Teen Tuesday

Last night, I went to an event at Mysterious Galaxy in Redondo Beach that featured three teen authors, Michelle Gagnon, Lauren Miller, and Amy Tintera. 

There was a fairly small group in attendance, which allowed the discussion to be rather informal.

Although both Amy and Lauren have been writing since they were kids, and have written for television,  Reboot (first in a duology) and Parallel (a standalone) are their debut novels. Both of them also  have books being released next May.

Michelle had already published four adult thrillers before taking a crack at writing for teens.  She has published two of the three books in the Persefone trilogy (Don't Turn Around and Don't Look Now)  as well as a standalone called Strangelets.  The third book in the trilogy is due next fall.

After the requisite signings and picture-takings, I browsed the stacks for a while, and managed to limit myself to buying only two (more) books, Maggie Stiefvater's The Dream Thieves (the second book in The Raven Cycle) and Enchanted (The Woodcutter Sisters Book 1) by Alethea Kontis.

Reviews of Parallel, Reboot, The Dream Thieves and Enchanted will be posted on Teen Tuesday in coming weeks.

Stay tuned!

Beneath the Surface

Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy trilogy #1) by Kiersten White (HarperTeen hardcover, 31 August 2010).

Even though sixteen-year-old Evie has spent most of her life living in the headquarters of the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she considers herself a normal teenager.  Sure, she neutralizes paranormal creatures around the world because she can see through their glamours, but she still loves clothes, watches the most popular teen soap Easton Heights, and her handler Raquel makes her study and do homework.

Her best friend Lish is a mermaid who also works for the IPCA, running the control center from inside a large aquarium.  As expected, Evie is often lonely, at least until a paranormal named Lend gets caught trying to break into the building. 

No one can figure out what Lend is, and Evie has never seen anything like him before.  Bust she does learn that he's about her age, and lives as a human, going to high school and other "normal" stuff. 

At the same time, there's paranormals are suddenly being murdered everywhere, and no one can figure out who.  Some of  the IPCA administrators think Lend might be involved, but Evie is certain he's not.  And she's just as certain that the creepy faerie Reth is, even though Raquel says he can be controlled. 

This story is a great combination of mystery, humor, romance, and of course the paranormal.  It's been around a few years, but it's not at all dated. 

The remaining books in the trilogy, Supernaturally (2011) and Endlessly (2012) continue the story of Evie  and the IPCA after the identity of the killer has been determined and you'll want to read them right after you finish the first.



FTC Full Disclosure:  I borrowed this book from my local library.

Teen Tuesday

Star Cursed (The Cahill Witch Chronicles #2) by Jessica Spotswood (Putnam Juvenile hardcover, 18 June 2013).

Star Cursed continues almost immediately after the ending of Born Wicked, so if your memory is as bad as mine, you may want to reread the first book before beginning the second.

Cate Cahill has given in to pressure from the Sisterhood, and has joined them at their headquarters in New London.  She's not at all happy about this, and feels lonely and provincial.  The only student who is sympathetic towards her is her roommate, Rilla.  She's mocked and bullied by Alice, the "leader" of the students. 

Everyone except Sister Cora, the head of the order, seems impatient for Cate's powers as the prophesied Chosen One to manifest.  Cate is pretty sure that it's not going to happen, but she much rather it be her than one of her younger sisters.

Meanwhile, Cate does the expected duties of the Sisterhood:  visiting and providing comfort to the ill, indigent, and imprisoned.  The power of the Brotherhood is growing; even the suspicion of being  a witch is grounds for punishment, and people are disappearing more and more frequency. This book is much more political  than the first, and descriptions of the agonies inflicted, especially against women, by the Brothers are more graphic. 

Spotswood has taken the Seventeenth Century persecution of witches to an extreme in this gripping, read-in-one-sitting novel, but even more chilling are the parallels that can be drawn to today's attempts to wrest power from women.


FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to  the Publisher for the e-galley of the book.

Daphne Award Nominees

Here are the RWA Kiss of Death Chapter's finalists for the 2013
Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (published division):

Category (Series) Romantic Mystery/Suspense

Karen Anders for At His Command
Beth Cornelison for The Reunion Mission
B.J. Daniels for Justice at Cardwell Ranch
Delores Fossen for Christmas Rescue at Mustang Ridge
Delores Fossen for Gage
Sandra S. Kerns for Her Master Defender


Historical Romantic Mystery/ Suspense

Anna Lee Huber for The Anatomist's Wife
Andrea Penrose for Recipe For Treason
Joanna Campbell Slan for Death of a Schoolgirl: The Jane Eyre Chronicles
Jillian Stone for A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis
Jillian Stone for An Affair with Mr. Kennedy


Inspirational Romantic Mystery/Suspense

Elizabeth Camden for Against the Tide
Robin Caroll for Injustice For All
Jillian Kent for Chameleon, The Ravensmoore Chronicles
Dani Pettrey for Submerged
Virginia Smith for Dangerous Impostor


Paranormal (PTTF) Time Travel, Futuristic Romantic Mystery/Suspense

P. C. Cast for Possessed
Mary Castillo for Lost in the Light
Angie Fox for Immortally Yours
Crista McHugh for A Soul For Chaos
Crista McHugh for A Soul For Trouble


Mainstream/Mystery /Suspense

Susan M. Boyer for Lowcountry Boil
Sandy Parks for Repossessed
Hank Phillippi Ryan for The Other Woman
Rochelle Staab for Bruja Brouhaha
Helene Young for Burning Lies


Single Title Romantic Mystery/Suspense

Toni Anderson for Dangerous Waters
Cindy Gerard for Last Man Standing
Melinda Leigh for Midnight Exposure
Bronwyn Parry for Dead Heat
Leslie Tentler for Edge of Midnight

Winners will be announced in July at KOD's annual Death by Chocolate Party in Atlanta. Congratulations to all the nominees!

Teen Tuesday

Thorn Abbey by Nancy Ohlin (Simon Pulse hardcover, 7 May 2013).

When I was a teen, I always wanted to go to boarding school.  The books I read made it seem magical (sometimes literally) and nurturing.  Sure there were those where it was described as a humiliating, painful experience, but but the proportion of these was small.

Today, many books for teens are still set in boarding schools, but in general the experience is unpleasant.  A good example of this is Nancy Ohlin's Thorn Abbey, being released today.  It's based loosely on Daphne du Maurier's classic novel Rebecca, about a nameless young bride tormented by the perceived perfection of her husband's first wife. 

The main character in Thorn Abbey does have a name: it's Tess.  A newly transferred sophomore, she feels uncomfortable and alien until a boy named Franklin from her English class invites her to the Monday Night Movie Fest.  He introduces her to his handsome and brooding roommate Max, by whom Tess is immediately captivated. 

Against the advice of her roommate Devon, Tess and Max begin a relationship, which is troubled from the beginning.  Max is at times warm and confiding, at other times he's distant and brittle.  Tess eventually learns that Max's previous girlfriend Becca had been Devon's best friend (and had actually occupied Tess's spot in the room) before she died the previous year.  As in Rebecca, a lot of what happens is due to misunderstanding and miscommunication. 

Ohlin does a fine job of transferring the setting from an isolated English mansion to a boarding school in  New England.  The teens emotions are powerful and realistic, and the characters believably fluctuate from self-assurance to self-doubt, from excited glee to extreme angst.

Hopefully, if readers have not already discovered Du Maurier's novel, this will lead them to it.



FTC full disclosure:  Many thanks to Edelweiss and SimonPulse for the advance copies. 

Teen Tuesday

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic hardcover, 18 September 2012).

Blue Sargent lives in a household of women:  her mother Maura, and Maura's two closest friends Persephone and Calla.  When Blue is sixteen, her mother's half-sister Neeve comes to visit for an unspecified length of time.  The women are psychics and make their living telling fortunes with the use of tarot cards, runes and tea leaves.

Blue has no psychic ability, but is apparently an amplifier for the gifts of others.  As a result, the women like to have her nearby when they're working.  But the only thing that Blue knows of her own future is that if she kisses her true love, he will die.  No indication of who or when it might be, but as a result, Blue decided never to fall in love. 

Every year on St. Mark's Eve, Blue accompanies her mother to a lonely churchyard, where the soon-to-die walk past. Blue usually doesn't see anything, but this year, she does.  The spirit of a teenage boy approaches and speaks to her.  Blue is shocked and confused, even more so when Neeve tells her that the only reason this would happen is "Either you're his true love . . . or you killed him."

The next day, the boy and his friends come into the pizza place where Blue works.  They are students at Anglionby, the exclusive private school in town.  Ordinarily, she'd have ignore the Raven Boys (as they are called, because of the school's raven insignia), but she's intrigued when she recognizes him from her vision.

The young man, known as Gansey, is obsessed with finding the mythical resting place of Welsh king Owain Glendower, which he believes is somewhere nearby in Virginia.  Blue encounters Gansey and his group again when they come to her home to have their cards read.  

This is an amazing tale; one of those books you want to race through while at the same time feeling the need to read slowly enough to appreciate Stiefvater's exquisite prose.  The story is mysterious, magical and compelling.  Lovers of mythological fantasy will be entranced.

Maggie Stiefvater has created a virtual world.  On her website can be found music she's written inspired by The Raven Boys, as well as biographies and sketches.  Oh, and also this trailer she created:

   

She recently announced on her blog that the sequel, The Dream Thieves, will be released on 17 September 2013. Not nearly soon enough.




FTC Full Disclosure:  I borrowed this book from my local library.

Just an Ordinary Girl

Austensibly Ordinary by Alyssa Goodnight (Kensington trade paperback, 29 January 2013).

Cate Kendall, a high school English teacher, lives a pretty humdrum life.  How humdrum?
The highlight of her week is usually the Scrabble game she plays with her colleague, Ethan Chavez.


Determined to get herself out of the rut, she accepts an invitation to her friend Syd's Hitchcock-themed Hallowe'en party.  She finds a femme-fatale dress at her mother's resale boutique, and decides to create a sexy alter-ego.

When an antique journal with the message

"I dedicate to You the folowing Miscellanious Morsels, convinced that if you seriously attend to them, You will derive from them very important Instructions, with regard to your Conduct in Life"

literally falls into her lap,  she decides to use it to chronicle her adventure.

Yes, this is the same journal that Nicola James stumbled upon in Goodnight's Austentatious (2012).  The journal is as cheeky and irreverent as ever, and helps Cate to proactively change her life, although she does hit a few snags along the way.

Whether or not you're a Janeite (and if you're not, you may become one) this humorous paranormal romance will lift you out of your winter blahs.  It's a wonderful way to pass a chilly afternoon.


FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me an advance copy of the book for review purposes. 

Teen Tuesday on Thursday

Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles #1) by Gena Showalter (Harlequin Teen hardcover, 25 September 2012).

 

 Reviewed by Kathleen Beebe.

 

This was overall a good book. It had an interesting new take on the zombie, which is a nice reprieve. 

 

Zombies attack the spirit rather than the body, but what happens to the spirit manifests in the body as well, which is how zombies can kill and make more zombies. 

 

There were flaws of course. The main character, a girl named “Alice” that goes by Ali, just happens to manifest a lot more of the abilities a slayer can use in fighting the zombies. One of these abilities is to be a natural fighter, but only when she’s actually fighting the zombies. Yeah, I call shenanigans on that one. There is a something to be said about natural skills, and the whole “I want to survive” drive, but there is a limit. She can get pounded in practice, but when fighting zombies she’s unstoppable? Right. On the other hand there is also a point where you have to wonder just how many more things can go wrong for this girl. By the end of the book, she has almost no family and has had to personally destroy two of her family members that went zombie. Can this girl get a break? 

 

Other plot twists kept me from knowing exactly what was going to happen throughout the book, which was quite a change for me. Usually I can pick who the killer is or how it’s going to end as soon as I’ve met all the characters, but not this time. 

 

Ali’s best friend Kat is a character that is easy to fall in love with. Though I didn’t see the twists they did with her, I am glad that the author chose to go with the less clichéd route. A lot of the twists were not ones that surprised me, but they weren’t what I expected. The love story was a high school love story and I’m glad that it was as clichéd as it was. However, if some guy pulled the “I’m breaking up with you for your own good” line with me, I’d probably have to hurt him, a lot. 

 

Like I said at the beginning, it was over all a good read, not a classic in the making, but a good fun read. I will be looking forward to the next book, but I can wait. Besides, I survived the end of the Mayan calendar, so the zombie apocalypse has been postponed again and I will have time to wait for the next book to learn another way to fight off zombies. Well, unless I want to join them.

 

 

 

Kathleen Beebe is my stepdaughter, and a voracious reader, and has my gratitude for the thoughtful and well-written review.

 

 

FTC full disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy of the book. 

Meeting Beethoven

City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte (Penguin trade paperback, 27 November 2012).


Prague has a reputation for being a mysterious and shadowy city.
It's where  the  alchemists Edward Kelley and John  Dee  worked, for a time, under the patronage of Emperor Rudolf.  Superstition has it that Prague is also home to at least one hell portal.

When musicology student Sarah Weston accepts a summer position cataloguing Beethoven's manuscripts for a private collection in Prague, she is warned by more than one person that the city  "is a threshold, and it is steeped in blood".

Knowing that the experience will be the highlight of her resume, she accepts, but before she even leaves, strange things begin to happen. Her apartment is broken into, and though nothing is taken, a strange symbol is painted on the wall.

When she arrives in Prague, she learns that her mentor Absalom Sherbatsky, who recommended her for the position before his death, had been behaving erratically before his supposed suicide.  Her colleagues at the museum are distinctly odd, and she begins to suspect that Dr. Sherbatsky did not, in fact, take his own life.

It's difficult for Sarah to tell who she can trust, who might be dangerous, and who is playing a role, because the place is rife with intrigue and politics.

Complicated, yes, but the story is fascinating.   Reminiscent of the All Souls series by Deborah Harkness, this is much lighter, more humorous, and quicker to read, and should be popular with readers of romantic-mystery-paranormal fiction


The Penguin Group has very kindly offered a copy of CITY OF DARK MAGIC to one of my readers.  Please comment on this post, and make sure you include contact information.  Entries from the US only, please.



FTC full disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy of the book. 

Books make great gifts!

Around this time of year, "Best Of" lists start to come out, of movies, music and of course, books.  I get frustrated with a lot of published Best Books lists because I (who read well over 100 titles a year) have often not read any of them, and sometimes not heard of any of them.

So, here are what I think might make the best gifts for people like you and me.


Fantasy/Paranormal

• The Elementals by Francesca Lia Block (St. Martin's hardcover, $24.99)*
• City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte (Penguin trade paperback, $16.00)
• Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (Viking hardcover, $28.95)
• This Case is Gonna Kill Me by Phillipa Bornikova (Tor trade paperback, $14.99)*

Mysteries

• Broken Harbor by Tana French (Viking hardcover, $27.95)
• Sacrifice Fly by Tim O'Meara (Minotaur hardcover, $24.99) *
• The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny (Minotaur hardcover, $25.99)
• Valley of Ashes by Cornelia Read (Hachette hardcover, $24.99)
• The Other Woman by Hank Philippi Ryan (Forge hardcover, $24.99)
• Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux hardcover, $25.00)*

Women's Fiction

• The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (Ballantine trade paperback, $15.00)
• The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber (Ballantine hardcover, $26.00)
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette?  by Maria Semple (Little, Brown hardcover, $25.99)*
• Ten Girls to Watch by Charity Shumway (Washington Square Press trade paperback, $15.00)

*These are on my list, too!