The Diviners by Libba Bray

It's 1926, and seventeen-year-old Evie O'Neill has been sent to stay with her stuffy, old Uncle Will in New York City after a parlor trick goes awry. Determined to make a name for herself, she maneuvers her way into the nightlife wrought with speakeasies, chorus girls, and underground parties. She quickly learns that New York City is the perfect place for a small-town girl like her to reinvent herself. The only problem is that New York City is also the perfect place for evil to prey on innocent victims. Pretty soon, as bodies start piling up, Evie's "parlor trick" becomes the only thing that can stop a serial killer.

Bray's masterful portrayal of Prohibition Era Manhattan pulls the reader into a world of flappers, speakeasies, and propaganda. The novel is full of murder and suspense that plays off of the supernatural and occult. As multiple subplots collide, readers gets introduced to unique urban legends and historical information.

Bray effectively uses New York City and the Harlem Renaissance as backdrops that address larger social issues facing America during the 1920's: racism, religious fervor, decadence of youth, police corruption, aftermath of WWI, and feminism. Through characters such as Theta Knight, Mabel Rose, Sam Lloyd, Memphis Campbell, Henry DuBois, and Jericho, social issues come to life and humanize struggles people faced. Unfortunately, with so many characters and so many subplots, it takes a long time to set up each context. There were times that remembering information about each character and plot was challenging. So much build-up (and flipping back-and-forth between stories) runs the risk of readers losing interest. Sometimes less is more.  

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah are Raven Boys, boys who attend the exclusive Aglionby Prep School, on a quest. Blue Sargent is the daughter of a psychic who’s made it a policy to stay away from pretentious Aglionby boys…that it, until she foresees Gansey’s tragic death. What’s worse is that she knows she’s the cause.

When fate ensures that their paths cross, Blue decides to help these Raven Boys pursue the Legend of Glendower, the legend that promises a single wish to whoever wakes the king from his centuries of slumber. The closer that they get to finding the king, the more they realize that the legend is real and they aren’t the only ones looking. A sacrifice has to be made to wake up the ley lines to continue the quest, and certain people have no qualms about spilling innocent blood.

No novel should ever take 300 pages to get interesting. Ever. This novel moved so slowly that I had to make myself continue reading with the hope that the climax would be worth it. It wasn’t.  Granted, there were a few creepy parts (i.e., murder and paranormal activity), but not enough to sustain the droning plot.

Another aspect of this novel that was left wanting was the legend. To me, the legend is the life of this story, and it needed to be developed more so that it was more interesting. So, people find a sleeping Welsh, wake him up, and get a wish. Um, so what? Where’s the detailed folklore? Was this king evil or good? Are there warnings and consequences once a wish is granted? What happens once he wakes up? Does he go back to sleep again after a certain time or does he become immortal? These are things that needed to be developed in book 1 because it is the foundation of the series. The details were so sparse and superficial that I didn’t buy into it.

There was very little suspense throughout this novel despite the potential for some seriously scary scenes. Part of this was because many of the scenes were repetitive and underdeveloped. As a result, the characters were shallow and boring. Any attempt at suspense fell flat because instead of letting the reader connect the dots on her own, the author felt as though she had to spell everything out for her (this involves spoilers, so I won’t give specifics here). Then, there were other times that the author drew the reader’s attention to a subtle nuance, only to leave it hanging (Ashley’s interest in Glendower, Neeve’s witchcraft, Ronan’s secret).

All-in-all, I was bored with this book, and I won’t read the others in the series. I really loved the premise; I just wish that the execution had been more effective. 

ARC courtesy of ALA 2012
Publication: September 2012

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula is a creature that possesses many powers including mind-control and seduction. He uses his mysticism to lure Jonathan Harker to his castle in Transylvania in order to finalize his plans to infiltrate British society and feast upon its Victorian ideals. Unfortunately, he has to play by certain rules. For instance, he cannot leave his "unholy" soil, he cannot cross running water, and he cannot enter without being invited. Regardless of his limitations, he's able to find faithful followers who will help him seek and destroy his prey no matter how pure and how safe she might feel.

Set in the late 1800s and incorporating many Freudian concepts, DRACULA (modeled after Vlad the Impaler) addresses issues of sexuality, feminism, and immigration. This text is written in a series of letters (epistolary) from the perspectives of the main characters: Mina, Jonathan Harker, Van Helsing, Seward, and Lucy. Unfortunately, the reader never gets to learn Dracula's perspective, which is a true weakness of the novel. In addition, this novel takes WAY too long to implement any kind of suspense or tension, which leaves the reader bored. The most tension I've felt, in fact, comes when I'm trying to avoid certain topics with my students that they inevitably bring up and want to discuss. I probably won't teach this novel again

Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

It’s been one year since Lucca’s death. One year since a horrible
accident changed Brooklyn’s life forever. As she continues trying to pick up the pieces after her boyfriend’s death, another tragedy strikes on the one year anniversary: Gabe, the driver of the car that killed Lucca, and Brooklyn’s friend, gives up on life. Unable to live with the guilt of surviving when he killed his friend, Gabe overdoses and ends his pain.

Nico is Lucca’s older brother. He gets to live in the house that feels the constant anguish of Lucca’s absence. Instead of turning to drugs or partying to deal with his sorrow, Nico runs. He runs to block out the world. He runs to block out his parents’ disappointment. He runs to block out the guilt he feels for being alive when his brother’s dead. He runs until…Lucca’s ghost gives him a mission: help Brooklyn.

Soon after Gabe’s death, Brooklyn begins having nightmares about him. She thinks they’re simply dreams until Gabe starts visiting her when she’s awake.

In this companion to I Heart You, You Haunt Me (2008), Schroeder explores the effects of survivor’s guilt. Each character in this novel is either directly or indirectly impacted by the death of Lucca and Gabe, and she shows that time knows no limits to sorrow. What makes this novel so effective is the fact that she addresses this issue from multiple perspectives (parents, siblings, friends, and boyfriend/girlfriends).

Although this novel is categorized as young adult, I truly believe that people of all ages could read it and glean meaning from its pages. If anyone has lived through loss, they can connect with the struggles of Brooklyn, Nico, and the parents. Depression is very real, and it’s usually gradual.

Each aspect of death has its own tragedy that people must work through. Just because people look “fine” doesn’t mean that they are. Sometimes, as a society, we don’t know what to say to people who are suffering, so we say nothing. Schroeder’s book shows us that, to make a positive impact, sometimes all we have to do is give someone a hug and ask, “How are you doing?” Then, listen.

I love this book; it is heartfelt and simplistic in its depiction of loss. However, for readers who like more description, more drama, and aren’t poetry fans, they probably won’t find as much enjoyment from this one as I did. Still, I think that everyone should give it a try.

**This novel can stand-alone, but the first one is good, too. 

Through to You by Emily Hainsworth

Every day is a challenge for Camden Pike because his girlfriend Viv was his entire world, but it's been two months since his life changed forever. Two months since the accident. Two months of maintaining her shrine. Two months without holding her.

While visiting the site of the accident one night, Camden notices an eerie green light and a girl on the other side calling his name. He soon learns that the green light is a portal into a parallel world where Viv is still alive. Determined to have her back, Camden ignores the fact that the Viv he lost in his world isn’t the Viv living in the other one. As the portal begins to shrink, secrets unfold and obsessions turn deadly.

Emily Hainsworth’s debut novel is a breath of fresh air. Through her portrayal of a grieving young man, she captures the realistic and complicated internal conflicts that he undergoes while dealing – or not dealing - with his girlfriend’s death. Hainsworth effectively makes Camden a flawed character who must work through multiple issues: his father’s abandonment of the family, his absent workaholic mother, his fall from grace as the football star, and his emotional instability. All of these issues lead to the guiding theme of this novel, which is “What if?” What if we’d chosen something different?

All of us are presented with choices, and based upon those choices, we follow a certain path. Camden is no different. What he discovers in the parallel world is that the same people exist, but their different choices led them to different futures. For instance, instead of giving up on football when his leg was shattered, the other Camden pushed himself to overcome the injury. As a result, even though the “real”Camden’s initial goal for entering the other world was to reunite with Viv, he also realized the possibilities for what he could accomplish if he refused to give up. He had to realize that he possessed the strength within himself to do great things – without Viv.

Nina is the girl that Camden meets the first night that the green light appears. Although he doesn’t recognize her, she knows him from her world, and she serves as his guide – a conscience, almost – as he works through his love and loss of Viv, as well as his renewed discovery of her in the other world. Nina has secrets and she holds the key to Camden’s happiness, but she also wants him to make the discoveries on his own.

The ending of this novel is so bittersweet that I’m STILL thinking about it. There are so many ways that I wanted it to go, but Hainsworth executed it so beautifully that there was only one way that it could end. I love, love, love this book, and I’ll probably reread it in the near future because I didn’t want it to end.

ARC Provided by HarperCollins Children’s Books
Publish Date: October 1, 2012

Chime by Franny Billingsley

Briony Larkin has a secret. Stepmother warned her never to tell. Or, she would surely die. But, she can no longer keep the secret because the Boggy Mun is plaguing people with the swamp cough, and Rose, her twin sister, is its next victim. Besides, Briony owes Rose her life. She's indebted to Rose for what she did to her. It was her anger that summoned the wind that made Rose fall and hit her head, never becoming "quite right" after that. That's what evil girls do.

Briony Larkin is a witch with the second sight that allows her to see the Old Ones. Briony Larkin is also dangerous. She must keep her emotions under control so that she doesn't hurt others like she did Rose and her Stepmother. But, as Eldric Clayborne - the boyman who seems to see inside her soul - and she grow closer, she's finding it harder to control her emotions.

Since this novel was a National Book Award Finalist, I really wanted to like it. In fact, the entire time that I was reading, I kept searching for things that I could gush over. Unfortunately, I didn't find any. The basic premise of this novel was intriguing, but the execution was off. For instance, the storyline was difficult to follow in a lot of places because Briony (the narrator) would go on random tangents that reminded me of reading a Faulkner novel. The only problem is that the rambling usually had nothing to do with the point that she was trying to make. Instead of being a literary device, this became so distracting and frustrating that I wanted to stop reading. In addition, for people who aren't familiar with folklore and mysticism, all of the Old Ones and their functions became confusing; it didn't help that most of their functions weren't adequately explained and
differentiated.

I love folklore and mysticism, and I was really disappointed in this novel. I'm not sure if I'd built it up because of the CHIME/SHINE (Myracle, 2011) debacle, but it was a tedious read. I know that there will be others who love it, who will make me second-guess my judgement, but it's not one that I would recommend to
others.

From Bad to Cursed by Katie Alender

What would you be willing to give in order to have everything you've ever wanted? Money? Your time? Your soul?

Kasey is finally home from the mental hospital, and she's having a difficult time making friends. Afterall, who
wants to be friends with a girl who was possessed, and tried to murder her parents? Hesitant to build a new relationship with her little sister, Alexis decides to hang back to see if Kasey can survive the "survival of the fittest" atmosphere of high school on her own.

When Kasey's group of outcasts create the Sunshine Club, and find themselves at the center of popularity and acceptance, Alexis gets suspicious and joins. She quickly finds out that they've conjured a creature named Aralt who promises riches and fame in exchange for their souls. As the club grows and approaches "graduation day," strange things begin happening and people start dying. What once seemed like a harmless
agreement to become popular has turned into a coven of young girls willing to kill to keep thier evil master happy.

I was wary to read this novel because I wasn't sure that Alender could repeat the intensity of the first novel; however, she skillfully drew upon the elements of her first novel to create an entirely new plotline. Although it dragged in a few places (i.e. Alexis's relationship issues with Carter), the majority of the novel built suspense through folklore, urban legend, and people's worst nightmares. Very few people can write effective supernatural suspense thrillers that maintain intensity throughout a novel, let alone a series, but Alender is one of them. For instance, book two ends with so many options that her third BAD GIRLS DON'T DIE is sure to be just as unique. I cannot wait for her to write it!

*This can be a stand-alone novel.  

The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Something dark and sinister is on the hunt. During a tumultuous Calcutta night in 1916, a brave English lieutenant saves a set of twins from "it" before losing his life in an effort to protect them. Unfortunately, the monster refuses to give to up, and will stop at nothing to possess them. Time is on its side, and
as the children grow into young adults, they find out that their days are numbered.

This is a fun, quick read that has just enough suspense to keep the plot moving. Althoughit isn't as scary as what hard-core horror fans might like, and it's pretty cliche, there were a few places where the hair stood up at the base of my neck.

Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers

Frannie seems like a normal high school senior; only, she's not. Gifted with special "supernatural abilities," she's caught the attention of Satan himself. In an effort to beat Heaven for her soul, He sends his most trusted demon, Luc (aka Lucifer) to tag her soul and send her straight to Hell where she can help Him defeat his old nemesis, God, once and for all. The only problem is that God knows about her talents, too, and isn't giving her up without a fight. He sends Gabe (aka Gabriel) to intercept Luc and save Frannie from the temptations that Hell has to offer.

There will be a lot fo people who love this novel simply because they love angels and demons, love triangles, and good girls who catch the attention of the bad boy. Unfortunately, for readers who enjoy strong plots and in-depth characters, they won't get it here.

The first "sore-thumb" that stuck out in this novel was that the author tried to write it from two different points-of-view - Luc and Frannie. Other reviewers have commented on this, and I agree that it wasn't executed well at all. In fact, Luc sounded like a cliche, sex-driven teenager instead of a 7,000 year old demon from hell. In addition, his voice was so similar to Frannie's that I had to look at the title of the chapter to remember who was talking. Not only that, but Gabe was "supposed" to be an integral part of the love triangle, but the reader never read his POV, which left him out on the fringe. Instead of doing the alternating POVs, the author should have taken an omniscient voice to make the reading more fluid and believable.

Now, the love triangle. It was simply contrived. I mean, it's not like I didn't see it coming, but it was so poorly done that I honestly didn't care. For instance, one minute Frannie is wanting to have sex with Luc, then out of nowhere she fantasizes about Gabe. In fact, Gabe disappeares for chapters at a time, then all of a sudden, Frannie gets mad at Luc, and runs to Gabe for "comfort" and wonders if she's in love with him. In the real world, this is called a rebound. Also, I never felt like Frannie was in love with either of them with how easily she flip-flopped. Instead, it just seemed that she wanted to have sex and was willing to be with whichever showed the most interest.

Now, Frannie. She claims to be a strong female and doesn't need a male in her life to feel self worth; yet, within a few chapters, she's obsessing about Luc, Ryan, and Gabe. A little contradiction? In fact, her goal becomes getting the two "hottest" guys on campus interested in her before her best friend, who seems like a nymphomaniac, can.

Now, the language. This may seem minor, and, in fact, I'm pretty liberal with my views on curse words when they're used in the proper context. But, the characters used so much language in this book that it came off like they were trying to "play like adults" instead of representing high school seniors. When I teach a young adult novel, I'm very straightforward when I tell my students that language is part of character development, and it adds to the authenticity of the novel. For instance, if we're reading about inmates on deathrow, we aren't going to see them say, "Brother John, let us break bread together." No, they are going to use the "F" word as well as a few others that aren't so PC. But, even then, the author has to choose the language and decide what adds and takes away from the novel. This one relied too much on puns like "Go to hell" to the point that I was rolling my eyes.

I have other frustrations, but, overall, I wouldn't suggest this one.

Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

Violet Ambrose has a special gift; she senses the echoes of people who have died brutally and tragically. Not only can she sense the echoes of the dead, she can also see the imprint on their killers. The only downside to this gift is that Voilet never reaches the victims in time to save them. 

When the echo of a young boy leads her to his body, she gains the attention of certain law enforcement who want to use her "talents" to crack a cold case. Not sure if she's ready to expose her secret, she retreats into the security of her perfect family, boyfriend, and friends only to be unsettled by eerie phone calls, threatening notes, and little "presents" left for her at her home. The more Violet tries to deny her gifts, the more the dead refuse to let her. 

This is the second book in the series, and other than a few references to the near-death experience at Homecoming and serial killers, it's completely stand-alone. I had no problem getting to know the characters or following the plot - maybe because it was so simplistic. This leads to the downside to this book. It was boring and predictable. The book jacket boasts of suspense, but the author's writing style left little doubt as to who the stalker and killer were long before the end of the novel. Not only that, but too much attention was spent on Violet's perfect relationship with her perfect boyfriend Jay. Even when they were fighting, he was perfect. Instead of adding to the story, it became annoying, and I found myself gravitating towards Chelsea, the spunky, off-color, totally inappropriate best friend.

Spirit by J.P. Hightman

Tess and Tobias Goodraven are a wealthy, seventeen-year-old married couple living in Mass. during 1892. Both of them lost their parents in a theatre fire when they were young, which led them to become intrigued by the phantom world, and each other. Their morbid fascination with the occult helps Tobias stumble upon an old legend about the 1662 Salem Witch Trials and the "First Accused," who was a real witch and purely evil. Unable to resist, Tobias convinces Tess to take a train to Blackthorne to see if the legend is true, and what they find is spirits who refuse to let go, and a witch bent on making sure there are no survivors. 

The basic premise of this book was great. In fact, another reviewer sums it up when she says, "Excellent idea, terrible execution." First of all, this book is slotted for 6th-9th grades. The fact that the protagonists were married made the story unrelatable. I know why the author did it - it ties into the ending/climax - but it creates a disconnect from the first page. In addition, there is no plot development, just action. Every time someone would die, I would think "Who was that?" and I would read on because I really didn't care to go back 50 pages to figure it out. 

Overall, this book rambles in a lot of places, then has scary scene after scary scene. The legend is alluded to, but the reader never gets the real story of the murdered lovers or how Widow Malgore (the evil witch) became evil. I would have LOVED to read flashbacks of their lives so that the ending was more powerful. 

Shallow writing, at best.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

I can't really write a review about this novel without giving away some part of the plot, but I will say that it is a well-crafted suspense thriller with a little romance sprinkled in. This story involves fallen angels and a legend that demands a human sacrifice. Caught in the middle of this spiritual warfare is Nora Grey, and she knows that someone wants her dead. But, why?

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

This book was a pretty big let-down for me. I really enjoyed HUSH, HUSH with its suspense and spunky heroine, Nora Grey. I thought that I had finally found a series that broke away from authors trying to mimick TWIGHLIGHT'S version of "romance" by having a strong plot, in-depth characters, and a heroine who can hold her own - with or without a boyfriend. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

The book was "supposed" to be about Nephilim's (half human, half angels) gathering recruits to fight fallen angels. Of course, Nora is a Nephilim, and the danger is always lurking that a fallen angel wants to kill her to become human, but Patch is her guardian angel, which means that probably won't happen. That was SUPPOSED to be the plot. Instead, the author spent 327 pages chronicling Nora's angst about breaking up with Patch, and his going out with Marcie, her slutty arch-enemy. Fitzpatrick tried to create a double-love triangle by having Nora run into her childhood friend, Scott, and develop a romance, but the whole thing was weak and contrived. In fact, the whole novel was one big, awful romance novel depicting three weak and pathetic girls who strove for male attention. Some might argue that all of this angst is based in reality, and I admit that I knew one or two girls in high school like this, but I wouldn't call them the norm, and I wouldn't want them to be the norm. Nora even contemplates suicide at one point, which I thought was totally irresponsible of the author. We want females to be empowered, not constantly fed the idea that they can't function without a boyfriend. And, definitely not that their lives aren't worth living without one!

The novel finally focused on the REAL plot around page 357 but not before Fitzpatrick exhausted the whole "Can we trust Patch" thing. Honestly, that was beaten to death in Book One, it was simply annoying in Book Two and detracted from the plot. Also, the reader heard a lot about Rixon throughout the novel, but never even met him until she was 300 pages in. Then, all of a sudden, the whole plot revolved around him. The whole novel was like this. All of the characters were shallow and underdeveloped, and their functions throughout were disjointed.

I won't read Book Three. In fact, regardless of the overall ratings on Goodreads, most people (I'm referring to my friends) despised this novel, and were too nice to give it the rating it deserves. Every author deserves a "dud," and I hope that this is simply the case with this one. Like I said, I really loved HUSH, HUSH, so I know Fitzpatrick is talented. I just don't know why she sold out on this one.