Cauchemar by Alexandra Grigorescu

Cauchemar is Grigorescu's first book! I happily won* this ARC through a Goodreads first reads giveaway. Obviously I have no way of knowing if this book is going to be apart of anything.

Losing her protector and adopted mother, 20-year-old Hannah find herself alone on the edge of a Louisiana swamp. Her only solace is with Callum, a boat captain and part-time musician. Hannah's biological mother, who is rumored to commune with the dead and known outcast, comes back into her life. So Hannah must confront what she's been kept from, deadly spirits haunt the swamp, secrets from her past, and a special gift that she posses.

Cauchemar was surprisingly a really good read. I found that I kept turning the pages trying to get to the end and see how things played out. Hannah was very young and went through a lot, to be left alone from an "accident". Losing someone you love especially a mother figure is very hard on anyone, and Hannah handled it very well. I did like the supernatural aspect of Cauchemar, it was very captivating and I wanted to keep reading to see how it affected the living because it was. I'm usually not that into an older-ish guy getting with a girl who is as young as Hannah but Callum was for the most part very grown. He cared very much about Hannah in a short amount of time. I loved Grigorescu's descriptions, I could easily form a picture in my head of what was happening. I do like the plot, where things have a way of repeating itself whether you know it or not, though with this plot things where a bit predictable. I did enjoy the last couple of chapters as everything came to a boil and finally had to be dealt with.

I did find that a few things were predictable as I read, it made me a little disappointed in how much I was able to predict in this book. I also didn't think this book was exactly "scary" but there where spots that had me cringing. I was confused a few times, and had to reread a few passages over just to figure out what was really going on. Certain parts confused me as to how they played into the present, but once it was made clear my confusion went away pretty much completely.

For Grigorescu's first novel I say that she did marvelous. I really can't wait for her to write more in the future. I do indeed recommend this book to everyone, though I will say with those younger readers there are a few spots of intimacy, that parents should be aware of. They are not bad, but they are there. Even with the predictability I did find that I wanted to read to the end. I can see myself rereading Cauchemar a couple of times before I put it away for a little while.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Page Count: 316 pages (paperback)

Price: $16.95

Next book: Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Thank you for reading!
~Jade

*Note: I am in no way being coerced into making a review. Leaving a review is happily welcome but not required thus if I don't like a book I will say so. This review is based upon my true feelings and thoughts about the book. I promise you I wouldn't let anything sway my opinion about a book.