Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement Moore

Pages: 416
Publisher: Random House
Age Group: Young Adult
Challenges: 350 Page Challenge
Release Date: July 7, 2011

Amy Goodnight's family is far from normal. She comes from a line of witches, but tries her best to stay far outside the family business. Her summer gig? Ranch-sitting for her aunt with her wacky but beautiful sister. Only the Goodnight Ranch is even less normal than it normally is. Bodies are being discovered, a ghost is on the prowl, and everywhere she turns, the hot neighbor cowboy is in her face.

Stars: 3.5/5
Cover: A+

I am absolutely in love with Rosemary Clement Moore. I first fell in love with her Prom Dates From Hell series in, like, seventh grade, so when I borrowed Texas Gothic from Copperfield's (a local indie bookstore) I was SO excited.

It didn't quite meet my expectations, unfortunately. My main problem with it was that it fell really flat in the middle, and kind of dragged on. I think if the book was a hundred pages less, it would have been absolutely perfect.

I liked the whole premise behind the novel, and how it had the whole down-South setting going on. Amy reminded me a lot of Moore's other protagonist in the Prom Dates From Hell series because of how witty and entertaining they both are.

Another thing I liked is how unique and memorable the characters were. Phin, Amy's older sister, was hilarious. She was an experimental scientist, and it was a great comic relief how all of her experiments were either making the house smell like dirty socks, or in some other way not exactly going smoothly.

I thought Amy's love interest, Ben, was really irritating in the beginning of the book because of how arrogant he was, but Ben's one of those guys that grow on you. By the end of the book, I was absolutely in love with the idea of Amy and Ben as a couple.

The cover to this book is absolutely gorgeous. I love the juxtaposition of the model's eyes and her hair (I'm guessing the model is supposed to be Amy, because in Texas Gothic she has red hair).

Lovely Line:

The Final Verdict:
Texas Gothic is the perfect summer read. It combines many different genres of YA, so it will appeal to many different audiences. If the book hadn't gotten a little boring in the middle, it would have been much better!

FTC: Borrowed.