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“i became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity” — EDGAR ALLAN POE I love origin stories.  How did the times in which a person lived, the circumstance of their life, their internal demons, weaknesses, and strengths, all collide into make him (or her) into whatever it was he/she became?  The darker, the more enigmatic, the better; and so I was delighted by Jessica Verday’s foray into the youth of a man whose torment we know all too well. It’s a dark and stormy night in Philadelphia in 1826, when Annabel Lee disembarks from a steamer ship that has brought her from Siam to live withRead More →

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Michael Grant excels at taking a reader to the edge (or sometimes beyond) of what frightens you, I mean deeply frightens you, displaying the slippery slope down into the dark recesses, the murky depths that blur the lines between right, wrong, and no-win situations, and of course the madness that’s ready to consume you when looking into the face of your nightmares is too much. With his techno-thriller series BZRK winding down, Grant turns his attention inward to explore the choices and their consequences that we make in our daily lives. Choices that impact others and could be (should be?) judged as good or evil.Read More →

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YA Master Scott Westerfeld is back  this Fall with Afterworlds, a novel-within-a-novel, tightly intertwining a fully developed realistic YA romance with am equally robust spooky paranormal horror story, exploring the many ways in which our stories and our secrets define every aspect of our lives. 18 year old Darcy Patel’s composed-in-one-month paranormal horror story, Afterworlds, has been picked up by a major publishing house, netting her a $200,000 advance and the chance to put college on hold and move to New York City to be a “real writer”.  Naive, star-struck, and plagued with self-doubt, Darcy is not going to miss the chance at the lifeRead More →

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I pretty much hate it when I am reading a series and the author reintroduces characters and themes passed the first book. I have great appreciation for an author who has confidence in her/his readers’ intelligence.  That being said; some series must be read in order, this book being a prime example. Cole Gibsen‘s Shinobi is the third book of Gibsen’s Katana series.  As engaging as this book may be, it does not stand alone. As the characters are reincarnated samurai, this book alternates between the past and present.  There were many poignant, important memories from which I was left out. In fact, it wasn’t untilRead More →

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In: Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction (YA), Middle Grade Reviews, Romance (YA), Supernatural & Horror, Supernatural & Horror (YA), Young Adult Book Reviews
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I tend to love Civil War Era novels. This may be because the absolute horror of the time tends to lend itself really well to dramatic tension.  The conflicts present in Jane Nickerson‘s The Mirk and Midnight Hour most certainly could have made for a lot of high tension drama, but, unfortunately, they fell short. Ms. Nickerson introduces a wide range of themes throughout the novel; communicating with wildlife, the Civil War, slave society, voodoo, xenophobia, blended families, love, and treachery.  A strong development of any of these would have made for a really interesting story, but none were ever completely explored. Violet is living duringRead More →

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Kai and Ginny are neighbors and best friends. Truly inseparable, two peas in a pod, they have spent everyday together since they were toddlers. As they have grown older, Kai and Ginny have planned their lives and futures together; get married, run off to New York, and pursue Kai’s dream of being a famous musician. Kai lives with his grandmother, Dalia, who is less than approving of Ginny. She refers to her as “neighbor girl” and sees Kai wasting his talent and dreams every second that he spends with her. Grandma Dalia is known to believe in some strange ideas, such as the evil SnowRead More →

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White Space by Ilsa J. Bick starts out as Lizzie McDermott’s story but morphs into Emma Lindsay’s.  Lizzie is the daughter of Wisconsin’s Most Famous Crazy Dead Writer, Frank McDermott, who is an author of horror stories which rival those of Steven King and H.P. Lovecraft.  Lizzie, who considers her mother most beautiful when she is defiant, determined, and enraged, possesses a power that surpasses that of both her parents.  With her memory quilt and the Sign of Sure, she can travel the Dark Passages, the black basement of the brain.  Here, she drifts on the breath of a dream into a black void toRead More →

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What if hex lessons could empower a bully’s victim to enact revenge?  What if we could send out psychic energy as an agent of change?  These are questions Mariah Fredericks explores in her book Season of the Witch.  The novel features Antonia Thurman, a sixteen year old junior who wants to be elegant, fiercely smart, and strong but still funny and nice.  Instead, she is the target of bully Chloe Nachmias, a petite and perfect, every-part-ideal beauty who causes others to feel clumsy and insignificant.  Chloe and her minions, Zeena and Isabelle, make Slam the Slut everyone’s favorite game, with Toni the target since sheRead More →

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A teenage girl with an unknown power, her guy best friend with whom she’s so comfortable she doesn’t even consider romance, and a mysterious guy, brooding, beautiful, and seemingly dangerous who is suddenly everywhere she turns.  Twilight?  No, actually, these three teens are the main characters in The Fallen Series author Lauren Kate‘s new trilogy, Teardrop. Seventeen year old Eureka Boudreaux is a strong-willed, beautiful, and depressed.  Just months ago she lost her best friend, her mom Diana, to a rogue wave that inexplicably swept their car, and only their car, from a bridge connecting the Florida Keys to the mainland.  Now Eureka, wracked withRead More →