I have mixed feelings for this book. I like the plot, although it's basic and it can be argued that plots like this are like beating a dead Twilight horse. I also like the majority of the characters. I do not like the protagonist. But plot first. 
 Zara's stepfather, who raised her like she was his own, dies and Zara sinks into a depression which prompts her mother to exile Zara to Maine to live with her grandmother. Zara finds this pointless but intrigue arises when she notices a man who has been following her since she lived in Charleston. Once arriving in Maine she also discovers that a boy has disappeared, mimicking disappearances from a couple of decades ago. She and her new friends, including Nick, her love interest, piece together clues and discover the town is in danger because of Pixies. 
 First of all, I'm glad this book has pixies instead of vampires. But seriously, pixies? It's kinda too froo-froo to be taken as a legitimate threat. I keep thinking that these kind of books should have wendigos because that is neither overused (not used at all really) nor are they sparkly. But I might just write a book about wendigos myself so I digress. I'm just thankful I didn't have to deal with over-emotional vampire boys. 
 That brings me to characters. 
 I'm going to start with the characters that aren't Zara. 
 I love Nick and I love Zara's grandmother, Betty. Betty is a tough Maine woman. She reminds me of Sarah Palin. She's no nonsense and she has a good sense of humor while being very loving and supportive. 
 I like Nick because I am SO tired of these main love interests being these brooding emotional dependent idiots. That is the last thing I want in a man and it causes me to want the character to be with the more upbeat and quite frankly, more manlier character. But Nick is a man. He's masculine while giving off enough emotion to make the character want him instead of hate him. 
 Now Zara. She is why I gave the book 4 stars (because I couldn't give 3.5 stars). I would actually like Zara but the three things that basically make up her character are the three things I can't stand. 
 1. Get over it Zara, Maine is cold. I vacationed in Maine as a child and I would live there if I could. I would love to open the door and have 4 feet of snow blocking me. But anyways, we all know Maine gets cold, so we don't need to complain about it for half the book. 
 2. The phobias. Don't get me wrong, I love knowing all these terms for fears and it's cool that she memorized them. But she thought she had half of them. It reminds me of a child saying "I'm allergic to broccoli, I'm allergic to cleaning." Just because you don't like something, doesn't mean you have a fear of it. For example, Zara said she had a fear of cold but said she never really had been in the cold and once she was in the cold she did not act like someone with a legitimate fear does. It was all just a little melodramatic for me. 
 3. Amnesty International. If you play a drinking game with this book and take a drink every time Zara mentioned AI or pacifism or humanitarianism, you wouldn't be able to get half way through because you would be so freaking drunk. 
 The book and the plot really has no need for the constant discussion of Amnesty International. It became so annoying. It was unending. As Hugh Grant's character in About a Boy would say, Zara is a "granola hippie." It made me hate humanitarianism. I get that she likes to write urgent action letters on behalf of the victims of human rights violations, but once the character gets ready to fight the antagonist but she has to bring her letters with her, you know you need to stop mentioning them. At one point in the book I thought to myself "this author must be some hippie liberal" because it went that far. It was just unnecessary. 
 Anyway, I'll end my rant. 
 Overall this book was good and it's a quick read once you get past Zara's annoying tendencies. It's unique enough for the genre while still being approachable. 
 I will be reading the next two books in the series, I just hope she chills out on the AI letters.