I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Evangeline O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and sent off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is ecstatic. It's 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. Evie worries he'll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far.

When the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer. As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfurl in the city that never sleeps. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened....

Short and Sweet Review

After Evie shows off a unique trick at a party which isn’t received well by some, she ends up being shipped off from Ohio to stay with her uncle Will in New York. Evie is able to touch objects and see its history. When there’s a string of murders in the city, Will is asked to assist and Evie uses her powers to help find a killer.

The Diviners was a captivating book and it held my attention the entire time. At first I wasn’t sure about reading this book because it’s pretty hefty but we get a lot of background information and meet different characters. Evie is our main character and she has a lot of growing to do. This book takes place during the 1920s and Evie is inspired by the flapper lifestyle so she’s pretty rebellious and energetic and it gets her in trouble. Evie has a hard time taking no for an answer and most of the time it makes her seem very self centered. I do think Evie grew a bit as the book goes on but she has a lot of room for more character development. Evie has an interesting gift in which she can touch an object and know its history which is helpful when trying to find a killer. Evie’s uncle Will runs a museum which focuses on occult and paranormal items. Evie ends up learning she’s a diviner and she’s not the only one. In other chapters we meet some other diviners like Memphis who’s a healer and Henry who can walk through dreams. In different chapters we’re either with Evie, other diviners, or seeing how the murder victims met their fates. I enjoyed the latter half of the book when we see more investigating and Evie using her powers. There’s a lot of characters in this book but I would say our main focus would be on Evie and her core group of Will, Sam, Jericho, and Mabel, we also have Memphis, Theta, Henry, and Isaiah. I enjoyed the setting it felt dark and gritty with all of the murders happening and the time period was interesting, it took me a while to get used to all of the lingo. The murderer was also one that had me worried for the characters because its not one that could be easily defeated.

Overall, this first book in the series really makes you want to binge read the rest. I enjoyed all of the characters and I just had to keep reading to see what will happen next. After finishing this book I feel very invested in finding out what could possibly happen in future installments. I would recommend this book if you like books that are on the spookier side and involve ghosts.