Category Archives: Paranormal

Review: Girl in the Shadows by Gwenda Bond

Book Review and Content, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Girl in the Shadows by Gwenda BondGirl in the Shadows
Gwenda Bond
Skyscape / Amazon

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Moira longs to prove to her father, a famous magician, that she has what it takes to carry on in the family tradition. The real problem? Moira’s dad doesn’t want her anywhere near magic. An invitation to audition for the Cirque American falls into Moira’s hands, and she leaps at the chance to make her own destiny. During her audition, Moira’s routine goes awry when she accidentally performs real magic. Suddenly Moira finds herself surrounded with questions about her impossible abilities and a secret society of similarly the similarly talented. Her absent mother seems to be the only one who can answer them, but finding her mother opens Moira to more danger than she could ever imagine. Her newfound Cirque family may be filled with as many enemies as allies.

My one regret in reading this book is that I didn’t read Girl on a Wire first, as the stories are pretty closely linked and feature some of the same characters. Also, Girl in the Shadows includes a bit of plot recap which reveals some key moments in Girl on a Wire. Honestly, I’d still read Girl on a Wire anyway, even though some of the surprises are spoiled.

I liked Moira. She’s fun and silly and has a lot of heart. It’s her heart which often makes her vulnerable to others, and I spent many pages biting my nails hoping for the characters in whom she places her trust to turn out deserving of it.

The descriptions of Moira’s performances make for cool elements. Often Moira connects her illusions to great female magicians. It made an interesting way to include some real historical information in an organic, unusual way. Her use of Dez as her assistant was another fun twist – sort of a feminist spin on the typical gender roles of magician and assistant.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. If you haven’t read Girl on a Wire, I do recommend you read that one first because Girl in the Shadows has some spoilers. See below for additional content information.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Moira and Dez become romantically involved, and they engage in quite a bit of kissing. They spend several nights together, but other than a hint from Moira that the two did enough, though not everything, those moments remain private. At one point Moira makes it clear she’d like to have sex with him and it appears they do. Again, no description, but rather suggested that kissing moves to touching and on from there.

Spiritual Content
Moira learns of a missing coin that promises luck and power to its bearer. A secret society of people with magical abilities desperately want the coin for its power. Moira describes her power as a cup filled with magic. As she expends energy to perform magic, the volume in the cup lowers. She’s told that if she empties her cup, she’ll die.

Violent Content
Moira meets a creepy guy hanging around playing poker with some of the circus members. At one point he beats up one of the performers. In another instance, she witnesses him smash a boy’s hand with a hammer as punishment when he fails to complete a task on time.

Drug Content
Eighteen year-old Moira drinks champagne to celebrate her success.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Review: I Woke Up Dead at the Mall by Judy Sheehan

Book Review and Content, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

I Woke Up Dead at the Mall
Judy Sheehan
Delacorte Press

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

When Sarah wakes up, still wearing the mango-colored monstrosity of a bridesmaid dress, she is surprised by two things: she’s far from her New York home in the Mall of America, and she’s dead. Murdered. Sarah’s mentor encourages her (and the other teen ghosts who’ve taken up residence in the mall) to let go of her past, but Sarah can’t let go, especially when she learns what happened and realizes someone she loves is still in terrible danger. Now she can’t rest in peace until her murderer has been stopped and her family saved.

The concept of this story might be a bit dark, but the playful, frank voice definitely adds some spunk to the tale. As Sarah’s tale unfolds, she relates to the reader as if recounting an adventure to her closest friends. At the mall, she’s surrounded by a colorful group of teens, each with different pasts and baggage. Sarah’s relationship with them is dynamic and challenges her to go beyond her limits. By contrast, Sarah’s relationships with her family feel a bit cliché and underdeveloped. The story centers around Sarah and her friends, kind of a contemporary teen version of the 1990s film Heart and Souls. Readers looking for a warm-and-fuzzy story about unexpected love and second chances will enjoy the humor and romance of this tale.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used with moderate frequency. One character in particular is a bit mouthy.

Romance/Sexual Content
Mouthy girl relates that she loves sex and the others (who all died as virgins) totally missed out. Not much detail about her particular experiences other than that she had a much more pleasurable experience with one boyfriend over another. She humiliates the latter about his lack of ability and he becomes angry.

Sarah shares kisses and sleeps next to a boy. At one point, she removes her clothes in front of him, but they are interrupted before much happens between them.

Spiritual Content
The central characters are all ghosts, teens who were murdered. They are strongly discouraged from trying to craft revenge or haunt their murderers and instead instructed to resolve lingering feelings from their lives and move on to be reincarnated. Or, if the person has died saving someone else, they will have the option to become and angel. Two children rule over the ghostly community, known collectively as the BOY, or Boss of You.

Both Sarah and her mother experienced a kind of premonition during their lifetimes, a warning sense that things were about to happen. Once, Sarah used her gift to save a woman’s life.

One of the boys Sarah meets has died through an assisted suicide. The other teens defends his choice and the actions of the family member who helped him.

Violent Content
One girl recounts her death at the hands of an employer whose advances she refused. It’s brief and not gory, but violent. Another girl is pushed off a bridge and crash lands on top of a car. (That’s about all the detail we get in the story, too.)

Drug Content
References to teen drinking.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Review: Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , ,

Belzhar
Meg Wolitzer
Dutton Books for Young Readers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

When Jam can’t recover from her boyfriend’s death, her desperate family sends her to The Wooden Barn, a boarding school for distraught teens. There Jam finds herself enrolled in Special Topics in English, an elite, invitation-only course. This year, Jam and her classmates will study the works of Sylvia Plath, and will write about their own experiences in special journals given to them by their fascinating instructor, Mrs. Quenell.

As Jam begins to write in her journal, she’s transported to a place where Reeve still lives, and they can be together. A place she calls Belzhar. As the semester winds down, and the pages of Jam’s journal fill, she knows her visits with Reeve can’t last forever, and the end of them will be like losing him all over again. But she can’t run from the truth forever. And this time, as she faces her beloved Reeve, she has to face truths about him and about herself before she can find healing.

I’m pretty sure I read about this book on a list of a blogger’s favorite books or something of that nature. I think at that point, I had recently read the Bell Jar, and I was even more curious about the story because it references Plath’s work. Since then, it’s been on my to-read list, and at last, I’ve finally read it.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed. There were definitely things I liked about the story – I loved the teacher and the other classmates in the Special Topics class, even if I felt like they deserved a little more airtime. Besides the span in which they told their own stories, I didn’t really feel like I got to know them very well. Which is okay – it really wasn’t the point of the story.

There’s a big twist that I won’t give away, but I had really mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I was really surprised when the truth was revealed. I didn’t suspect it, and yet when I evaluated earlier scenes in the story, it changed how I perceived them, which I think is a mark of a great plot twist. So that was impressive.

On the other hand, I felt like it kind of cheapened the story in a way. I’m not sure I really bought into the real story having the kind of weight I felt like it needed to have. I felt like it kind of took this big conflict and deflated it a little bit.

On the other-other hand, I think the way it played out also felt like a tribute to the way emotional trauma can be devastating and powerful. So I don’t want to downplay it too much.

There was also one moment in which a big thing happens, and Jam isn’t there. I really wanted her to be there for this one critical moment, and instead she hears about it third-hand. So that was a bit disappointing.

On the whole, I’m glad I read it, but it didn’t resonate with me the way some of my other recent reads have. If you’re looking for something that’s a much lighter version of Girl, Interrupted (I’m thinking the movie with Winona Ryder), then this is probably something you want to check out.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency. One character in particular has a bit of a foul mouth, but the language is kind of sprinkled throughout the story.

Romance/Sexual Content
There’s some kissing between Jam and a boyfriend. They reach under each other’s shirts and touch each other. At one point they remove shirts and lie next to each other.

Spiritual Content
Through writing in a journal, Jam is transported to a place she calls Belzhar. There, Reeve is alive, and they are together. The place has rules – she can only relive past moments, nothing new, and after a period of time, she’ll be booted back to reality.

Violent Content
Brief mentions of a drunk driving accident which leaves a girl paralyzed, a boy who has been kidnapped, and a devastating fire.

Drug Content
Jam recalls going to a party at which several teens drink alcohol. Several mentions of smoking pot.

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Review: Nightingale’s Nest by Nikki Loftin

Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, Paranormal, , , ,

Nightingale’s Nest by Nikki Loftin
Penguin Young Readers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Twelve year-old Little John spends his summer days helping his father care for trees on Mr. King’s property so they can scrape together enough money for the rent. There he meets Gayle, who loves nothing more than to sing from her nest high in the branches of a sycamore tree. But Little John isn’t the only one interested in Gayle and her song. When Mr. King hears the girl’s voice, he asks for Little John’s help to get the girl to sing for him. He’s willing to pay enough money to solve all of Little John’s family troubles, too. But when Gayle refuses to cooperate, Little John begins to wonder if there’s more than creepiness making her shy away from the old man. He finds himself caught between two impossible choices: his family’s survival, or his dearest friend.

Because this is a retelling of a Hans Christian Andersen story, I think I expected a more of a whimsical style in the writing. Once I acclimated to the way the story was written, I enjoyed it. The narrative has a very frank feel, middle-grade-boy-story feel to it. Which works, I think.

I liked that right away there’s tension between Little John’s past—the death of his sister, for which he blames himself and hates trees—and Gayle’s constant flitting around in the upper branches of the tree she loves like a friend. That tension definitely kept the story moving forward and kept me asking questions and reading on to see them answered. Does Little John’s mom really blame him for his sister’s death? Is Gayle’s nest really going to get her rescued from an unhappy foster home?

One element was difficult for me to grasp. Little John is supposed to have recently had a major growth spurt, so that now he’s extremely tall for his age. Between his height and the reserved, careful way he acted, I kept wanting him to be fourteen. It’s possible, I guess, that a twelve year-old could behave the way he does, but I couldn’t seem to stop expecting him to be older than he was, so it was always a little jarring to me to be reminded of his actual age.

I’m a huge fan of fairytales retold, and this one definitely didn’t leave me disappointed. I haven’t read the original version, so I’m not sure which parts would map to the original story, but this retelling didn’t turn out the way I expected. I liked that not everything was neatly resolved, but the story still felt complete.

You can order a copy of Nightingale’s Nest by Nikki Loftin on Amazon by clicking here.

Language Content
A couple references to swearing, like ‘a cuss almost slipped out.’ No profanity in the telling of the story.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Gayle says that her parents have “flown away” and Little John takes this to mean that they have died.

Violence
Mr. King has this weird obsession with Gayle. It’s not entirely clear whether he poses physical danger to her, but he’s certainly a bit creepy. Gayle appears to suffer rough treatment in her foster home. Little John suspects that her foster mother and possibly her foster brother have hit her.

Drug Content
Little John’s father sometimes overindulges in alcohol, leaving his family without money for rent and basic needs.

Review: Protector by Jennifer Tubbiolo

Book Review and Content, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , ,

Protector (The Narthex Academy Series, Book 3)
Jennifer L. Tubbiolo
Relevant Pages Press

Amazon | Goodreads

The last thing Asher Haynes expects is to be drawn into another battle for his life. But when servants of the Dark Prince show up in Charleston looking for a powerful artifact, Asher finds himself caught in the center of the conflict. If the Dark Prince finds the artifact and his servants use it, they will unlock terrible power. Asher and the Seer Team are the only ones who can stop them.

I think my favorite thing about this story was the way Tubbiolo set up the story framework—the Seer Team and Dark Prince and the whole conflict that translated really well in terms of being a Christian parallel. I liked that it felt paranormal but true to its roots at the same time, if that makes sense. I’ve read Christian fantasy that somehow felt contrived or like the Christian elements were just laid on top of an existing fantasy landscape. In this story, the elements felt really well integrated with each other.

One thing that I struggled with was that the narrative sometimes switched from present to past tense and back. It didn’t seem consistent, and my internal editor kept wanting to flag each change, so it really disrupted my ability to stay in the story.

I enjoyed Asher as a narrator and liked the rest of the cast of characters. The story felt like its own complete tale while also raising enough unanswered question to create some curiosity about the other books in the series. Fans of Lisa Bergren and Lynn Rush will probably find Jennifer Tubbiolo to their liking.

Language Content
No profanity or crude language.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The story centers around an artifact called the matteh, or “rod of Moshe.” (From the Biblical story of Moses, the staff he used to challenge Pharoah and lead the Israelites to freedom.) Men who represent an ancient Egyptian god want the staff as part of a ritual that will grant them great power from the Dark Prince (Satan). Asher and his friends are part of the Seer Team, a group who believe in Elohim (God) and are aided by God-given supernatural gifts (prophecy, dreams, etc) as well as angelic warriors.

Violence
Some battle violence. Nothing gory.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Life at the Speed of Us by Heather Sappenfield

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Life at the Speed of Us
Heather Sappenfield
Flux

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

After the car accident that takes her mother’s life, Sovern stops talking. She tries to lose herself in dating the boy she shouldn’t, in the rush of speeding downhill on a snowboard. But when another accident disconnects Sovern from even more of her life, she embarks on a quest outside time with only a strangely familiar boy who doesn’t speak her language as a guide.

There were things about this book that I liked. I thought it was cool that Sappenfield used Sovern’s dyslexia throughout the story. She really hammered home the idea that just because Sovern didn’t recognize letters as they were written did not mean she was by any means less intelligent. I liked the scenes in the Ute tribe.

In the scene where Sovern leaves the tribe behind to go home, I had a really hard time following what happened. It’s possible that it’s an issue resolved between the galley version that I read and the final published version. Sometimes I had a hard time connecting with Sovern’s character. The bad boy boyfriend thing seemed a little cliché. I liked that he turned out to be more than that, but I wanted the revelation of who he really is to involve him more, to give me reasons to invest in him more.

I’m going to break a cardinal rule and make a comparison between this book and a BIG book, which I really cringe to do, but hear me out. I think if you like the type of story that is Slaughterhouse Five, you might enjoy this book. I’m not comparing the quality of the writing in one versus the other, but more the somewhat disjointed, go where the story goes feeling that I had in reading Vonnegut’s novel. If you liked I Crawl Through It for the story, not the writing style, you might also enjoy this book.

The style of the narrative is a lot more straightforward and simple than the books I listed.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used moderately.

Sexual Content
Sovern and her boyfriend Gage share cigarettes and kisses together, but she doesn’t have sex with him. Sovern and a boy from the Ute tribe are treated as a married couple after rumors that they’ve slept together. She holds back from giving herself to him, though, unsure whether they can remain together.

Spiritual Content
The Ute believe that a bear chooses someone who is gifted with an ability to travel to other places. Sovern becomes interested in the ideas about the multiverse and theorizes ways to reach other universes.

Violence
Soldiers come to destroy the Ute village. Two tribe members fight them, one is fatally injured. Sovern is injured in a snowboarding accident and then speared by porcupine quills.

Drug Content
Sovern mentions that she and Gage smoke marijuana together.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.