Black Bird of the Gallows

Black Bird of the Gallows. Meg Kassel. Young Adult/Fantasy. 2017. 309 pages. 3 stars.

I endured two centuries of horrors, and maybe it was all so I could be here with you. If my unnatural existence means nothing else, it means this. I get to be here, now, with you.

A simple but forgotten truth: Where harbingers of death appear, the morgues will soon be full.

Angie Dovage can tell there’s more to Reece Fernandez than just the tall, brooding athlete who has her classmates swooning, but she can’t imagine his presence signals a tragedy that will devastate her small town. When something supernatural tries to attack her, Angie is thrown into a battle between good and evil she never saw coming. Right in the center of it is Reece—and he’s not human.

What’s more, she knows something most don’t. That the secrets her town holds could kill them all. But that’s only half as dangerous as falling in love with a harbinger of death.

You know that feeling when you finish a book and you’re like, meh? That was me after finishing this book. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t blow-my-mind awesome either.

Black Bird of the Gallows gives an interesting twist to the good girl-bad boy trope. This time, our main character Angie falls in love with a harbinger of death. No big deal. While I did enjoy the romance for the most part, I think it was a little too rushed. I personally didn’t mind it, but I think it would have been better for the overall plot if it was developed a little bit more.

What I found to be the most interesting about this book is the antagonist. He’s a  beekeeper, as in they literally carry bees with them everywhere they go, and the people they sting go crazy and go on a killing spree uhhh. I’m not gonna lie, it’s very weird, but I think that this is what makes the book memorable.

I think the reason why I found this book to be meh was the overall vibe. I feel like it was written in such a way that the mood of the entire book was dreary. It felt dark even in the parts that weren’t supposed to be dark.

Personally, I don’t think that this is the kind of book that I’d reread, but I think you should give it a try if you are a fan of forbidden romances or the good girl-bad boy trope. Who knows, maybe this book is for you!

Anyway, happy reading y’all!!!