Review: Awful Curse - Elena Monroe

Review: Awful Curse - Book #1 The Celestial Bodies Series - Elena Monroe - February 2020

I wasn't 100% sure what to expect with Awful Curse, just that it had a paranormal aspect to the novel and was set in a college environment and considered a potential bully romance. The book starts with our main character Arianna moving to a new school - Arcadia Prep as she fell into trouble with the mayor's son at her old school. This according to her father is a final resort as he is off on another top-secret military mission. Ever since her mother died, Ari has been feeling unsettled and moving from one place to another. When she arrives at Arcadia Prep, she feels a magnetic electric pull to a group of kids that look like the popular crowd and their leader Bolton who is King of the School. The paranormal aspect enters the novel when we learn that the group of kids are in fact Gods and Goddesses and each represents a sign on the astrology chart and have been stuck on fourteen-year cycles awaiting the one who separated from the twelve and can break their curses and let them return home to Olympus. Every year a new student begins and they hope that is the one they are looking for but each time it turns out they are wrong. What will happen though when all the signs point to Arianna? Are they certain this time or is it another mistake? When it comes to the crunch - will everyone be excited to return home or are they happy being on earth? Overall this was a good read, a bit slow in places and I was hoping that it would be a stand-alone and was looking forward to a different ending . I am in two minds, however, whether or not I will be continuing the series but for a first book Awful Curse by Elena Monroe was a good read filled with twists and turns.