Publication Date: Oct 2023
Synopsis:
Blood holds all kinds of curses. Seven generations of women in Susana Prather’s family have been lost to the Georgia swamp behind her house. The morning after her eighteenth birthday, she awakens soaked with water, with no memory of sleepwalking. No matter how she tries to stop it, she’s pulled from her safe bed night after night, haunted by her own family history and legacy. Now, the truth feels it’s only a matter of time before she loses her mind and the swamp becomes her grave. Unless she can figure out how to break the curse. When she isn’t sleepwalking, she’s dreaming of her great-great-great-great-grandmother, Suzanna Yawn, who set the curse in motion in 1855. Her ancestor’s life bears such similarity to her own that it might hold the key she seeks. Or it might only foretell tragedy. As Susana seeks solutions in the past and the present, family members hold secrets tighter to their chests, friends grow distant, and old flames threaten to sputter and die. But Susana has something no one else has been able to the unflagging belief that all curses can be broken and that love can help a new future begin.
What To Expect:
Curses And Other Buried Things is a contemporary YA Southern gothic novel about grace, forgiveness, and breaking generational cycles. The story is told in dual timelines. Readers can expect romance, history, paranormal horror, Southern tradition, and folklore.
Content Warnings:
Language: Mild
Sexual Content: Contains steamy kissing scenes that are suggestive of greater sexual activity, though no sex is described or confirmed in the book. An undercurrent of lust runs throughout.
Violence: Mild – Murder, suicide, abuse, and rape is portrayed as the effects of the past
Substance Use: Heavy – Includes underage drinking, smoking, and illicit drug use, though all are shown in light of the culture in which the characters live rather than being promoted as acceptable.
Prejudices: Moderate – The historical timeline shows the racial tension between Indigenous peoples (Muskogee, Creek, Seminole) and white Southerners.
Religious Themes: The story touches on themes like forgiveness, grace and redemption, played out through curses, implied witchcraft, superstition, and paranormal activity.
Other Topics: The story deals heavily with mental illness and following in your parents’ ways. Teen pregnancy and adultery.
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