A story of best friends, bad luck and the consequences of breaking the rules in a town built on secrets and superstitions.

Growing up in Ember Grove, Bitsy Clark knows better than to break the rules around the Revelry, the mysterious end-of-year party in the woods. So when her best friend, Amy, persuades her to sneak in, Bitsy is full of misgivings.

Misgivings that she should have listened to, because it’s after the Revelry that Bitsy’s luck turns and her life starts to unravel. For Amy it’s the opposite, as if she’s been blessed with good fortune.

Soon Bitsy is convinced that the Revelry has tied the two friends together in a curse that only she can break…

The Revelry is a tale of friendship, magic, and strange goings-on. Bitsy and Amy live in the small town of Ember Grove and have been friends for years.

Every year there is an end-of-year party held in the woods by the Lost Lake, which is only for the school leavers. Amy has been desperate to know about this elusive and secret party for years and when she discovers an invitation left discarded, she decides to gate crash it and asks Bitsy to join her.

Bitsy has heard all the warnings about the party including the superstitions and that one year a party goer went missing, never to be seen again, but Amy manages to persuade her.

After the party, the pair wake up and can’t remember anything about it, but Bitsy soon realises that the events that follow are caused by their attendance and that she needs to do something to set their lives back to normal.

The Revelry is an interesting read and the plot intriguing. The book is aimed at the YA market and given the basis of the plot, I would agree, however, the writing came across more towards the middle-grade market and given that there are no shocking or scary moments, I think it reads more like a middle-grade read too, just that the characters are older.

I love that you never quite know whether the book is surrounded by magic or that what is occurring is inside Bitsy’s head. It leaves plenty of scope for the reader to make their own minds up. I also loved the descriptions of the town, the woods, the missing lake, etc. All made for a very atmospheric read.

This is a decent, fun, and quick read with female friendship at the core.

Katherine Webber was born in Southern California in 1987. She has lived in Hong Kong, Hawaii, and Atlanta. She currently lives in London with her husband, Kevin, and their young daughter. In addition to her YA, Katherine also co-writes young fiction, as Katie Tsang, with Kevin.

Katherine studied Comparative Literature at the University of California, Davis and Chinese literature and language at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has worked at an international translation company, a technology startup, and a reading charity. She now writes full time.

She loves an adventure, whether it is found in a book or in real life and has travelled to over 45 countries. Travel, books, and eating out are her favourite indulgences.