Cursed by Georgina Hannan

Four friends decide to take a holiday together and see a bit of the English countryside. Two weeks on their own and no parents, each one is hoping for an adventure. Ever have someone tell you "be careful what you wish for?" Yeah. Hannan wastes no time letting you know what kind of a story you're in for (as if the title weren't enough of a clue). Two of the friends, Alice and Jake, are already a couple before the story begins. The other two, Daisy and Tyler, are each hoping the other is just as interested. This does play in to how they each react later in the story.

Alice is the planner in the group and has ideas for their holiday so every day they will be doing something that most of them enjoy. On their first evening, they all go to the local pub. As the bartender sets them up with their first round of drinks, he shares a few of the local myths and legends. Like any decent bartender, Frank can spin a good tale, and spin them he does. Local legends of the Beast of Dartmoor, a disappearing cottage no one seems able to find more than once, a woman doomed to travel in a carriage made from the bones of her dead husbands, and more.

As things begin to happen to each of our intrepid adventurers, they are initially reluctant to say anything to the other three. Of course there's the usual suspicions of whether one of them is trying to spook the others. This is the kind of book I prefer to read early in the day. Stories like this have a tendency to grab hold of my imagination and visit my dreams. It can be rather embarrassing to wake up the neighbors screaming from story-induced nightmares. So yeah, I got a few pages into this and quickly decided I needed to wait for daylight before I continued reading.

Hannan can spin a tale and she does it with eloquence. I had no trouble relating to Alice, the one who jumps at every little thing and loves to plan trips. What makes this book so successful is you're given just enough "meat" if you will, for your imagination to pick you up and run away with you. Her storytelling doesn't spell everything out for you. Even better, she saved the best hook for the very end. If you enjoy a story that makes you tense and jumpy, read this at night in the middle of a thunderstorm. You won't regret it. I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 4 stars

This book is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.