Sweet Unrest

by Lisa Maxwell

Overview

Lucy Aimes can’t explain her dreams. Dark and familiar, they are filled with people she shouldn’t know, but does. When her family moves to New Orleans, Lucy is drawn into the city’s mystical undercurrent to search for answers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738740812
Publisher:	North Star Editions
Publication date:	10/08/2014
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Lisa Maxwell (Washington, D.C.) is a debut author. When she's not writing books, she teaches English at a local college. She lives with her very patient husband and two not-so-patient boys.

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Editorial Reviews

09/22/2014
When Lucy Aimes’s parents drag her from Chicago to Louisiana, where her father is curating the historic plantation of Le Ciel Doux, she can’t wait for summer to end so she can return home for senior year at her arts high school. After Lucy’s new friend Chloe takes her to visit Mama Legba, the local Voodoo practitioner, it becomes clear that the plantation’s past and Lucy’s present are linked, and that her recurring dreams about drowning recall the ominous fates of Armantine Lyon, a mixed-race photographer in antebellum New Orleans, and Alexandre Jourdain, the French brother-in-law of Le Ciel Doux’s owner. More than a ghost, Alexandre now haunts the grounds, and it may take more than Lucy’s past life to free him. The too-common theme of a white “chosen one” superseding a non-white friend within her own tradition strikes a sour note, which is not sweetened by the villainy of a spiteful, ex-slave, Voodoo-practicing “witch.” But Maxwell’s debut proves her to be a talented wordsmith, and the sweet ache of lost-and-found love will appeal to many readers. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kathleen Rushall, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"A well-written, spellbinding, and informative story that teen readers (and adults) are sure to snap up." —School Library Journal

"A tale of magic, murder and romance in the steamy South." —Kirkus Reviews

"Maxwell's debut proves her to be a talented wordsmith." —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Lucy’s history-professor father is moving the family to Louisiana just as she is looking forward to her senior year. He is the new curator of a plantation-turned-museum, and Lucy photographs his opening speech to the staff, all of whom are in period costumes. As she focuses on her father, he seems to morph into someone else. She shakes her head to clear it, and looks again. That is when she sees an aristocratic-looking young man with startling green eyes looking right at her. During the next few weeks, Lucy feels herself falling for Alex’s old-world charm. It seems as though they have always cared for one another. But when she tries to take his picture, he disappears. She comes to realize that in the frightening dream she has been having, she is reliving the life of Alex’s love—over one hundred years ago. In this version of paranormal love, Lucy is portrayed as a young woman of intelligence. Her natural skepticism lends an authentic tone when she is drawn into the world of spirits. Lucy’s new friend, Chloe, is interestingly drawn as well, and it she who introduces Lucy to Mama Legbo and the world of voodoo. Lucy’s struggle against the forces arrayed against her and Alex is well-paced and suspenseful. The author weaves mysticism and romance seamlessly throughout Lucy’s highly visual narration. Recommend this novel to romance fans who do not mind a few evil spirits. Reviewer: Marla Unruh; Ages 12 to 18.

VOYA, October 2014 (Vol. 37, No. 4) - Marla Unruh

08/01/2014
Gr 9 Up—A romantic ghost story, voodoo spells, and the humid-drenched Southern locale all combine for a satisfying mix of contemporary and historical fiction in Sweet Unrest. When Lucy Aimes's family moves to an old plantation near New Orleans for her history professor father's work, she becomes plagued with vivid dreams featuring the handsome Alex and surprisingly familiar Armantine. Lucy soon learns, with the assistance of a local mystic, that the dreams are much more than they seem. Readers will be enthralled by the heady descriptions of New Orleans and mysticism. Intertwining a bit of voodoo lore with an enjoyable mystery, Maxwell produces a well-written, spellbinding, and informative story that teen readers (and adults) are sure to snap up.—Amanda C. Buschmann, Atascocita Middle School, Humble, TX

School Library Journal

2014-07-29
History has a way of repeating itself in this atmospheric Southern gothic ghost story. Seventeen-year-old Lucy Aimes moves with her parents and little brother, T.J., to the Le Ciel Doux plantation in Louisiana for the summer, but she hopes to be back in Chicago by the start of the school year. Aside from her new friend and fellow intern, Chloe Sabourin, Lucy seems destined to spend the summer alone until she meets the mysterious Alexandre. Long haunted by a nightmare of drowning, Lucy soon starts to dream of Armantine Lyon, a photographer's assistant, and her forbidden romance with the very same Alexandre Jourdain in the antebellum era. A film-and-darkroom photographer, Lucy provides a visually driven narration while remaining separated from other characters until she becomes a key player in Alexandre's fate. Bouncing between dreams and reality, past and present, Lucy gets swept up in voodoo, human sacrifices and two romances. The mélange of black magic, voodoo and tarot—embodied by the mysticism-spouting, tradition-mixing character Mama Legba (an unacknowledged reference to the loa Papa Legba)—feels ad hoc and uninformed, if not irreligious. However, debut author Maxwell tackles slavery, segregation and racial tensions admirably and offers a time-transcending romance. A tale of magic, murder and romance in the steamy South. (Paranormal romance. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews