Lair of Dreams

Bray, Libba. Lair of Dreams. Little, Brown BYR, 2015.

This follow-up to The Diviners follows Evie, who outed herself as a diviner in the first novel, along with Henry, Ling Chen, and a cast of supporting characters as well. In addition to being a creepy paranormal story with a mystery element to it, the historical aspects of this story are excellent, including both race issues and issues of closeted LGBT characters.

I listened to this book on audio, and the narrator did a superb job differentiating between the various characters. It would have been difficult to follow the stories of the different characters without a great narrator, who did such a phenomenal job that my wife and I brought this book into the house to finish over the weekend when we knew we wouldn't be driving anywhere. Highly recommended.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: racist and homophobic comments from various characters, all historically appropriate
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Black Dove, White Raven, Lies We Tell Ourselves, In the Shadow of Blackbirds

Burning

A eerie, spooky story that would fit right in as an X-Files episode.

Rollins, Danielle. Burning. Bloomsbury, 2016.

Angela is so close to getting out of juvie, she can almost taste freedom. Just a few more months toeing the line and she'll be out in the world again. Then Jessica arrives. Jessica is ten, the youngest of the inmates, and there are all kinds of wild rumors circulating about what she did to earn her sentence. Angela is tasked with befriending the young girl as a condition of her impending parole, but when she finds Jessica setting fire to her teddy bear in the middle of the night, she realizes she may have bitten off more than she can chew.

This book is equal parts spooky and mysterious, with just enough of a paranormal element thrown in to hook even the most reluctant of teen readers. I could easily pair this book with viewings of X-Files or Orange is the New Black. Because I imagined this book as a paranormal television show, it was easy to guess at the ending, but guessing it early did not spoil it for me. For all the teen readers who want the next scary book, Burning is highly recommended.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: language, violence - the story takes place in a prison
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Juvie, Daughters Unto Devils,

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley for the purposes of review.

Prudence

Carriger, Gail. Prudence. Orbit, 2015

Prudence, daughter of both Lord and Lady Maccon (a werewolf and a soulless) and also adopted daughter of Lord Akeldama (a vampire) is a metanatural: she can take on the supernatural powers/properties of another person just by touching them. She is given her own dirigible and sent on a mission to India to recover a particular new type of tea, but she soon finds that there is more than tea to deal with.

I didn't find myself liking this book as much as I liked the original series or the Etiquette & Espionage series, but the story picked up when they started talking about weremonkeys. There also seems to be a bit of debate as to where this book should be shelved in the library. Probably the most appropriate spot would be "new adult," if your library has such a category, but it would easily fit within a YA collection as well.

Recommended for: teens, adults, fans of steampunk
Red Flags: Whenever Rue changes shape, she loses her clothing, so there are lots of mentions of her being naked, but the Victorian setting dictates that these scenes are not remotely graphic or descriptive.
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Half Bad

Green, Sally. Half Bad. Viking Juvenile, 2014.

Nathan is a half code - he's the product of a white witch and a black witch, and it hasn't been decided yet whether he's good or bad. The rules set by white witches are becoming stricter regarding half codes and black witches, and Nathan's 17th birthday is approaching. He needs to find his father so he can receive his Gift, but before he can do that, he has to escape his cage.

This book started out in medias res, so the beginning seems a bit abrupt, but I think this was a wise choice as the intense beginning was a good hook for readers who need to be caught in the first few pages before abandoning a book altogether. I was intrigued by the choice to keep Nathan in a cage and train him, while I wondered whether his father was still alive and whether Nathan would be able to meet up with him on his 17th birthday. The paranormal parts of this story are fairly balanced with intense action sequences, so fans of thrillers would enjoy this book just as much as those who are looking for the next vampire/werewolf/zombie read-alike.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: lots and lots of violence, usually toward Nathan
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, Rebel Belle, Rot and Ruin

Don't Even Think About It

Mylnowski, Sarah. Don't Even Think About It. Delacorte Press, 2014

Homeroom 10B all received their flu vaccinations on the same day. The next day many of them also began hearing other people's thoughts. This story is their collective voice, telling what they chose to do with their new powers.

Imagine that the planet Betazoid was completely inhabited by cheerleaders or other stereotypically popular but flaky females. Apparently with great power comes great ... boyfriend potential. The potential behind this - a chick lit book with an actual plot - was amazing, but it just didn't live up to it at all.

Recommended for: fans of chick lit, teens
Red Flags: imagine you can hear the innermost thoughts of a bunch of teens ... red flags abound
Overall Rating: 2/5 stars

Glory O'Brien's History of the Future

King, A.S. Glory O'Brien's History of the Future. Little, Brown BFYR, 2014.

Glory and her best friend decide to drink desiccated bat dust mixed with beer. The next day they begin having visions. Every time Glory looks at a person, she sees both that person's past, including their ancestors, and the future of that person's progeny. Glory is understandably overwhelmed by these visions; meanwhile she's trying to decide what to do with herself after graduation and attempting to convince her father to come out of the decade-long cloud of grief he's been living in and to start working and living for real.

This book was bound to be weird. I understood the plot behind the weird relationship between Glory's family and the "commune" that was living on their property, but I got stuck on the bat: why in the world would anyone think it was safe or smart to drink dead bat dust? Ew. I don't understand why the girls didn't get horribly sick and end up hospitalized. All that aside, this book would be an easy one to recommend, and kids who like very strange books would probably love this one.

Recommended for: young adults
Red Flags: underage drinking, sex, Glory sees lots of nude pictures in her mom's old photography journals
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Belzhar, We Were Liars, Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie

Every Ugly Word

Salter, Aimee. Every Ugly Word. Alloy Entertainment, 2014

Ashley is not popular. Not by a long shot. Her classmates tease her relentlessly while she hangs on the fringes of the in-crowd, hoping to fit in. Her mom is no better, telling her she'd have more friends if she tried harder or spent more time on her appearance. Ashley does spend a lot of time looking in the mirror, though, because when she looks in a mirror, she sees her future self, and that future self is giving her advice and trying to help her survive. But there are some things that even Future Ashley can't stop.

This book is weird. Seriously weird. In alternating chapters we hear the story of an incident that landed Ashley in a mental institution and also the story of Ashley as she's speaking with her therapist and hoping for release from said institution. Any more description would involve spoilers, so I'll have to leave it there. I didn't really like this story or feel any sympathy for Ashley, but the theme of mental illness is so important for young adult collections that I would definitely add this to my library's collection regardless of my personal feelings about the book.

Recommended for: young adults
Red Flags: bullying, abuse, alcohol use
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: I Am the Cheese, Big Fat Disaster, Going Bovine

Evil Librarian

Knudsen, Michelle. Evil Librarian. Candlewick Press, 2014.

Cynthia's best friend, Annie, has a crush on the new librarian. But Cynthia thinks there's something off about him. Every time Annie is with the librarian, she seems to be spaced-out or in a trance. Cynthia soon discovers that the librarian is actually a demon who wants Annie to be his demon bride so he can become king of all the demons. Somehow, Cynthia needs to convince Annie of the truth, save Annie and her classmates, and also design the perfect chair for her school's production of Sweeney Todd.

This book took a while to "hook" me, but once it did, I was flipping pages as quickly as I could. The tie-in with Sweeney Todd and the discussions of theater will delight any theater nerd (which, sadly, I am not), and the discussions Cynthia has with the demons will delight fans of paranormal works and anyone who reads books just because they have the word "librarian" in the title. This one would be easy to book talk, especially around Halloween.

Recommended for: young adults
Red Flags: violence, discussions of occult practices
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Drama Queens in the House, Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians, Another Faust

Afterworlds

Westerfeld, Scott. Afterworlds. Simon Pulse, 2014.

Darcy, a high school senior, wrote a novel for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and is on track to have her book published. In fact, her publisher offered her a two-book contract for what seems to Darcy a ridiculous sum of money. Now Darcy is putting college plans on the back burner and moving to New York city to fulfill her dream of being a famous author. Alternating with the chapters of Darcy's life are chapters from Darcy's book, so the reader gets a peek into both the publishing world and the paranormal romance that Darcy wrote for NaNoWriMo.

My summary doesn't do this book justice. This is one of those rare books that I knew I would love from the moment I started reading it. I wanted to drag it out and read more slowly so it would last longer, but I got so wrapped up both in Darcy's life and in her story that I just had to keep reading. This book would be an easy sell for fans of paranormal books and for strong teen readers who want a large tome they can just keep reading and reading. This also would make a great addition to a library's NaNoWriMo display.

Recommended for: teens, adults
Red Flags: minor language, minor fantasy violence, some of the characters in Darcy's novel were murdered and it's hinted that they may have been abused, too, although details are never given
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Cruel Beauty

Hodge, Rosamund. Cruel Beauty. Balzer+Bray, 2014.

Nyx is betrothed to the "gentle lord," an evil ruler who has taken over her kingdom. She has been trained by her father to infiltrate the ruler's castle and destroy him, thus freeing her people. But Nyx soon realizes that the situation is much more complicated than she and her father could possibly have imagined, and now she has to sort through her conflicting emotions and limited information to decide what would be the best move.

I listened to the audio version of this book, and while I admit that the narrator did a fantastic job at creating a creepy atmosphere, I wanted to read the print version instead simply so I could get through the book more quickly. The ending seemed to drag out unnecessarily long, so I would recommend this book only to my strongest readers, as I think my weaker readers would probably not be invested enough to finish the book.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: sex is discussed, although it isn't explicit or graphic (Nyx is told what she is expected to do on the night of her wedding)
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Rebel Belle

Hawkins, Rachel. Rebel Belle. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2014.

Harper Price is a model student, a cheerleader, vying for homecoming queen. In the wake of her sister's death due to drunk driving, Harper has become the perfect daughter. She is involved in every club, has just the right friends, and even snagged the perfect boyfriend. But when disaster hits on the night of the prom, Harper becomes a Paladin, complete with fighting skills that would make Chuck Norris run for cover. When she discovers that her skills are to be used in protection of her arch enemy, however, Harper has second thoughts. How can she fulfill her destiny as a Paladin and maintain her image as the model student and perfect daughter, especially if she doesn't want to ruin her makeup?

If Lemon Breeland from Hart of Dixie had a love child with Percy Jackson, the result would be this book. Loved it, regardless of its very pink status. I'm sure the kids in my library will love it, too. Now I just have to decide where to shelve it - in paranormal with the Hex Hall series by the same author, in mythology since it seems very Percy Jackson-like, or in chick lit with all of the "pink books."

Recommended for: teens, tweens, fans of mythology and action books
Red Flags: lots of action violence and near death experiences; Harper uses euphemisms for her cussing, but occasionally mentions that someone said "the f word" without spelling out the word itself
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Penguin's Young Readers Program.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

McBride, Lish. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer. Henry Holt and Company, 2010.

Sam is working another boring shift as a fast food employee when he is attacked and nearly killed. It turns out that Sam is a necromancer, and since his parents kept his, ahem, talent hidden, the local necromancer boss is very angry and is thirsting for Sam's blood. Thus Sam's life goes from ordinary to very extraordinary in a matter of hours. He is fighting for his life and the lives of those he loves.

This book reminded me a lot of the Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher. Sam has lots of serious, intense moments in this book, but they are broken up by entertaining and humorous bits as well. Once I began book talking this book, it became much more popular in my library.

Recommended for: teens

Red Flags: violence, some language, Sam's friend is killed and her head is re-animated and sent back to him, so he spends a lot of the book toting around her talking head

Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Midwinterblood

Sedgwick, Marcus. Midwinterblood. Indigo, 2011.

These are seven stories that are tied by two characters throughout centuries. The two characters vary in age, but nonetheless are drawn to each other.  It isn't until the end of the book that the reader is able to make all of the connections and see how the stories tie together.

I ended up liking this book a lot more than I thought I would. At first I was just confused. I didn't like that the separate stories were told out of order, but I assumed that by the end it would make sense, and it did. I could easily booktalk this book to my students, and both those who like scary books and those who like paranormal books would be drawn to this story. It's very rare that I would want to go back to a story and reread it, but I almost wanted to do that with this one so I could see the connections that I missed the first time through.

Recommended for: young adults
Red Flags: murder
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Some Quiet Place

Sutton, Kelsey. Some Quiet Place. Flux, 2013.

Elizabeth doesn't feel emotions. Instead, they show up as ghosts/spectors that speak with her and interact with those around her.  Fear, especially, is very interested in Elizabeth and wants to know why she doesn't feel anything.  And Elizabeth needs to find this out, because that knowledge stands between life and death.

I just couldn't get into this particular story.  As much as I was intrigued by the idea of personified emotions, the writing style just could not hold my interest.  I did not understand why Elizabeth was talking to these emotion creatures, why she didn't feel anything, or why any of it mattered.  This book didn't hook me like others have.  However, the kids at my library who love ghost stories, scary stories, and anything paranormal will probably really enjoy this one.

Recommended for: teens, fans of paranormal fiction
Red flags: none
Overall Rating: 2/5 stars

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children [Graphic Novel Version]

Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Yen Press, 2013.

Jacob travels with his family to a remote island where he explores an abandoned house that was once Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  Soon, though, he discovers that the house might not be haunted after all; perhaps the children are still alive.

This graphic interpretation of the original book includes the photographs from the novel and is engaging and entertaining.  I can see this book being very popular among my patrons, whose two favorite types of books are graphic novels and paranormal stories.

Recommended for: teens, tweens
Red Flags: none
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

In the Shadow of Blackbirds

Winters, Cat. In the Shadow of Blackbirds. Amulet Books, 2013.

The Spanish flu has taken the lives of countless numbers of people, and the Great War in Europe is taking the lives of many as well.  People hurry about wearing masks to prevent the spread of the flu, and fear is rampant. Mary Shelley Black is sent to live with an aunt while her father is on trial for treason. While there, Mary tries to solve the mystery of the "ghost photographs," as well as the disappearance of a boy she loved, a boy she was told died in battle but whose spirit has been haunting her.  Will she be able to solve the mystery before it kills her?

I enjoyed this book more than I expected.  The "ghost photographs" thing didn't interest me, but the setting and the flu epidemic definitely did.  The ending of this book was satisfying, although it seemed to take a long time to get there.  As paranormal fiction is very popular in my library at the moment, this one will be hard to keep on the shelves.

Recommended for: teens, fans of paranormal fiction and/or historical fiction
Red Flags: some mild violence
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

School Spirits

Hawkins, Rachel. School Spirits. Disney-Hyperion, 2013.

Izzy is a monster fighter a la Buffy, but when her sister disappears, her mom decides the family needs to take a break and settle down. For the first time in her life, Izzy is going to attend a normal high school and try to live a normal life. Or so she thinks. Izzy soon discovers that her new school is haunted, and she has to solve the mystery of the haunting before her new friends are all killed. Can Izzy hunt down the ghosts before it's too late?

This book was mildly suspenseful and enjoyable. Fans of paranormal books will undoubtedly enjoy it, and I've had difficulty keeping it on my shelves once my Twlight groupies come in the library.

Recommended for: teens, especially fans of paranormal books
Red Flags: lots of violence
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

The Obsidian Miror

Fisher, Catherine. The Obsidian Mirror. Dial, 2013.

Jake has finally gotten himself kicked out of boarding school, and he's being sent back to stay with the man he thinks murdered his father.  Jake is glad for the chance to find the truth and also seek revenge, but he gets more than he bargained for when he encounters Oberon Venn and his mirror. Venn had been working with Jake's father to use the mirror for time travel.  Will Jake be able to bring his father back from the past and destroy the dangerous mirror once and for all?

This book was really intense and interesting after a rather strange start.  The book opens with Jake getting kicked out of school, but that isn't really the focus of the story.  The story of this mirror that allows people to time travel, and of the devastation that has caused in multiple time periods, was really interesting.  I was intrigued to see how the book would end, and this book has already circulated several times in just the first couple weeks of school, so it's popular with my students, too.

Recommended for: tweens, teens, fans of adventure stories

Red flags: Some violence

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Mind Games

White, Kiersten. Mind Games. Harper Teen, 2013.

Fia has perfect instincts. When she follows her gut feelings, she does the right thing, all the time. Fia is an assassin, working for a company that is holding her sister hostage.  Her sister, Annie, is blind, but has visions of the future.  The same company is using Annie's visions to decide where to send Fia on her missions. Can Fia get Annie out of the company's grip and get them both far enough away that they'll be safe?

This was a very suspenseful, very enjoyable read.  I finished it in one sitting.  The chapters are told from both Fia's and Annie's perspectives, and there's a mix of current-day action and flashback scenes to fill in the missing information.  The chapters are short and intense. I could easily see this book being a contender for the ALA Quick Picks award this year.

Recommended for: teens and tweens, especially reluctant readers

Red Flags: some language; some violence

Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Dawn of the Dreadfuls

Hockensmith, Steve. Dawn of the Dreadfuls. Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2010.

This book is a prequel to Quirk's remade classic, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and recommended it to the students in my class who read Austen's original. I like the idea of taking classic works and adding a humorous or entertaining element, and I can definitely see how these works appeal to students (and adults).

I was not as impressed with Dreadfuls, however. I think the biggest problem stems from not having a classic work to base this novel on. Aside from the inherent difficulties in creating a prequel - and thus answering any questions brought up from the original novel - the style and language in this work just was not on par with Zombies. It was an entertaining read, and I could see my students enjoying it, but I was not impressed. Sadly, I was glad when this novel was over, and I hope that, unlike the zombies themselves, no one chooses to resurrect this series.