A review by kosmond
The Blessed by Tonya Hurley

2.0

I didn't understand this book. It was strange, confusing and not as enjoyable as I had thought. Though it was thick with chilling and haunting revelations, the characters didn't jump out of the pages. Sebastian, a mentally-ill patient (or is he? We don't really get an answer to that) at Perpetual Help Hospital escapes and targets so to say three young girls who also happen to be at the same hospital in the ER. Lucy, Cecilia and Agnes though completely different are drawn to the same place, the same night and find things they weren't ready for.
Lucy is a high-maintenance, self-centered, up and coming "it-girl" who believes in living in the moment with the hottest trends, places and will back-stab whoever to better herself. She was a bit of an annoyance really. Cecilia, or CeCe is a musician who doesn't care about much else. Her music and fans are her world, that's all she needs to get through the day. Agnes, a romantic with a big heart just wants to be in love. We don't get much else from these characters. And there wasn't much to go on in the first place. I had a hard time with these flat, uninteresting characters. Sebastian, while he seemed like he was going to be something in the book, turned out to be confusing and strange. He never seemed to really answer any questions the girls had and yet they completely fell for him and were willing to die for him. I couldn't get into that whole aspect of the book. These girls had doubts and at points were a little scared, but just continued to be naive and it was just a little surreal.
I'm not familiar at all with Saints and the stories behind them and The Blessed didn't reveal much about them, other than that these 3 saints - Saint Agnes, Saint Lucy and Saint Cecilia - were all horribly mistreated and then refused to die their intended ways. I'm not sure where Saint Sebastian falls into this. The end of the book, when these girls came to terms with everything, the violence and graphic nature was just absurd to be honest. They are supposed to be Saints after all. The Blessed is clearly not a novel for me, but I can see how someone would be intrigued by it's content.