Category Archives: Paranormal

Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

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

Angelfall by Susan EeAngelfall (Penryn and the End of Days #1)
Susan Ee
Hodder & Stoughton
Published May 23, 2013 (Originally published 2011)

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Since angels of the apocalypse swarmed the skies, humanity has been on the run. With their supplies running low, Penryn and her small family risk their lives to scavenge for food and find themselves in the middle of an angel battle. When angels carry Penryn’s sister away, she’ll do anything to get her back, even form an alliance with one of the enemy.

Angelfall is dark and twisty. Penryn not only battles outside evil, but also struggles to cope with her mother’s mental illness and the voices she hears which tell her to do things that sometimes put Penryn and her sister in danger. I liked Penryn’s fierceness and her intelligence. Her determination keeps her going even when the odds stack steeply against her. I liked Raffe, the angel with whom she forms an alliance, too. He definitely has that quiet, wounded-warrior thing going on, but as he and Penryn get to know each other, he also consistently acts honorably toward her, and uses his strength to compliment hers.

There were a couple of moments in the story that required a heavy dose of willing-suspension-of-disbelief. Though Raffe’s other injuries heal super-quickly, the place where his wings have been severed remains raw and open. There’s some plot armor happening there, and we sort of accept it as, hey, angels clearly have different bodies than we do. Later, when Penryn and Raffe conceal themselves among humans, Raffe hides his wounds and the fact that he weighs far less than a man his size would with little trouble. I was pretty willing to buy into the necessary setup of the story, so those things didn’t trip me up too much. Another hurdle for Christian readers may be the secularized story of angels. Angelfall does reference verses about angels in the Bible, but in this story, angels are cut off from God, with only one leader claiming to be His mouthpiece.

For readers interested in urban fantasy and fans of Melissa de la Cruz’s Blue Bloods series, Angelfall is a sure win. (It’s also quite a bit cleaner in terms of content.) The angels vs. humans element might also appeal to readers of Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but the style of Angelfall is much more urban, if that makes sense. Less artsy, more adventure-ish.

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Cultural Elements
Penryn’s sister Paige is in a wheelchair due to an accident. Penryn and her family are Asian-Americans.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used fairly frequently (maybe once per chapter or so?)

Romance/Sexual Content
Raffe and Penryn crash a party of sorts in which girls seem to be serving as escorts or prostitutes. The girls wear provocative dresses. Some kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Raffe and the other angels have a story that begins in the Bible (Raffe references this in a conversation with Penryn), but it diverges. Angels seem to be cut off from God. Raffe himself makes a comment about not having spoken with God in a very long time. One angel seems to serve at God’s mouthpiece, but there’s some doubt about whether or not he’s speaking truth. There’s a sense of hopelessness or abandonment. A demon forms an alliance with some of the angels. A swarm of demon-like creatures sweep through a forest attacking anyone in reach.

Raffe speaks to Penryn about the history of angels who took humans as lovers and the judgment they faced. He made a commitment to prevent his kind from ever experiencing that again, though it seems not all of his angel brethren feel the same.

Violent Content
Battles between humans and angels and angels vs. angels. Gangs control the streets and murder people. Penryn’s mother stabs a dead man. Starvation has led some to cannibalism. A scorpion-like monster feeds on energy from humans in a really creepy scene. Later it attacks a girl.

Drug Content
None.

 

Review: Where Futures End by Parker Peevyhouse

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Where Futures End
Parker Peevyhouse
Kathy Dawson Books
Published February 9, 2016

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Where Futures End follows the interconnected stories of five teens. Dylan finds a way to cross into another world. Years later, Brixney tries to use social media to keep from being imprisoned in a debtor’s colony. Years after that, Epony and her boyfriend craft new identities for themselves as reality stars only to learn the secure future they crave will cost them what matters most: their authenticity and their love for each other. Later still Reef embarks on a dangerous mission via virtual reality game in an attempt to win an escape from a terror-stricken city. At last, Quinn meets a stranger who reveals to her a terrible choice, one that links her story back to all the others before.

Confession: I actually read this book several months ago and have been horribly slow at posting my review on my blog, which is terrible because I loved it so much!

This story is unlike anything I’ve read before. At first, because it’s so different, I worried that I wouldn’t like it. It seems like this really cerebral type of story, and I feel like those kinds of stories often have shallow characters or often let the events overshadow the characters. Where Futures End has great characters, though. I was hooked on Dylan from the very opening pages. As his story ended, I was nervous again about starting Brixney’s story, because I worried I wouldn’t like her as much as I liked Dylan.

But I did. Every time the story switched to a new piece (it’s written like five shorter stories one right after another) of the story, I fell in love with a completely new set of characters and a completely new story world. I loved the way each story reached back to the ones that came before in some way, so you really had the sense of history impacting the future.

I really enjoyed reading this one, and definitely recommend it, especially to sci-fi readers. If you enjoyed the movie Cloud Atlas, you definitely need to read this book. If you like books that are really unusual and unique or have a puzzle or moral dilemma to them, definitely get yourself a copy of Where Futures End.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently. (Fewer than ten times.)

Romance/Sexual Content
Kisses and hints at more between Epony and her boyfriend. Reef takes a wife because it helps him gain better standing in the online game, but he wonders if he’ll be able to consummate the relationship. (He doesn’t.)

Spiritual Content
The human world connects to another alien world, but only those with a strong vorpal, kind of an aura or energy can cross between the human world and the other.

A man catches Brixney eating ice cream nuggets and asks if she paid for them. She comments that he prays to God she has. Later she remembers a game she and Brandon play where they imitate the painting in the Sistine Chapel—one as Adam, the other as God, reaching toward one another.

Violent Content
Reef faces battles in the virtual game he plays.

Drug Content
Epony’s boyfriend tells her that sometimes he gets drunk when he hangs out with older boys.

Reef struggles with an addiction to resin, something he started young, after witnessing his mother do the same. Stopping will damage his organs.

 

Review: Twinepathy by C. B. Cook

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Middle Grade 8-12, Paranormal, , , , ,

Twinepathy
C. B. Cook
Available July 14, 2016

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Twins Albany and Brooklyn keep their telepathic connection a secret from everyone. After all, who would believe them anyway? But when a strange girl shows up on their doorstep with no memory of how she got there and an inexplicable power of her own, the twins begin to realize there may be more people with powers, and not all of them use them for good. They learn about an organization of people with abilities and a terrible plot to destroy it. At first committed to sit on the sidelines, Albany soon realizes she and Brooklyn might be the group’s only hope for survival. She and her sister must decide whether they’ll join the fight, even if it means risking everything.

This is such a fun story. I liked all the silliness and joking between characters. Albany and Brooklyn were both great and easy to root for. The rest of the cast of characters does get a little overwhelming at times, since there are so many of them and their code names to remember on top of everything else.

Twinepathy is a pretty short read—I finished it in just a couple hours—but it’s the perfect length for a reluctant reader, and a great fit for fourth or fifth grade readers who are into Marvel or other superhero stories. This novel made me think a little bit of the Twintuition books by Tia and Tamera Mowry, which also feature gifted twins. It’s different in that Twinepathy focuses on the girls’ role in a larger group of gifted people.

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Cultural Elements
I don’t specifically remember descriptions showing a racially diverse cast.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
The girls’ older brother is dating a girl named Ezra. They do not witness any romance between them, though.

Spiritual Content
Brooklyn and Albany share a telepathic connection. Other characters possess special powers like telekinesis, teleportation, the ability to manipulate metal, etc.

Violent Content
Battles between the members of the superhero team and the villain and his clones.

Drug Content
None.

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

 

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Review and Giveaway: Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley

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

Fate of Flames
by Sarah Raughley
Simon Pulse
Available November 22, 2016

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About Fate of Flames

Four girls with the power to control the elements and save the world from a terrible evil must come together in the first epic novel in a brand-new series.

When Phantoms—massive beasts made from nightmares and darkness—suddenly appeared and began terrorizing the world, four girls, the Effigies, each gained a unique power to control one of the classical elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Since then, four girls across the world have continually fought against the Phantoms, fulfilling their cosmic duty. And when one Effigy dies, another girl gains her power as a replacement.

But now, with technologies in place to protect the world’s major cities from Phantom attacks, the Effigies have stopped defending humanity and, instead, have become international celebrities, with their heroic feats ranked, televised, and talked about in online fandoms.

Until the day that New York City’s protection against the Phantoms fails, a man seems to be able to control them by sheer force of will, and Maia, a high school student, unexpectedly becomes the Fire Effigy.

Now Maia has been thrown into battle with three girls who want nothing to do with one another. But with the first human villain that the girls have ever faced, and an army of Phantoms preparing for attack, there isn’t much time for the Effigies to learn how to work together.

Can the girls take control of their destinies before the world is destroyed forever?

My Review of Fate of Flames

I think my favorite thing about this book was the way the characters surprised me. As each one was introduced, I had a sense of whether I’d like or dislike them and the way the story unfolded often proved me wrong. I didn’t think I’d like Chae Rin, but as she entered the scene, she totally won me over. And Rhys kind of got on my nerves at first, but by the end, I was totally rooting for him and biting my nails over all the things I won’t spoil.

The story world was a little tougher for me. Sometimes I felt like I had been dropped into the middle of a series or something. I didn’t always feel like I understood the rules of the world or how they impacted the characters and their decisions. I was also surprised by the strong profanity. The story felt like it would be perfect for a younger audience, but then had the language that’s more often present in upper young adult literature. I found myself a little surprised by that.

On the whole, I thought Fate of Flames developed well and kept me turning pages. I felt like there was a good balance of having a complete story but also setting up for a series. This would be a great pick for someone looking to read about strong female superheroes. The boys in the story hold their own, but the girls are the real backbone of the tale.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Chae Rin is Asian, Belle is French. Other characters have Eastern European backgrounds. Maia has one parent from New York and the other from Jamaica.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently throughout the story.

Romance/Sexual Content
A boy kisses Maia without her consent. She feels attracted to another boy.

Spiritual Content
Monsters of bone and mist called Phantoms bring death and destruction to cities and people. It appears someone has manufactured a way to control them.

Four girls bear powerful abilities. When one dies, her power passes to another girl who already lives.

Violent Content
Battle scenes. Maia remembers a girl’s murder.

Drug Content
Some of the girls drink alcohol, and one is rumored to have been an alcoholic. Maia does not drink.

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

About Sarah Raughley

Website | Twitter | Tumblr

Sarah Raughley grew up in Southern Ontario writing stories about freakish little girls with powers because she secretly wanted to be one. She is a huge fangirl of anything from manga to SF/F TV to Japanese Role Playing Games, but she will swear up and down that she was inspired by ~Jane Austin~ at book signings. On top of being a YA Writer, she is currently completing a PhD in English, because the sight of blood makes her queasy (which crossed Medical School off the list).

She is represented by The Bradford Literary Agency.

So far, you can also find her on Twitter, where work ethic goes to die.

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Review: The Secret of Goldenrod by Jane O’Reilly

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

The Secret of Goldenrod
Jane O’Reilly
Carolrhoda Books
Available October 1, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Trina and her father move to a tiny town where they’ll live in and restore a gorgeous house rumored to be haunted. Though at first Trina struggles to fit in with the other kids in town—all she wants is a friend, just one friend—she soon meets Augustine, a doll who helps Trina face truths about herself and others around her. She finds the courage to reach out to her estranged mom and find new friends who help her bring the town back together.

Trina also finds a friend in the house, whom she calls Goldenrod. It’s often Goldenrod’s leading that prompts Trina to act, though at first she finds the old home spooky and worries it may be haunted, like the rumors say. As Trina learns to sense Goldenrod’s feelings, she also begins to listen and watch the people around her, which helps her connect to them and value them. As she learns to be kind and listen to others, she soon builds relationships with many people in town.

The spooky elements make this a great Halloween read, but the elements of heart make The Secret of Goldenrod a fantastic read for any season.

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Cultural Elements
Characters are white, middle class or upper class in a very small American town.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Trina’s dad insists there’s no such thing as ghosts, but Trina believes she senses Goldenrod. A doll also moves and speaks with her. A ball shows up mysteriously several times. The townspeople believe that anyone who has stolen anything from the house is then cursed with bad luck. After Trina and her dad move in, people begin returning items they’ve stolen, grateful to be relieved of the curse.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

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

 

Review: Ghost Maven by Tony Lee Moral

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

Ghost Maven
Tony Lee Moral
Saturn’s Moon Press
Available October 3, 2016

Amazon| Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

After Alice’s mom dies, Alice, her sister, and her dad move to Monterey, California. There Alice tries to confront her fear of water by kayaking in the bay. A sudden storm drags her out to sea, and a mysterious boy rescues her. Alice can’t stop thinking about Henry, the young sailor who came to her rescue. Then she learns that Henry has been dead for over one hundred years, bound by a curse which can only be undone when he atones for wrongs he committed in his life. Henry warns her that their love is forbidden by rules that govern his curse. But to break the curse, Alice risks losing Henry.

This story reminded me a lot of Ophelia Adrift. Grief-stricken girl meets the ghost of a sailor and falls in love. Lots in common there, though there are some significant differences in the plotlines, too. I loved the setting of this novel—Monterey, CA. It definitely added to the story and felt real. I liked Henry and some of the other characters.

As the action ramped up, sometimes it got a little hard to believe. Things happened quickly, and sometimes just didn’t seem logical or like there was enough motivation set up for the characters to make the choices they did. Because of the prologue and the Ghost Maven abilities and artifacts, I kind of thought this might be a series. The end of the novel doesn’t really indicate that the story continues, though.

If you enjoyed Ophelia Adrift or have an interest in ghost stories, you’ll want to check out this book.

Recommended Age 13 up.

Cultural Elements
Characters are white middle class Americans.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing. Rumors spread about one girl’s behavior with boys at school. Later, a boy reveals he completed her homework in exchange for some intimate behavior.

Spiritual Content
Since Alice’s mom died, she no longer believes in God. It seems the whole town believes in ghosts, though, even members of a local church. Alice learns of a curse which causes anyone who drowns in the bay to continue to walk among mortals, though their heart no longer beats. She also learns of a group of warriors who can destroy these undead creatures. Symbols and artifacts help defeat them.

Alice and her friend hold a séance to try to reach a girl believed to be dead. Alice’s mom communicates with the girls. Alice’s friend has psychic visions of events to come and senses things about people near her.

It probably sounds weird, but the psychic elements on their own bothered me less than the fact the in some places they were sort of mixed in with Christian ideas. In one scene, characters take refuge in a church and then rely on other symbols to protect them.

Violent Content
A battle takes place between the people of the town and those cursed.

Drug Content
None.

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

 

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