Laurel comes home from college after dropping out and something is there waiting for her. Her mother awakened something in their small farming town, and now it's up to Laurel and her childhood friends to send it back where it came from. What follows is an Appalachian magic, There's appropriate trigger warnings that I was very grateful for, and the realism of the characters. They are so multi-faceted. I really hated Laurel, she was selfish and childish. But she was so real and visceral. It wasn't a matter of me not liking a female character who is battling depression. It's more that I didn't understand where her severe childishness came from. She gets put on academic suspension, and as a result just drops out of school. She doesn't want to be some small down girl who lives and dies in the same house so she won't give in to her feelings for Ricky. But as soon as he says he doesn't want that life either, she wants him. She came home because she "Couldn't make it out" Her (gay) best friend Isaac had plans to join her at college- a place where he can be free and himself and out from under his heavily abusive father- and when he admits his plans haven't changed even though she's not going back to college, she argues and fights and insults him and doesn't understand how he could want to leave. Because, well, she's back now, so why would he want to leave? She just acts like these boys should only ever live for her, and the idea that they would want things outside of what she wants is something she really can't comprehend. Every action she makes is so fully focused on herself and her wants and based on her own understanding of the world, and never any consideration of others. Then she acts shocked when they're angry that she did something selfish. She acts like the world is this innocent place. "He hit you, so I made sure we got out of there before you could gather your things and we could leave safely"Just such a simple view of the world and its horrors. That's not even touching on the issues of world building. There's magic, and while I love the idea of the Appalachian Magic being represented, its FUNCTIONS were so confusing. Certain VERY IMPORTANT events happened in such a way that it was confusing until a while later that anything had even happened. THere's also the way the boys love Laurel, who has magic, but condemn Christine who also has magic. And the only excuse is a throw away comment that Christine was grown in different soil. So they... insult her extensively. Overall the only saving grace of this book was the characters, who were so well done and believable.