Yes, some of this novel was very predictable and yes, some of the lines were a bit corny but this was the prefect beach read. I mean you have the Sorrow Family, a family said to be witches and to have mysterious powers and then Bourbon Street and a crumbling down mansion with a mysterious past. On top of that you have a long past mystery of a whole family, at that mansion, that was found dead, a missing child, and a current family that is as strange as they are interesting. The pat will affect the present in pressing ways and finally the truth of what happened cannot be denied. Loved every inch of this novel and could have read on. Butt like all good things it ended and so did my beach vacation.