Impossibleby Nancy Werlin

Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that she is the latest recipient of a generations-old family curse that requires her to complete three seemingly impossible tasks or risk falling into madness and passing the curse on to the next generation. Unlike her ancestors, though, Lucy has family, friends, and other modern resources to help her out. But will it be enough to conquer this age-old evil? (goodreads.com)

Things I wasn't expecting in this story: rape, teen pregnancy and teen marriage. I was quite surprised by this story to be honest. Surprised in a good way, that is.I read Extraordinary last year and it was my introduction to Nancy Werlin's writing. That story took a while to capture me, but the flow of the words on the page are what I was drawn to. Impossible has that same captivating writing style, so simple yet so beautiful. At first I thought to myself, "Self, this book is good and all, but I don't think I will like it nearly as much as I did Extraordinary." However as the story progressed I realized that my initial thought wasn't right at all. There was something so eerie and enrapturing about the plot and Lucy's curse and I found myself unable to put the book down all afternoon.There was something creepy and beautiful about this entire story. The relationship between Lucy and Zach was believable and the friendship between Lucy and Sarah (although infrequently depicted) was also strong and believable. I sort of wish Sarah's role in the book was a little larger because she was a great friend and I would have liked to have seen that friendship played out a little more.Padrig was a sufficiently creepy baddy. I felt all goosebumpy whenever he was on screen, er, in the scene. I was instantly turned off by him with his first appearance and I knew he wasn't to be trusted. So smarmy. Blech. (There are so many words in this paragraph that my spell check does not like!)This was an oddly fascinating modern fairy tale with current Big Issues and some fey folklore mixed into the plot. It's not quite a faerie story, but it has the magical elements of Dark Fey I think. It's just borderline fiction and fantasy. It could almost be contemporary if not for the magical cursey elements.Also, the entire time I was reading this book I was humming Scarborough Fair by Simon & Garfunkle. I kid you not. In fact, it's still in my head now and I think it will be for a while. Good thing I actually LIKE that song, or Ms. Werlin would be the recipient of an angry letter from me about this unwanted earworm. =P