Chime

by Franny Billingsley
361 pages

Before Briony's stepmother died, she made sure Briony blamed herself for all the family's hardships. Now Briony has worn her guilt for so long it's become a second skin. She often escapes to the swamp, where she tells stories to the Old Ones, the spirits who haunt the marshes. But only witches can see the Old Ones, and in her village, witches are sentenced to death. Briony lives in fear her secret will be found out, even as she believes she deserves the worst kind of punishment.
Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and mane of tawny hair. He's as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she's extraordinary. And everything starts to change. As many secrets as Briony has been holding, there are secrets even she doesn't know.

Not my cup of tea. It reminded me of Tithe by Holly Black, which I also didn’t like.

It’s like Briony is writing, telling her story and it’s just stream of consciousness sometimes. It was making me crazy. She would go off into these little limericks or poems, then come back to the story. A lot of repeating that she was wicked, she mustn’ forget Stepmother, what she did to her sister, Rose and etc. etc. etc. Too tiring. Perhaps this won several awards because this style is brilliant. Again, just not my cup of tea.

And probably the biggest thing for me is that while there is a HEA, the author messed it up for me with a bit of “rape and pillaging” but then they are okay and end up together. Also, the inevitable kiss is referred to early on with a specific page number. I know that’s what is likely to happen, but I don’t want to know exactly when, what fun is that?