Vendetta - Catherine Doyle

After Sophie's dad was imprisoned last year, she is determined to spend the summer laying low whilst working in the family's diner in Chicago with her best friend, Millie.  However, when a new family move into the supposedly haunted mansion at the end of Lockwood Avenue, things take a very different turn for her.  Sophie finds herself drawn to Nic, one of the five brothers who have moved into the house, despite being warned away from them by a family friend.  When secrets about both families come to light, Sophie's world changes forever and she needs to pick a side: her family or the boy she is falling for.

I love Catherine's middle grade books, as well as the Twin Crown series she writes with Katherine Webber, so discovering her new YA, Vendetta, on Netgalley was exciting. 

Ok; short version of my review: This book is brilliant and I loved everything about it!

Now, for the more detailed bit...

From the beginning, this book is one that drew my attention and lured me in: the promise of romance combined with danger is an intoxicating one; add in the unknowns and you have all the qualities you need for a truly gripping read.  

You know that life isn't easy for Sophie: her father is in prison but you don't know why; all you know is that she and her mum are doing all they can to make ends meet, with occasional help from her Uncle Jack who is managing the diner whilst her father is away.  Millie is her best and only friend and the pair both work in the diner.  It's whilst Sophie is walking home from an evening shift that she realises that the big, deserted house on what is known as Priestly corner is finally occupied again.  Curiosity gets the better of her  and she is compelled to take a closer look ... and it's this chance encounter that changes everything.

Vendetta is everything I'd hoped it would be and more.  It's a grippingly immersive read and, even though I devoured it in 2 days, I found myself thinking of Sophie and the plot whilst I wasn't reading it (so keen was I to finish it on Saturday, that I fell asleep with it in my hands in bed!)  Good versus evil is most definitely brought into question here - what happens when good isn't completely good and when evil is doing it for what they believe are the right reasons?  The book is full of twists that will keep readers on their toes and will entice them to read just one more chapter.

Vendetta is the perfect blend of darkness and hope; forbidden love and the lure of attraction; it's discovering that everything you thought was true is actually very far from that.  Secrets are revealed, family loyalties are tested and lives will be changed forever in this truly wonderful read - I know the book is yet to be published (2nd January) but I'm already desperate to read the second book in the trilogy.  Vendetta is definitely a YA to pre-order if you want to guarantee to avoid the January blues.