The glittering edge by Alyssa Villaire

The glittering edge, the first of a gothic fantasy duology (The Idlewood Duology series), is set in and inspired by the rural Indiana towns and high school experience of the author - Los Angeles based Alyssa Villaire.  The journey of the main character Penny with her mother through doctors, hospitals and palliative care is inspired by the author's own journey with her father. Villaire hopes that young readers who are likewise seeing their parents suffer may find some hope and determination through reading The glittering edge. 

Appropriately titled, The glittering edge evokes the idea of an enticing, magical fragility - a brittle brink that one may reach which, in the book, is both physical and psychological. The front cover equally indicates, the type of story (described as contemporary gothic fantasy) that embraces some visceral, nightmarish qualities.

Structured with the omniscient authorial voice focusing alternately in separate chapters on the three main characters (Corey, Penny and Alonso) the reader has a bird's eye view of the characters' actions and thoughts as the plot unrolls. From the initial setting, a fourth of July high school graduate party in a fictional mid-western town called Idlewood, the reader meets the characters and the nature of the generational feud between the De Luca witches and the wealthy Barrion family begins to reveal itself. The curse changed families' fates and was that if a Barrion falls in love with you, you die. In the front pages family trees are provided and include the Emberly family because Penny's mother is the latest victim of the curse.

With all the trappings of a modern day Romeo and Juliet, The glittering edge is about a forbidden, dangerous love affair (worse - love triangle) and the danger that Penny Emberly faces as she tries to save her mother's life and her own heart. 

Villaire shares content warnings for those considering reading The glittering edge.  These include: alcohol consumption, bullying, cursing, death and injury of parents and family, emotional abuse, grief, gun violence, medical content, mental illness, murder, panic attacks, terminal illness, classism, racism, misogyny, infidelity and sexual and suicide content. 

This is a heart-in-the-mouth story complete with bloody and bewitching scenes and action, friendship, courage and heart. Fans of Maggie Stiefvater's The raven boys would enjoy The glittering edge. 

Themes: Witches, Family curses, Love, Illness and death of a parent, Teen "chaos", Anxiety.

Wendy Jeffrey