Publisher: Central Avenue Publishing
Series: None
Format: e-ARC
Source: Netgalley
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Most people have no idea goblins live in the woods around the small town of Bellwater, Washington. But some are about to find out.
Skye, a young barista and artist, falls victim to a goblin curse in the forest one winter night, rendering her depressed and silenced, unable to speak of what happened. Her older sister, Livy, is at wit’s end trying to understand what’s wrong with her. Local mechanic Kit would know, but he doesn’t talk of such things: he’s the human liaison for the goblin tribe, a job he keeps secret and never wanted, thrust on him by an ancient family contract.
Unaware of what’s happened to Skye, Kit starts dating Livy, trying to keep it casual to protect her from the attention of the goblins. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kit, Skye draws his cousin Grady into the spell through an enchanted kiss in the woods, dooming Grady and Skye both to become goblins and disappear from humankind forever.
It’s a midwinter night’s enchantment as Livy, the only one untainted by a spell, sets out to save them on a dangerous magical path of her own.
“Everyone knew you shouldn’t go biting into fruit offered to you by magical creatures in the woods, even if you’d thought until just five minutes ago that such stories were, you know, only stories.”
This story is a take on the Goblin Market, which is a poem by Christina Rossetti.
I was initially really excited for The Goblins of Bellwater, but found the story rather dull until the last half of the book.
It focuses on four adults, two sisters and two cousins, who are all linked to the goblins in their own way. Things happen and then they split into couples, which was fine at first. There is a heavy focus on romance in the story, but I didn't care for Grady and Skye's romance because it was insta-lust/love at its finest. Yes, they were under a spell, but I think it could have been written better. Liv and Kit's romance was more tolerable, but it wasn't amazing. Props to Ringle for writing about casual sexual relationships in a positive way. Considering this is supposed to be a NA book, I was expecting more steaminess from the sex scenes but they were actually pretty boring and tame.
The goblins and magic were my favorite parts of the story, I just wish they had been present more in the story. When they did appear, they were evil and maniacal just like one would expect goblins to be. This is definitely a darker version of a goblin story.
I didn't really care for any of the characters except for Liv and Skye, mostly Liv though. Her love of the Earth and her sister made her a really interesting character, especially towards the end when she had to go through some major trials.
I really wish that I loved this book, but the romance and slow first half dulled the enjoyment for me. With some cleaning up and fleshing out the story more, I think it could be really good.
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