Sweet Unrest by Lisa Maxwell

Sweet Unrest by Lisa Maxwell
Series: No
Publisher: Flux
Publication Date: October 8th 2014
Source: Publisher [Netgalley]

Lucy Aimes has always been practical. But try as she might, she can’t come up with a logical explanation for the recurring dreams that have always haunted her. Dark dreams. Dreams of a long-ago place filled with people she shouldn’t know…but does.

When her family moves to a New Orleans plantation, Lucy’s dreams become more intense, and her search for answers draws her reluctantly into the old city’s world of Voodoo and mysticism. There, Lucy finds Alex, a mysterious boy who behaves as if they’ve known each other forever. Lucy knows Alex is hiding something, and her rational side doesn’t want to be drawn to him. But she is.

As she tries to uncover Alex’s secrets, a killer strikes close to home, and Lucy finds herself ensnared in a century-old vendetta. With the lives of everyone she loves in danger, Lucy will have to unravel the mystery of her dreams before it all comes to a deadly finish.

I had such high hopes for Sweet Unrest, and while it wasn't a terrible book, it just wasn't what I had expected. I was expecting a lot of mystery, suspense, lots of voodoo and magic - but that wasn't what I got. 

Lucy Aimes and her family have mores to New Orleans to live on a plantation that her father is going to study. Lucy has been haunted by strange dreams for as long as she can remember, and they get more intense after the move. Lucy comes across a strange boy named Alex, and she gets the feeling they've met before. Alex is hiding something from Lucy and as she tries to uncover it, strange things start to happen.

Lucy as a main character was OK. She wasn't brilliant, but she also wasn't completely terrible. She could be a determined and stubborn character, and it was those times that I really liked her. And then there were times she let "The men" boss her around when she's perfectly capable of looking out for herself. It took her a lot longer than me to start piecing everything together and I was actually wondering whether she ever would. But she did have her moments when I really liked her.

Alex was... dull. That's honestly the best way to describe him. I didn't feel any pull towards him at all and he just bored me. I wanted to skip over his parts but because he's tied to the bigger story line, I couldn't. I just felt nothing for him.

Sweet Unrest had a lot going for it to start with. I was intrigued by Lucy's dreams; I wanted to know more about Mama Legba & her voodoo and I wanted to know more about the history of the plantation. There was supposed to be a mystery surrounding some murders that were happening in the present, but also happened in the past, and it just didn't grab me. There was also a case of insta-love and in my opinion, it didn't work at all because I didn't feel like there was anything romantic between the characters at all. It just kind of happened. However, I did love finding out more about Lucy's dreams. They were telling a story from the past and I really enjoyed figuring out what the dreams meant and getting to see snippets of the past. My interest in the whole wavered - there were times when I was enjoying it, and times when I was bored. It was just one of those books. The one thing I did actually learn from this book is that Marie Leveau was a real person - I honestly thought she'd been made up for American Horror Story, but apparently not! 

The ending did really disappoint me. In all honesty, I was expecting a happier ending for Lucy and Alex - even if it would have made me roll my eyes. But the way Sweet Unrest ended left me feeling like there should be more to the story. 

Overall, Sweet Unrest was a good read. I enjoyed parts of it, while other parts weren't as good, but it was enough to keep me reading to the end. While I don't think I'd read Sweet Unrest again, I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of Maxwell's books.