Sweetly by Jackson Pearce

She dared to glance back. 

Yellow, sick-looking eyes found hers. 

She turned forward and sped up, faster than the others, driven by the yellow eyes that overpowered the sharp aches in her chest, her legs begging for rest. There was light ahead, shapes that weren't trees. Their house, their house was close--the candy trail had worked. She couldn't feel her feet anymore, her lungs were bursting, eyes watering, cheeks scratched, but there was the house.

They burst from the woods onto their cool lawn. Get inside, get inside. Ansel flung the back door open and they stumbled in, slamming the door shut. Their father and mother ran down the stairs, saw their children sweaty and panting and quivering, and asked in panicky, perfect unison:

"Where's your sister?"

[Click here for my review of book 1: Sisters Red]

The sequel to Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce, Sweetly is the story of Gretchen and Ansel,  a brother and sister duo who leave their home in Washington to find a new one where they no longer live under the shadow of the sister they lost, Gretchen's twin. Still feeling the ache of her disappearance and the deaths of their parents, they are driven out by their surviving stepmother and drive straight to North Carolina. Gretchen hopes to escape the fear of vanishing the way her sister did by going to live on the beach, far away from the trees and forests that have surrounded her since she was a child, a constant reminder of what she lost and how she lost her to the witch in the woods.

Before they can make it to the beach, though, their car breaks down  and they are forced to seek help in the the small town of Live Oak. They take refuge in the home of Sofia Kelly, a chocolatier living just outside town. The twins and Sofia hit it off immediately, but most people in Live Oak hate Sofia just as much as they hate strangers, if not more. Most are either convinced she's an angel or a devil in disguise. Immediately, Gretchen and Ansel stand beside Sofia's claim of innocence in the part of the girls who have gone missing in from the town, both knowing first-hand what it's like to be blamed for the disappearance of another. But when Gretchen meets Samuel, she begins to question Sofia's side of the story as well as the secrets that seem to surround her.

As she learns more about the town's past and the witch who took her sister, Gretchen learns that the witch is back . . . and this time, it's after her.

I didn't think it was possible for Pearce to make a book that was just as good as the first in the Fairytale Retellings series, but she has definitely managed to pull that off without a hitch. Sweetly is filled with just as memorable characters and strong bonds as the first book and a plot that keeps you guessing until the end. As I've mentioned before, I'm a major sucker for loyalty and relationships where every person would be willing to lay down their life fore the next at a moment's notice and this book had both of those; not to mention, incredible fight scenes. All that, and the more intense scenes still had me biting my nails and even actually yelling during one particularly frightening bit.

This series is looking like it will turn out to be an all-time favorite of mine and I can't wait to see where it goes next, as well as where it will culminate in the end. It's going to be an epic collection and you absolutely don't want to miss it. I suggest you get started reading it right away. In the meantime, I'll be scouring the internet for book three.

Rating: ~ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ~

"Poor Sophia," Ansel says, shaking his head. I can hear it in his voice--he wants to save Sophia. That's how Ansel works. Someone is in pain, and he wants to save her--he ran back into the woods after our sister, he became my rock. He didn't give up on our father, even when Dad became someone Ansel and I barely knew--it wasn't long after Mom's death that he started drinking, and once he remarried it got worse. He couldn't escape the guilt--over my sister, over my mother. . . Guilt ate him through the mouth of the bottle.