Review: Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that she is the latest recipient of a generations-old family curse that requires her to complete three seemingly impossible tasks or risk falling into madness and passing the curse on to the next generation. Unlike her ancestors, though, Lucy has family, friends, and other modern resources to help her out. But will it be enough to conquer this age-old evil?

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I have never read anything by Nancy Werlin before, but the idea behind this book is amazing, so I though, hey, I think I'll give it a try. I actually got this book a few months ago but have been putting it back in fear that it would disappoint me. It didn't.

I will admit that this book had a very shaky start. I was put off by the contemporary setting and the lack of fantasy at the beginning - this doesn't really come into play until about halfway through the book. Until around fifty pages in I was having to force myself through, then it just all clicked into place. The bad guy comes onto the scene, the main character starts to get issues and the romance gets a kick-start, after that I was totally addicted.

What I totally loved about Impossible was the amazing main character who manages to be great without becoming a total Mary Sue. Lucy is intelligent, but not too intelligent, pretty but not too pretty and while she makes some bad mistakes and gives in easily, she gets there in the end. I also totally loved that she wasn't totally kick-ass, she does the tasks herself, but all with help and support from her family and friends.

Ah yes, her friends and family, I loved the warm personalities of Soledad and Leo, but I totally adored Zach, her love interest and later husband. I loved that the relationship didn't seem to happen too fast (but the marriage happened too fast for me, my only issue). The bad guy, Padraig, is a little flat for me, he was just a bad guy, with no personality or originality, so I didn't love him.

This book is based of the old folk song, Scarborough Fair, which makes it totally awesome. I loved how Werlin integrated the song lyrics into the story, the song itself is totally haunting, and that is the tone of this book. Werlin's writing is so compelling, I totally adored her lyrical prose and would read anything by her again.

Overall, Impossible is one of those books that you get so deep into that when you finish, you have to sit back with a sigh and take a moment to re-enter the real world. Haunting and provocative, Impossible is a book that I would recommend to anyone but especially fans of fantasy, contemporary or fairytale retellings - you see, fantastic wide audience!

Overall rating: A

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Stand alone/series: Stand Alone
Release date: September 18th 2008 (US)
Book received from a swap