Review: Losing Beauty

Title: Losing Beauty (Persephone Campbell #1)
Author: Johanna Garth
Publisher: Fantasy Island Book Publishing
Goodreads | Amazon
I received a digital copy of this book from the author to review. This is my honest opinion.

Description (from Goodreads): 

Child abuse, cross-dressing, theft, adultery—people in Persey Campbell’s town have terrible secrets and she is the unfortunate repository for all of them. What she can’t figure out is why everyone is so desperate to tell her their worst secrets.

Daniel Hartnett is a lawyer who has it all. People think he’s lucky. What they don’t understand is Daniel has a crap-o-meter that lets him hear the meanings behind other people’s words. He used to think his crap-o-meter was a gift from God. It made him successful. It got him laid. Except now he’d like to meet someone and settle down and he can’t turn his crap-o-meter off. As long as it’s on, there are no surprises, no rush of anticipation and no falling in love.

When Daniel meets Persey he discovers she’s the first girl he’s ever met who is immune to his special talent. The only problem is someone else discovered Persey first and is hell-bent on claiming her as his own. Haden is the king of the Underworld with a plan to make Persey his immortal queen. What Haden doesn’t plan on is Persey’s unique ability to compel secrets and how far the people who love Persey will go to protect her from the inner darkness that threatens to destroy her soul.

Review:

What a unique story!

What would life be like if you knew everyone's deepest, darkest secret? What if no matter what you did, when you were alone with someone they were drawn to you and compelled to tell you the worst things about themselves?

That is Persey's reality. It was so awful to have to live that through her! It was like never being able to escape all the bad things in the world. In fact, the leader of The Underworld himself is attracted to her! It's no wonder she loves to escape her life by burying herself in books.

I thought that Losing Beauty was so well written! Johanna Garth is a truly talented writer. Every moment was filled with something that left me wanting to know more. The entire time, there was this mystery lingering in the back of my mind... why is Persey like this? What is it about her that people can not resist? What is really going on here?

I was not a fan of most of the people in Persey's life. I don't think that is a flaw in the book or the writing, but of Persey's ability itself. How can you get close to people when you aren't sure if they're attracted to the real you, or this thing that makes people want to be around you? Losing Beauty is part of a series, and there is one character in particular that I think I may grow to love. I hope so!

It seems like Johanna has foreshadowed that this will turn into something much bigger and crazier! I get the feeling we've only just scratched the surface. Oh, and random comment, but I love that she's named Persephone (Persey for short). I think that her name might be some sort of clue as to where we're headed. That's just pure speculation, though. :)

I'll definitely be reading the rest of the books in this series! The end of Losing Beauty was satisfying, while at the same time still left me wanting to know more. I have to know what happens next!

The second book is titled Losing Hope, and will be released around spring 2012. I can't wait!

You can find Johanna Garth on her blog:

Losing Sanity