fire, and shadows calling out to her in the dark, and everything goes missing- and she know nothing will ever be what she thought it was...

Compulsion was everything I thought it would be and SO much more. It had the capturing power that only very few books do- to keep you hooked and so much in that world that you find it hard to believe that you're actually living in another. It had everything one could expect from a good book- romance, family, spirits, history and a bit of the paranormal. 

I absolutely loved the characters that Martina created- especially Eight Beaufort, with his perfect imperfections and his gift and just everything about him, that made him SO SO SO swoon worthy!

I will definitely be reading the sequel! 5 golden stars!