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Amelia van den Broek is ready for romance in the summer of 1889. She's traveling from her home in Broken Tooth, Maine, to visit relatives and find a future husband in fashionable Baltimore. One evening shortly after Amelia arrives, she sees a vision of her second cousin Zora dancing with a handsome young man. When Amelia's prediction comes true, word spreads quickly. Soon every young person in the city is calling on her in hopes of seeing the future. Amelia and Zora relish in their newfound popularity within the social circles of Baltimore until her seemingly innocent talent turns into a burden.
As she tries to understand her gift - and decide what to do with it - Amelia becomes close to Nathaniel, a mysterious man who seems to appear out of thin air whenever she needs him. Unfortunately, he's not really a part of her social class. But their romance is turning out to be one of the only things going well for Amelia this summer. Her predictions have taken a dark turn - and no matter how hard she tries to prevent it, they're all coming true.
The Vespertine was a fairly enjoyable book. I liked the spiritualist aspect combined with the historical fiction a lot. It would have been great to get more details about Amelia's talent (how it works, where it came from, etc). I also wish there had been some kind of conflict that forced Amelia to make choices or take action. The characters in this book were somewhat under-developed, especially Amelia. She was a stereotypically weak female character from the start. That would have been fine as long as she underwent some kind of transformation. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. On the other hand, this book did offer a nice picture of historical society and offer (at least for me) a somewhat unexpected happy ending. This would be worth reading if you're looking for a supernatural storyline that's not too dark.
Rating: 3/5
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