Review: The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond by Amanda Glaze

Synopsis

Sacramento, 1885  
Edie and Violet Bond know the truth about death. The seventeen-year-old twins are powerful mediums, just like their mother—Violet can open the veil between life and death, and Edie can cross into the spirit world. But their abilities couldn’t save them when their mother died and their father threatened to commit them to a notorious asylum.   
 
Now runaways, Edie and Violet are part of a traveling Spiritualist show, a tight-knit group of young women who demonstrate their real talents under the guise of communing with spirits. Each night, actresses, poets, musicians, and orators all make contact with spirits who happen to have something to say. . . notions that young ladies could never openly express. But when Violet’s act goes terribly wrong one night, Edie learns that the dark spirit responsible for their mother’s death has crossed into the land of the living. As they investigate the identity of her mysterious final client, they realize that someone is hunting mediums…and they may be next.Only by trusting in one another can the twins uncover a killer who will stop at nothing to cheat death.

What I thought

Thank you Union Square & Co and Amanda Glaze for giving me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings expressed are my own.

This is a standalone young adult paranormal murder mystery book. I was floored when I realized that this was a debut novel. I absolutely loved it and would never have guessed this was her debut, I would have thought she had a few books under her belt. I was hooked from the beginning and read this book in two sittings. Not only that, but I even stayed up until two in the morning to finish it, I have to get up early, so I usually go to bed around 10, so this is saying something.

You can tell that this book was very well researched, especially when dealing with women’s rights during this time, the use of asylums, and the spirituality movement. I have always found the spiritualist movement a very interesting time and loved how women found ways to use it to help give them a voice.

I also found it fascinating how the author got her inspiration for this book from an old photograph of her grandmother Edie and her twin from this time period.

This book was such a great read and I highly encourage you to pick it up if you find it even a little bit interesting. You won’t regret it.

My Rating: /5

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think? Tell me in the comments below.