At first sight this book looked interesting. It has an interesting cover with Norse runes and seemed promising of an adventure and mystery story related to Norse mythology. The idea behind the story was even slightly interesting.
But instead it's the typical young adult romance novel with a bit of fantasy that tries to sell itself as fantasy and adventure. As per its type, it has a weak female protagonist who is too emotional and complains too much and narrates in first person, the male love interest who the main character has a crush on, is attractive and mysterious, and has no character depth. The two characters meet and have to fix some minor problem or issue that usually isn't particularly interesting or well developed and fall in love. There is some angst and the protagonist complaining. The protagonist is weak and must be saved by the male character who is so much stronger. They figure everything out that wasn't particularly difficult in the first place and the protagonist learns about the mysteries of the love interest and they end up together. Usually set in modern America by an American author.
There was too much about the protagonist's feelings and family and romance and not enough about the magic. What there was wasn't even well done. It barely even touched on Norse mythology, and what was there was painfully inaccurate and ridiculous. Hel, the goddess (actually she wasn't a goddess but that's not the point) of the Norse underworld, Hel, place of the dishonoured dead, who is half beautiful woman and half rotting corpse, was an attractive man. This really stood out to me. I just don't understand why someone would make an interesting character so boring.
I can't really remember the details, but from what I remember there wasn't much more mythology than that. There were some warriors from another world that wanted to destroy the earth. They just wanted another home, because their world had been destroyed, and the main character collapsed their world on them, killing them all. It was actually mentioned in the book, and the reader was positioned to sympathise with them at least partially.
There was not much action and no fighting. The characters were mostly bland and stereotypical, although there were some interesting details about them. The idea was slightly original and could have been alright if done a lot better, but the way it was done made it seem unoriginal and obscured by teenage romance and emotions.
I've been wanting to rant about this book since I read it, a year ago. I can't remember all the details, so I'm sorry if any of this is accurate. ( )

Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Good
Recommended: May
Level: High School

This book has a lot going on. First the main character talks about her mother's strange death years ago. The way her father acted after it happened, which included losing his job and to Hayden his parental responsibility. Then she goes back to her hometown and finds out all this weird stuff about her mother, including talk of being a witch. Then a new supernatural theme is introduced, which is associated with the blood of the people in the town and its powers. During all of this there is a bird thing happening and ancient stories of demons taking over. Very action pack, but also complicated. ( )

Hayden has just turned 18 and is about to start college when she receives news that she has inherited the old house in a small village called Promise by the woods. It is where she used to live before her mother disappeared and her father took her to the city to be away from the tragedy. Hayden and her feisty roomate Del decide to check it out, and when they arrive see that someone appears to have inhabited the house quite recently. Stranger still is the noises in the night that wake Hayden, and when she goes downstairs she finds Del "sleep digging" in the basement for something saying she needs to "dig deep". Then there is also the cute boy next door Shannon who seems to be holding an inexplicable grudge against Hayden. What is happening in Promise?
SPOILER ALERT : The woods have a gateway to another world. Hayden's mother is from the other world , so Hayden is half "Fairy" and half Human.
Obviously first book in series. ( )