The Wicked Deep

By Shea Ernshaw

Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic meets the Salem Witch trials in this haunting story about three sisters on a quest for revenge - and how love may be the only thing powerful enough to stop them.

Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow…

Two centuries ago, in the small, isolated town, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town. Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return from the depths, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them down to their watery deaths.

Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into or the fact that his arrival will change everything...

Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.

But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Mar 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781471166143

Shea Ernshaw

Shea Ernshaw is the author of A History of Wild Places, the New York Times bestseller The Wicked Deep, Winterwood, and A Wilderness of Stars. She is the winner of the 2019 Oregon Book Award. She lives in a small mountain town in Oregon and is happiest when lost in a good book, lost in the woods, or writing her next novel.

Reviews for The Wicked Deep

[simplykelina · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I bought this book because of the hype and also how beautiful the cover was. I was not expecting much going in. I liked this more than I thought I would, but not as much as I wanted too (if that makes sense). I do love how this takes place in modern day times and I also loved the witchy parts. There are some twists and turns along the way to keep your interest as it is also a really quick read. I liked it, but I did want a little more.I heard this will on Netflix as either a series or movie. I think it will actually be a great show, so I am excited for that.Overall, this was only ok for me though.

[ireneattolia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

pretty predictable but but i don't even care because it was so well done

[rabidgummibear-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Perhaps we all have some oddity, some strangeness we keep hidden along our edges, things we see that we can’t explain, things we wish for, things we run from."

This book is unique. It's not going to be for everyone. It was right up my alley. A perfectly witchy summer read. The story is well woven and reveals come at a good pace. We are left seeing how a town can be torn apart by so much. How bad can become good and what choices mean.

I highly recommend this to anyone wanting something spooky to read this summer.

[cassiewinters-2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I started this months ago, I got to 62% and just felt that I didn't want to continue with it. I eventually got around to finishing it yesterday because I felt that I should. The issue I have is that the premise is wonderful, but the execution and the ending left a little to be desired. Is it a book I would reread? Probably not, but for a first time read and one off it was good.

[stephlaymon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Now that's what I'm talking about! Amazing YA that is of such good quality that it crosses the age barrier! The writing is pure eloquence. It seems like poetry that is perfectly to my liking, flowery in the most beautiful way, but never forced, never overdone, never tiresome. The storyline is absolutely chilling, but so multifaceted that there seemed to be no end to the emotions that I felt while reading it. While the Swan sisters seemed to be pure evil, Shea Ernshaw developed characters that are true to life, even at their worst there is something that is endearing. I just adore a book that holds characters that I feel emotional about, especially when I feel such extremes.

[ayanami_faerudo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's one of those small town stories with mystica and whimsical mysteries. An otherworldly atmosphere hangs over the narrative even as it happens in the here and now. There's a feeling, as you read the story, of being taken outside of time and place.

[Shana · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4/5 stars

As others have said, this book's plot progression was a bit predictable, I guessed where it was going. However it was still really enjoyable.
The characters were well written, the world building was simple and easy to understand. I greatly enjoyed how the 'witches' lives were included in the novel - learning more about their personalities and motivation etc.

This is a great book to enjoy *SPOOKY* season with!

[jpeterman-190606 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3 stars because I'm just disappointed in the ending! I was captivated the rest of the time, and truly didn't guess at the twist. But that ending...

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the seaside town of Sparrow, Orgeon, the three Swan sisters, Marguerite, Aurora, and Hazel, were drowned 200 years ago, accused of being witches. But there was a curse. Every year for a few weeks leading up to the summer solstice, they return and inhabit the bodies of three teen girls. While inhabiting these host bodies, they take their revenge by drowning boys they seduce. Penny lives on the island with the lighthouse with her mother; her father disappeared mysteriously a few years ago. Just before the big party the night they know girls’ bodies will be taken, a strange boy wanders into town, not knowing what happens there every year. He wants to get a job working for Penny on the lighthouse island. But this is really bad timing for a new boy to come to town… I really enjoyed this! It was not even on my radar, except that it fit a monthly challenge. Primarily the story was set in current day with Penny and Bo, but there were flashbacks to tell the Swan sisters story, as well.

[readingbeader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Two hundred years ago, the three Shaw sisters were drowned as witches. Every summer since then they return to get revenge on the town. But this year Penny is determined to save the boy she loves. Such an interesting book. I loved the atmosphere, and creepiness of the whole legend involved with the sisters.

[Carly Wootton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Enchanting, bewitching, atmospheric - I inhaled this book could not put it down x

[mrnattania72 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a good book, although, it had a medeoiocre twist. I knew it in my gut that one of the two would end up the way they did. It was filled with so many FORESHADOWING UNITS, you knew one of them would come true

[ange.seth4658 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a gripping story from the beginning, I couldn’t put it down. I had guessed from early on the mystery but there were so much more to this story that even if you guessed some parts, there is more revealed.

This standalone book was a great read and the ending was absolutely perfect.

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

OK, call me shallow, but I picked up this book because the cover is GORGEOUS. But this book is beautiful not just on the outside. This is a story of witches, revenge, and love that survives the ages. The book is targeted to teens and the plot felt young. It's been too long since high school, so maybe I just don't remember all the angst that goes along with high school romance, but the descriptions and the setting are haunting. Definitely a recommended read for fans of YA paranormal romance.

[sjgirl-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Every summer teenage boys lose their lives in the harbor of a small Oregon town, is it accidental, suicide, or somehow connected to the long ago deaths of three sisters? Three sisters drowned by the townspeople after they were deemed witches due to their allure to men.The Wicked Deep centers on a present day girl, Penny, her father disappeared and her mother has been practically catatonic ever since, barely there for her daughter. Other than her best friend, Penny is quite alone in the world, until a boy, Bo, arrives, and takes a job helping maintain the lighthouse and orchard on the island where Penny lives with her mother. With the high body count for the boys of summer, it would probably be wise for Penny to not become attached, but that proves easier said than done. I’m afraid of spoilers on this one as there are some twists so I’ll try to keep the rest of this review as vague as possible. I will say that while you might see some of the twists coming, when the reveals happen they still manage to have an emotional impact. And it actually wasn’t until one of those twists when there’s kind of a switch flipped in the book and I shifted from mildly interested in what I was reading to so much more engaged, especially as far as the lead character is concerned, my feelings for her went from distant, not sure if I cared, to wholeheartedly invested. As much as some things didn’t so much catch me by surprise (I enjoyed those twists nonetheless), the ending is something I was never certain of, I loved that I had no idea where the author would go with it and that made for great page-turning suspense, plus, it wrapped up beautifully, leaving me with a bit of an ache, yet fully satisfied as well.

[headinherbooks_27 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I pretty much figured out what the twist and the ending would be, so the lack of surprise ruined it a little bit for me. But I still enjoyed the plot and I wouldn't mind re-reading it in the future.

[jeeps-4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Probably 3.5 stars. Very atmospheric, but this relies on its mysteries as the foundation, so as those begin to get revealed it strips away at the atmosphere and becomes a little overwrought and indulgent at the end.

[nu5bibliophile · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I pretty much figured out what the twist and the ending would be, so the lack of surprise ruined it a little bit for me. But I still enjoyed the plot and I wouldn't mind re-reading it in the future.

[mishellyloves · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Penny lives on an Island off a small Oregon coast town who's been plagued with a curse. Every summer the 3 Swan sisters return to the town for 3 weeks to exact their revenge on the town. This book is pretty short i love the writing style, and the way the way the book is broken up. There is a big twist in the plot which is awesome. I do have a bit of a problem with the ending and theres an element of insta love.

[tuusannuuska-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

2,4 stars

What a colossal disappointment. This book has such an amazing premise which had me looking forward to some vengeful witches, and drowned villagers, and mystery, and intrigue, and all that jazz. What I got was a cliche ridden sop-fest about a teenage relationship with zero originality and the most transparent plot twist of all plot twists. This book kept getting progressively worse the further I read and I essentially had to force myself to finish this. It would be a disservice to the YA genre to pin the lack of delivery on the genre / target audience alone; this book was simply poorly written and had me roll my eyes to the point of serious strain. Just, euch. Would not recommend to anyone over the age of thirteen.

[whitreidtan · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Every year my book club chooses to read a book that fits the spooky season. Although this one takes place in the summer, the premise made it ripe for our October read. Now, I am a huge coward and I wince every year when we try to settle on an appropriate read. Luckily for me, The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw turned out to be far more unintentionally absurd than scary.The small town of Sparrow, Oregon has a rather macabre claim to fame. In the early 1820s, the townspeople convicted the three Swan sisters, Marguerite, Aurora, and Hazel, of witchcraft and drowned them in the town's harbor for the crime of being young and beautiful and seducing the men, especially the married men, of the town. Now the sisters come back every June 1 through the summer solstice. They take possession of three local girls' bodies to lure boys into the water and drown them in turn as revenge on the town for the sisters' own deaths. The town has made a festival of this grisly occurrence and tourists flock to the town during the festival despite the danger.This year there's a new boy in town named Bo Carter. He says he knows nothing about the history or the town festival, despite showing up on the eve of the sisters' return. He meets Penny, who was born in Sparrow and lives on an island at the decommissioned lighthouse. Penny's father disappeared without a trace several years ago and her mother has been in a deep depression ever since. Something inspires Penny to hire Bo to help out at the lighthouse and to try and keep him safe from the murderous sisters but everything is not as it seems.The broad plot here is definitely an interesting and unique one but there are so many plot inconsistencies and inaccuracies that it makes for a frustrating read. Just to start, Penny hops in a small outboard to get from the island into the town to go to school, having to make her way through a shipwreck strewn harbor to the shore in a fog so dense that she cannot see the shore in front of her. No sailor worth their salt would even consider going out in a boat in such conditions, especially given the treacherous waters. Later in the story, Penny doesn't know one of the drowned boys, despite both of them having lived and gone to school in this tiny town for their entire lives, something that is patently implausible given the setting. Then there's the question of why the townspeople continue to stay in the town, potentially sacrificing their sons to these angry spirits. As the mother of boys, I'd move away in a heartbeat. And why on earth would tourists come with their teenaged sons to risk their deaths too? It just makes zero sense. As for the story of the sisters, which is interspersed periodically with the more present day story, it also doesn't make a lot of sense. Firstly, the sisters were apparently not actually witches, which begs the question of how they could come back as these bloodthirsty, avenging body snatchers intent on murder. Secondly, the 1820s is quite late for the persecution of (non)witches, especially resulting in the execution of said convicted witches. Was the West Coast just that far behind the East Coast (and Europe) in moving beyond such barbaric practices? Finally, without giving too much away, the ending made less than no sense at all. (I'm happy to rant about it with/at anyone who has read the book and who wants me to though.) There were also plot points that were mentioned that might have been intended to go somewhere but were ultimately dropped like Penny's best friend's mother running a bakery that made muffins specifically designed to help people from out of the Swan sisters' former store. A muffin gets sent out to Penny's mother with the specific injunction that she eat the whole thing but nothing is ever mentioned about it again. Basically the whole book made me want to throw my hands in the air and shout at it. It comes across as being an adequate first draft but one that needs work. There are a whole lot of people who seem to really like this book online but I was definitely in the majority at book club so it's not just me. On the positive side, scary books often cause me nightmares and this one absolutely did not, so there's that.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Two hundred years ago in Sparrow, Oregon, the three Swan sisters were accused of witchcraft and drowned. Every year since then, the sisters return from their watery graves on the first of June and stay until the summer solstice. They possess the bodies of local girls and lure boys into the water to drown. In response and as a way to deal with the curse, the locals have developed their own traditions around it. Teens hold drunken parties on the shore where boys drag girls into the water for the sisters to possess and tourists flock to the town to witness the curse in action. Seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot lives on the lighthouse island with her mother who had a breakdown after her husband disappeared a few years ago. Penny had put up an ad for help with the upkeep of the island but had given up finding someone suitable. When a young man, Bo, applies on the day before the Swan’s return, she turns him down, assuming he’s just another morbid tourist. However, when a local teen tries to drag Penny into the water at the party that night, the same young man rescues her. In gratitude, she offers to let him stay in the lighthouse.But Penny has a secret. She can see the sisters inside the girls they possess. Worse, they know. Fearing that one of the sisters will seduce the boy into the water just to taunt her, she becomes determined to protect him. But Bo also has a secret and it may cost both their lives. The Wicked Deep is a YA paranormal romance by author Shea Ernshaw. Having read other reviews, it’s clear I’m not alone in being annoyed by how fast Penny and Bo fall in love - I mean, it’s like a couple of days fast. Still, given the short amount of time the Swans have to wreak havoc, I suppose it helps to explain why the pair of teens would risk so much to protect each other. At any rate, if you can overlook the love-at-almost- first-sight trope, this wasn’t a bad story. It moves a long at a pretty decent clip, the two young lovers are likeable, the Swans are satisfyingly wicked in their search for revenge, and the normally bucolic town makes a nice contrast to the cruelty of the curse. Overall, I enjoyed this book but would guess that, again judging from reading other reviews, it works much better for a YA audience (14+). Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

[sboren-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I purchased this book from Amazon to read with my bestie @mycornerforbooksand. All opinions are my own. ???? The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw. Penny Talbot has lived on the island of Sparrow Oregon her entire life. All the mystery, legend and magic of this island are very real to her and others from Sparrow, but once an outsider arrives he finds herself trying to explain just how cursed the town is, but he isn't believing her. For over 2 centuries the town has been cursed by sisters who were drowned on their birthday, executed for witchcraft. Bo soon finds out just how real the curse is and has no idea how to react. But he must do something before it's too late. I must say I had the biggest part of the twist figured out pretty early in this book. Although I was intrigued enough by the little details to continue to read until the end. Review also posted on Instagram @borenbooks, Library Thing, Go Read, Goodreads/StacieBoren, Amazon, and my blog at readsbystacie.com