The Uncrossing is a decent first book that does suffer from several 'first book' syndrome issues. It is very overwritten, the story difficult to follow (especially in the beginning), and the characters too reactionary and not developed enough. Most fatally for me, I didn't like any of the leads and became tired of the 'too stupid to live' and 'we fight so much because we lurve each other' archetypes that don't make for a good modern romance.

Story: Luke (and his twin sister Camille) are gifted supernaturally. Luke can unmake curses and it is this ability that brings him into the sphere of influence of the powerful Kovrov family; in particular, the coddled heir Jeremy. Jeremy has need of Luke's services as his family is targeted by another 'family' in the magical underworld of modern day New York. As it turns out, Jeremy has always had a crush on Luke, even since they were children. And though Luke has no idea, he's about to become embroiled in the Kovrov family business - and with the heir, Jeremy, particularly.

The premise is excellent and I was greatly anticipating this book. Unfortunately, the execution just didn't work for me. For one, the writing was problematic - it's the type of book that doesn't flow smoothly and you often find you have to go back and reread paragraphs in order to understand what was going on. Not enough time was spent on the craft of writing and too much time spent on the characters when they interacted - which was mostly fighting. Honestly, it needs a good rewrite still with a very good editor.

Also problematic where the characters. The constant fighting and misunderstandings got old fast. It made both feel very stupid and brainless, as well as stubborn and unrealistic. Perhaps it is a preference thing, but I look for protagonists who don't overreact to every situation and for someone to fall in love with someone else for their strengths and not because they are 'hot' or despite their very unpleasant nature. I didn't buy the romance at all here.

The synopsis felt a bit overblown - this is more of story of a minor squirmish in a turf war rather than a big deal. That's ok, though, but managing expectations is important. I didn't find the overall story arc any more enticing than the characters. Again, that was likely because Eastlake is a new author and will grow into our skills in upcoming books. There is certainly promise here but this is a book that I did not enjoy and was disappointed in after the promise of the blurb. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Magical mafia turf war. Boys falling in love. Death, life, and in between. Curses, and the unraveling thereof. A little too much angst for my taste, but it’s balanced out by lots of neon fashion choices. Meet the book I’ve affectionately dubbed “the new Raven Cycle”.

The reasons I like this book are pretty much the same reasons it’s similar to the Raven Cycle. There are contrasting families that each have their own kind of bone-deep love holding them together, a love story that hinges around a curse that draws the two boys together even when it should push them apart, and a lot of magic practiced with either vengeful enjoyment or grim belief that it’s the only way left. There’s the creation of whimsical objects out of thin air, and boys making terrible fashion choices regarding colors and what should (not) be worn on the body, and a wanting for so much more than they can have.

There’s a lot of hot-and-cold going back and forth which I felt got to be a little much, and the angst is so thick you could stab it (which almost literally happens in the book). And I definitely enjoy the flirting with terrible jokes more than the abundance of kissing scenes (but that’s just me).

But besides all that, I love this ship. I love how Jeremy is so trapped and vulnerable but so brave, and how Luke may pretend to be the confident one but really he just cares so much. They both! care! so much! about everyone! Kill me!! And their families are so important to the story and so well-developed, from Jeremy’s older brothers who sometimes act as his parents to Luke’s twin Camille and their parents… everyone has so much loyalty it hurts.

The point is, read The Uncrossing for magic and blood and kissing and bad jokes and worse decisions and family and angst and curses, because it’s really, really good.

'The Uncrossing' is as much about magic as it is a slow-burn YA romance. Author Melissa Eastlake drops readers in the middle of a set of families who have been working together for generations, each person specializing in a different type of magic. Eastlake has skillfully brought to life a unique and complex system of magic and an enchanting re-imagined New York City. She employs an enjoyable blend of fantasy with real-world subway transit and social media.

Luke and Jeremy are young men caught a web of magic spun generations prior. Though their families are allies, there are many secrets between them. As they slowly fall for each other, these secrets are unraveled lead to an old curse involving them all.

I voluntarily read a Review Copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s.

I fell in love with this book after the first ten pages. That doesn’t really happen to me, and the last book that gave me such a ride and the need to both slap and hug the characters was Nora Sakavic’s The Foxhole Court. No other book has called my attention this way since then, and anyone who knows me knows exactly what that means.

Uncrossing is about magic, love, fate, choices, and surprisingly the mob. The story follows two characters: Luke Melnyk and Jeremy Kovrov. Or rather, it follows two stories connected by Jeremy and Luke.

Luke Melnyk comes from a family rooted in magic, and his speciality is to undo crossings (what we commonly see as “curses”). His twin sister Camille, on the other hand, can cast the nasties crossings on anyone.

Jeremy Kovrov is crossed, but his crossing is something that Jeremy and Camille have never seen before. And which cannot be uncrossed. At least, not by conventional means.

The first note I wrote on this book is that it had a very good exposition. It never felt like it was taking your hand and guiding you through things, or being didactic. Instead, you are dropped in the middle of a story that started years, and years ago, and are trusted to be able to catch up and understand. And trust me, you will.

The characters are incredibly real, flawed, and alive. They might not jump out of the pages all of the time, but they all have multiple layers that you can’t help but want to understand. Even the characters you dislike (and trust me, you will dislike a couple of them intermittently) have more dimensions to them than the ones that might annoy you.

Luke and Jeremy are the characters that you’re supposed to follow along, as they are the focused of the narrator’s POV, but thankfully that doesn’t mean that the rest of the characters are abandoned or underdeveloped. Usually, in MLM fiction, female characters tend to be butchered or made smaller, to benefit the male characters, but here it’s not like that at all. Camille, Helene, Natalya, Katya, and Marta all have their own stories, characteristics, strengths and weaknesses, and they never appear to be an afterthought.

And the characters are not perfect! That is so uncommon to find! Not just: this character is clumsy, or this character is too wise or perfect so they are unperfect. No. Alexei is too self-involved, Sergei is… Sergei is too conservative and lowkey homophobic/racist. The Melnyks are too overprotective. And everyone is going behind everyone’s backs thinking they know better and have the answers/solutions for things.

At the beginning, some of the dialogues felt strange or a bit stilted, but it was only because of the context. Every character has different ways in which they talk, and they all vary according to who’s there with them, and when the Kovrovs are around the dialogue will always be a bit awkward and stiff.

The world building is very good, with bits and pieces of lore and history guiding the story, and then mentions of social networks, college, and celebrities to remind you that this is happening right now. It does leave some questions unanswered, but I believe that it simply adds to the feeling of entering in the middle of something that was already rounded and alive.

And at the heart of it: The distinction between predetermination (fate), and will (your choices) was the thing that fully sold me on this idea. The fact that the root of the romance between Jeremy and Luke was a choice, and what they wanted, as opposed to a written-in-the-stars kind of thing, was amazing. I would say that “choices” are the cornerstone of this story, everyone had different choices they could’ve made that might have drastically changed the course of the narrative at every turn, and these are acknowledged in the inner dialogue of the characters “why did I do that? Why didn’t I say this?”, or in some cases “that was the only say this?”, or in some cases “that was the only choice I could realistically make”.

I absolutely adored the book, and I will 100% not shut up about it, anytime soon.

The uncrossing is a unique and interesting story. It had me guessing right to the end.

Crossing is to curse so uncrossing is to uncurse. Luke has a gift just like his sister. They are opposites. Luke can Uncross almost any curse. Jeremy is the one puzzle he can't work out.

Two powerful families control the magic in New York. Jeremy belongs to the Kovrov family. They are known to protect their own and be ruthless. Luke is aware of the dangers when he starts working with the family, but the opportunity is too good to turn down. He works alongside Jeremy and can't help but be interested in the puzzle which has taken over his life.

Jeremy has always had a thing for Luke. He thinks he is the answer to his prayers. Everyone can see the crush Jeremy has. Everyone expects Luke.

Uncrossed is a gay romance novel with a complex fantasy storyline. The story is creative and I found it really interesting.

4.5 Stars out of 5. It's different and I haven't read anything similar.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review. My blog tour stop with Chapter by Chapter will be on the 13th October and will include an interview with the lovely author*

3.25 stars.

I read the blurb and immediately knew that this would be a must-read for me, so I started my reading with very high expectations.

And then the rains came...

While I did like the story a good bit, this one wasn't an easy read for me, to say the least.

With 56 chapters and roughly 293'ish pages (according to my eReader), the book wasn't insanely long, but it definitely *felt* long to me.

There was something about the writing style that didn't quite flow in my mind, like books normally do. I'd often find myself needing to go back and re-read paragraphs, just to make sure that I'd read the passage correctly.

In large part, this was due to the fact that there were just Sooooooo. Many. Em. Dashes.

740 of them, to be precise. I counted. Twice!

Em-dashes are fine, when used SPARINGLY to interject more information into the middle of a moderately-related thought; however, seven-HUNDRED & forty of them? Sweet Jesus, I wanted to shoot myself in the face.

Then we have the interactions between Luke and Jeremy, whom I loved separately, but by half way through the book, I made the following review note:

OMMFG, can these two boys EVER talk without it turning into an argument???

Spoiler: The answer was a resounding "NO" -- until very shortly before the story ended.

See, I used an em-dash. One. Mainly to prove that they *can* be used in moderation.

So while I experienced some bonding and the beginnings of genuine feelings, their relationship ended up feeling like one or the other was constantly walking on egg shells. That didn't read as a deep, meant-to-be love to me, but more of an "I give them three weeks" situation. So the romance didn't leave me fully convinced that this was a one and only true love match.

Luke hadn’t texted or called. Well, of course he hadn’t. Jeremy had acted totally princessy. He wouldn’t have called himself, either.

Which brings me to my next point. Jeremy's "princessy" behavior *was* a real thing here, and Luke constant pushing, thinking that he always knew best, until everything exploded, that got old, too. Witnessing those high-octane emotions over and over again was a huge exercise in frustration.

The plot was very solid and didn't end quite as I'd expected, but I did feel that it could have easily been edited down by about 100 pages (and 600 em-dashes) and readability would have benefited greatly.

Despite what I saw as shortcomings, I'd still rate this one at 3.25 stars, because the story was fairly unique and mostly entertaining, with pretty on-point humor.

"You should say you're crossed, not cursed. Curse makes it sound hopeless."

This was just a fun-happy book that made me giddy and kept a smile on my face. I read so much urban fantasy from 2011-2015, but I’m really just getting back into the genre and I still love it. The Uncrossing creatively incorporated fairytale elements into an imaginative New York, with ruling magical families and intricate spellwork.

Things I Liked
I really love the fairytale elements incorporated into the story. Not only the magic and spells, but the power of true love’s kiss, all felt new fitting in this environment. The modern New York setting and the organized crime vibes creates a great forbidden love that was captivating and easy to become enveloped in.

I LOVE Jeremy Kovrov. He is such a good person and so kind and helpful. His curse could have easily made him bitter or resentful, but he was such a ray of light! Don’t get me wrong, he did get upset and was allowed to demonstrate his frustrations. He was such a full person.

I also really loved the family dynamics in the story, especially the Kovrov’s. They were so adorably sweet teasing Jeremy about his crush on Luke. They were so playful and supportive and they gave me all the warm fuzzies!

Things I Didn’t Like
In the beginning of the story, it was hard for me to be grounded and grab onto anything. It kind of felt like I was just thrown into the story, and all these things were already happening and I had to catch up. It was just a bit disorienting and made me work to get into the story.

The Uncrossing is one of those books that just put you in a great mood. You love seeing Luke and Jeremy’s push-and-pull; you root for them and want them to be happy and adorable together. I loved the seeing the family dynamics and the wonderful magic. And even though I was a little overwhelmed in the beginning, I really loved this story.

I received a copy of the book from Entagled Teen via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I wanted so badly to love this. But sadly, for me, THE UNCROSSING is better in synopsis format than in the expanded format that is the story itself. Mostly because the synopsis actually tells you what's going on..

"<i>You should say you're crossed, not cursed. <b>Curse</b> makes it sound hopeless.</i>"
"<b>Maybe in hoodoo you get crossed. But in Mother Russia, curse gets you.</b>"

Common complaints about any kind of fantasy, or urban fantasy, tend to lie in the 'info dump' category. Well Eastlake definitely is not guilty of that. We come into things right in the middle of it all. A pre-existing set of rules to this world, pre-existing relationships, pre-existing backstory. And we had to earn every single drop of information about the whys and the hows. It made the beginning confusing and slow and I almost considered starting over when, by the 10% mark, I was still so so lost. In addition, as the story kind of revolves around a mystery and secrets and a curse, and we're learning as the character are learning/revealing, it <b>continued</b> to be slow all the way through.

"<i>Is it different, kissing boys and girls?</i>"
"<b>It's different with everyone, if you pay attention.</b>"

Not helping matters is the fact that one of the main characters.. is.. really.. frustrating-annoying-childish-sheltered. The last one not being his fault, just his circumstances, but oh god reading from Jeremy's POV was painful at times. The constant temper tantrums, the overblown overreactions, the push and pull conflict in his own mind that naturally didn't lend itself well to his words or actions, especially in regards to Luke only ever wanting more information to help.. it was not a good time, folks. And made it really hard to buy why suddenly Luke is all sorts of into this guy.

<i>Jeremy had one social skill for when things went wrong -- freeze like a bunny and let someone else handle it -- so that's what he did.</i>

The potential for awesome is here. In a lot of ways, I was really impressed that this was Eastlake's debut. There were some funny lines, some clever magical elements (some of which didn't get revealed or compared until the end? I just don't understand the timing on information availability in this one), and when I was liking it I was really liking it. But there was too much build-up, too much unknown, too much unexplained until the last minute, and unfortunately by the time everything came to a head.. I just wanted it over with.

<i>He was over here falling in love, and Jeremy was getting to know Luke better and falling out of it.</i>

I would definitely be willing to pick up the author's next book but sadly THE UNCROSSING went from something that was I liking but unsure about to something I wished I could just skim to get to the resolution.

2 stars

This book had me hooked right with the first sentence.

I'm always impressed when that happens, *especially* when its a genre I'm not that into, which in this case means fantasy YA. But I had seen the cover and was intrigued even before seeing several enthusiastic reviews on Goodreads, so I decided I'd give this a try, and I am glad I did.

The whole story is set in New York, and in this New York, there is magic. Different families rule or protect different areas - and Luke's family is protected by the Kovrovs. Luke himself is very good at "uncrossing", that is, undoing curses - and the summer where the story is set he works for the Kovrovs, doing odd jobs while getting closer to Jeremy, the youngest Kovrov brother. And getting closer to Jeremy leads to having to figure out how to do Luke's most important uncrossing yet..

I loved the characters and the setting, and while I can be a grumpy curmudgeon about this, I found their teenage awkwardness about falling in love utterly sweet and adorable while not being teethachingly cute (which is to say it never got too much). The way the plot unravelled took me by suprise and kept me on edge right until the end, and speaking of which, I *loved* the ending. I also liked the magic system, or what we got to see of it - I actually wouldn't have minded a closer look at the world and how everything works - as interesting as it was it was a bit frustrating at times to get only short glimpses rather than the big picture, although I much prefer the way it's done here to several pages of exposition. I would have liked to know more about stuff like schools and such- everything that happens to Luke and Jeremy felt oddly isolated. I think that is the only complaint I have - while there are some interesting side characters and while they do go out occasionally, it never felt like the story and the characters were grounded in the world around them. I don't know how to explain it better, but in that sense it lacked depth that might have made this even better.

I still highly enjoyed this and would recommend this to anyone looking for a good urban fantasy YA story.

3.5 stars

"The Uncrossing" takes us to a world of magic which thrives within our own. In this world, people with magical abilities live in a mafia-style society, which is controlled by certain families. Luke's family is part of the Kovrovs mafia-style group. While the Kovrovs tend to take care of the people under them, they do wield a lot of power over them and control their financial success (just think mafia that happens to have magic). The book begins with the Kovrovs coming over to see Luke and his twin sister, Camille. Camille is an expert at crossing things while Luke does just the opposite and can uncross just about anything. We learn about this as Camille examines some hexes the Kovrovs brought and then Luke undoes them.

The main plot here is really about Luke and Jeremy's relationship. Jeremy has liked Luke forever, but Luke is oblivious (although everyone else has seemed to notice). Luke is in a casual relationship with Max, which seems to be rapidly spiraling down the drain. When the Kovrovs make him an offer (which he can't refuse) to work for them, he begins to get to know Jeremy, the Kovrov prince, better. When Luke asks a question which seems simple, it undoes a binding that no one seemed to know existed and opens a much bigger can of worms. Jeremy is crossed- but can Luke uncross him and the large curse hanging over the Kovrovs?

Most of the book moves very slowly, as the two boys get to know each other and fight a lot- tensions are running high due to the undercurrent of Jeremy's crossing and what it means for him/how much he wants Luke to help. The mentions of a "citywide war" in the summary are perhaps exaggerated, as there just seems to be bad blood between the Kovrovs and Malcolms with some spying but not a full-blown war. The book is more about young love and the growth of their relationship against the odds- what love means/how you know you are in love. There is a bit of mystery shrouding the Kovrovs and Jeremy's crossing, but it seemed to be resolved at a snail's pace for most of the book. The last 20% or so really picks this up and runs with it, making it much more intricate than it had previously seemed. I wish the book had moved a little faster with these other elements and we could have unraveled this mystery sooner, as the first part of the book felt like a romance without much of the fantasy elements I was expecting.

I also was surprised that it ended without clear resolution, and people who hate open endings will be left unsatisfied. It makes me wonder if they are considering making this into a series/adding more books to it. This is unclear from what I can find, but it's good to know for people who need resolution! Overall, I think it was a solid (albeit drama-filled) YA romance with some fantasy elements, so not quite what I expected (I expected a YA fantasy with some romance)- but I still enjoyed it overall nevertheless!

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I got this dumb little smile on face and it's because of this book. This book was just so damn adorable. Luke and Jeremy just made my heart all sorts of happy. Of course, it had its serious moments and there were moments where I wanted to smack Luke and Jeremy but overall, I couldn't be happier with this book.

Luke has the gift of being able to uncross someone. I'm sure most of you have seen a Supernatural, where Sam and Dean are hunting witches and they have to find hex bags. Well the concept is similar. Luke can find those hex bags and cleanse the person or building of the hex. Cool right? Because I thought this was very cool. As for Luke as a character, I liked him. He was stuck up but I personally didn't mind it. It fit him and his friends and family certainly weren't afraid to knock him down a peg or two. And I think he did a lot of good for Jeremy, even if they fought a lot.

Jeremy is a precious cinnamon roll and must be protected at all costs. I never call anyone a cinnamon roll so that goes to show how much I adored this character. My heart hurt for this poor guy because of his secret, he couldn't really live a normal life. He has family that kind of accepts him/kind of doesn't in terms of him being gay. He basically has lived his life thinking that being gay and feminine is bad. I just wanted to reach into the book and tell him that he is perfect the way he is. Why can't people just accept others the way they are.

The world building was very cool. It combined the real world, with mentions of Instagram, Snapchat and saying "drag me" (which I have no idea what that means at all) and combining it with old world magic and old families. The side characters were well done. They weren't just placed there for the sake of being. Overall, I'm really impressed with this book and I'm anxious to see what else this author does.