I want to start off with the positives. This book was a very quick read and the cover art drew me right in. The earth magic was cool and I thought the book did an alright job addressing what grief looked like.... A quick and dirty summary is a young woman (Olivia) who possessed earth magic was embarrassed at a Christmas Eve Ball hosted by her family. She was taunted for being a witch and exposed. She decided to run into the woods and escape her family and tormentors. Her father followed and she wanted him to stop so she used her magic to create a dense foliage barrier in the woods and accidentally killed her father in the process. She then entombed herself in a tree and has "lived" there ever since. Cut to the modern day. We have a 40 year old teacher just going about life. He is a widower and doesn't have much going for him. While on a field trip to a beautiful old estate (not only was it where he and his wife had a wedding, it was the estate the "witch's" family owned) he stumbles into the woods and encounters the beautiful "tree siren" as he likes to call her. He becomes enamored with her and convinces her to leave the woods. He greatly underestimates her power though and a trail of destruction follows. He can't help himself though, he hasn't felt this alive since his wife was alive and he'll do anything to stay with this beauty. This book.... could have used a lot more substance, a lot more editing, and just a lot... more. Hunter seemed very two dimensional. He contained so much grief but then it just went out the window whenever he is around Olivia. He knows how dangerous she is yet he continually puts his friends and family in danger by exposing them to her and he just makes excuses for everything. Also, there is an alarming lack of sex (the cover looked so spicy, I was let down!). This was definitely gothic but the comparisons to Nightmare Before Christmas were an extreme stretch.
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