Paranormal Pick: Haven

Haven
by Kristi Cook
Simon Pulse
2011
401 pages


Don't miss! This novel is a must-read!

Mesmerizing, exciting, romantic, thrilling, and radically cool, Haven is the BEST paranormal romance since Twilight. In fact, it's
BETTER than Twilight. Haven leaves an open ending for sequels, and this reviewer hopes the sequels prove equally as satisfying. (You heard it here first--I think movie rights will be sold and the movie will be a HUGE hit with teens).

Violet is strangely drawn to a boarding school in New England, and soon finds out that Winterhaven (Haven) is a paranormal school: there are shape-shifters, precogs, werewolves, astral projectors, and, yep, good ol' vampires. What makes this story different is that some vampires are actually working toward a "cure" for their sickness.

Enter Aidan--who is smoking hot and way sexier and more charming than Meyer's Edward. Violet is a strong female protagonist and a worthy warrior--fierce and confident--more likeable than whiny Bella in the Twilight series. Aidan and Violet, with the help of a handful of super-friends (think The Fantastic Four, but uber-rad), face off against the biggest threat to their kind.

Readers who loved Twilight and Shiver, will devour this book and its sequels.

Highly, highly recommended grades 9-up. Mature grade 8 readers--with caution, Aidan and Violet are quite sexy but not explicit.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation.

Book Giveaway: Die For Me by Amy Plum

5 copies of Die For Me are up for grabs! Exciting new paranormal by Amy Plum. Post a comment here with email contact and state; winners notified by email. Contest opens Monday, May 23 at 12:01 a.m. and deadline for posts is Friday, May 27, 2011 at noon MST. Books will ship from Harper Collins in New York. Good luck!

Dark Days of Summer book trailer click here

Funny Paranormal Pick: Starstruck

Starstruck
by Cyn Balog
Delacourte Press
2011
256 pages

Available July 12, 2011

In your face sarcasm, biting social commentary and laugh out loud snarkiness make Starstruck one hilarious young adult novel. Gwendolyn (Dough, for short) is starting her junior year and dreading it. Far from the social butterfly, Gwen likes the shadows and wishes she were invisible, but it's hard to blend in or disappear when you've put on seventy pounds. If that weren't bad enough, Gwen gets an email that Wish, her best friend since grade school, is about to return to New Jersey. They have been long distance "dating" for the past couple of years keeping in tough via email and Facebook, but Wish has no idea that Gwen is overweight. He is in for a HUGE (pun intended) surprise.

Gwen is horrified and only has three days to get in shape. She practically passes out doing Billy Bank's Tae Bo tapes. When Gwen sees Wish again, she about faints--he has turned into a beautiful, well-toned Greek god. He doesn't seem to notice her weight at all; there's something strange going on here. Gwen's mom hires a creepy guy with an attitude to work at the family bakery; the new hire has an idea that all is not right with Wish.

Strange weather patterns develop and Gwen's sister Evie has an unexplained fever that sends her to the hospital. Weird things are unfolding in Cellar Bay--and it all began when Wish came to town.

Readers will laugh at Gwen's descriptions; when describing her family's lack of wealth, she calls them a, "coupon-clipping, water-down-the-ketchup-to-make-it-last-longer kind of family." When describing her younger sister's naivete, Gwen calls Evie "Nai-Evie."

A new kind of paranormal book, Starstruck is a winner.

Recommended grades 7-up. The words "sex" and "virgin" are mentioned in passing. No details. No characters engage in sexual activity.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publsiher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Paranormal Pick: Blessed

Blessed
by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Candlewick Press
2011
454 pages

Fans of Smith's earlier books Tantalize and Eternal will leap at the chance to read this exciting new ya paranormal novel. It melds vampires, werewolves, mythology and angels together. Doesn't every new vampire deserve a guardian angel?

Quincie runs her family's restaurant in downtown Austin. Its campy vampire theme and menu attract the city's foodies, musicians and local weirdos. Austin, Texas, with its real-life bat colony near the river is the perfect setting for Sanguini's and a vampire uprising.

Newly almost-turned Quincie is in the fight for her eternal soul when she hires a new chef and unbelievably handsome waiter Zachery. Zachery has other talents, too; he wields a mighty angelic sword and is the only one who can help save Quincie's eternal soul.

Brad, the evil vampire, desires to rule the entire world: human and vampire, and he's about to take over. Quincie, Zachery, and her wolf friends are the only ones able to stop him.

Get ready for a showdown! This novel is a real page-turner. Paranormal fans will devour it.

Recommended for high school collections. Some mature material.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this review.

Click here for Blessed book trailer

Paranormal Romance Pick: Angel Burn

Angel Burn
by L.A. Weatherly
Candlewick, 2011
page count undetermined
Due out May 24, 2011

What if Angels aren't sent from the heavens to help humans? What if they have a more sinister and devious plan for humankind?

The first in a planned romantic trilogy, Angel Burn catches fire. Whether running for their lives, fighting evil angels, outsmarting old friends who are now enemies, fleeing the CIA, or digging up secrets, Willow and Alex are likeable characters young adult readers will latch onto.

Willow is unique. She has the gift of knowing other people's fates, their pasts and futures, their pain and their promise. It takes just one touch for her to see what is likely to unfold. When Willow sees Beth's future, she warns Beth that her new religion and church of choice, The Church of Angels, is hurting her. Willow sees danger and violence in Beth's future.

Alex is a trained AK, or Angel Killer, hired by the CIA in a secret program to hunt and kill Angels who have been proven to feed off the humans, leaving them with "Angel Burn," an untreatable sickness which will destroy them. If the CIA can't stop the Angels, humankind will cease to exist.

The Church of Angels is becoming more powerful as humans flock like sheep to its doors. Then Alex gets his next hit--an Angel in Pawtucket, New York.

When Alex breaks into the house, he sees a ethereally beautiful teen-age girl asleep, but he knows this is no ordinary Angel--she is something else entirely, and he is drawn to her. He leaves without hitting his target.

Later, Alex and Willow are thrown together and forced to flee--they know they have to disappear from the Angels and the CIA.

Can an Angel Killer like Alex rely on Willow, who is half-Angel and his hit? Can Willow trust Alex, the man sent to kill her?

Exciting, well-paced, and suspenseful, Angel Burn is a sure hit.

Recommended grades 9-up. Language.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the galley from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Paranormal Pick: Darkness Becomes Her

Darkness Becomes Her
by Kelly Keaton
Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster), 2011
273 pages

Masterful storytelling. Darkness Becomes Her is set in sinister and creepy moss-covered and overgrown New Orleans, now named New 2, after a series of wrenching hurricanes destroyed it. Nine families whose ancestors first settled New Orleans band together and form the Novem, the only law recognized beyond the Rim.

When seventeen-year old Ali Selkirk goes in search of her birth mother and answers to why she was given up as a ward to the state of Louisiana, she finds dark secrets about her mother's life...and death. Returning to her hotel, Ali opens a box of things left behind by her mother thirteen years ago. There is a letter for Ali... and it's frightening. The letter warns Ali "Please, baby girl, just run..." --to leave New Orleans and those who are looking for her.

Ali wants to follow directions and means well, but after killing a strange Greek warrior who vanishes before her eyes, she wants answers: Who was the creepy Greek guy and why does he want her dead? Why does she need to run? Where is her real father? Did her mother really commit suicide, or was there something more sinister going on?

On a whim, Ali catches a ride beyond the Rim and into New 2. And that's when strange things really start to happen! Macabre characters inhabit New 2 and dark secrets boil over. Joining a band of misfits, Ali begins untangling the mysteries and getting answers.

This dynamic page-turner will appeal to fans of paranormal and adventure--fans of Twilight and The Lightning Thief will like this read.

The line "Run, baby girl" gave me actual goosebumps at the end of Chapter One. I was hooked.

Highly recommended grade 9-up. This novel should be okay for some grade 8 readers--it is as tame as The Hunger Games.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

YA Thriller/Romance: Nightshade

Nightshade
by Andrea Cremer
Philomel (Penguin), 2010
528 pages

Calla's life has been planned for her since before her own birth. That's the way it is in the pack. Sworn to protect each other and the sacred sites for the Keepers, Calla is part of a pack of wolves/humans whose existence is solely for the benefit of the Keepers--magical beings older than humanity itself. Calla prepares to become a lifemate for the alpha male Ren, but a chance meeting on the mountain with a human boy changes all that.

When Calla breaks the highest of laws by saving the human from a bear attack, she allows him to see her change from wolf to girl. She hopes she never sees him again, but when he shows up at her high school, she is forced to face her feelings.

Shay wants to know Calla better but her pack has other ideas. Calla and Shay begin to dig into the mysteries of the Keepers and find that all the old laws are wrong. As they rebel, they risk everything to be together. The book ends in a cliffhanger, opening the door for the sequel: Wolfsbane due out July 26, 2011.

Paranormal romance readers who enjoyed the Twilight series and Shiver and Linger will be panting to get their hands on Wolfsbane (book 2).

Highly recommended grades 9-12. Some more mature grade 8 readers will be okay with this novel. Warning #1: two wolves are gay--although they face prejudice in the pack and the larger world, there is NOT any mention of sex. Warning #2: At one point, Calla must shed her fancy gown, and Shay is astonished to see she is not wearing a bra--but it does NOT mention anything sexual.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my library. Other reviews mentioned grade 8-up. I would recommend it for grade 8 with CAUTION.

Ghostly Pick

Three Quarters Dead
by Richard Peck
Dial Books (Penguin), 2010.
208 pages

Sophomore Kerry Williamson doesn't fit in. She sits alone at the end of a lunch table where three fabulous, popular girls gather for lunch. Kerry eavesdrops on their conversations, longing to be like them. Tanya is the queen of all; she rules the group. She is perfect--from her flawless skin to her long blond tresses.

When Tanya invites Kerry to sit with them, Kerry fells like it's a dream come true and she can't believe her good fortune. She is suddenly living the part of a popular girl, that is...until a terrible accident ruins everything. Time passes. Seasons change. And then out of nowhere...Kerry gets a text message from Tanya.

She's thrilled. Maybe all these months she has been stuck in a bad dream. Three Quarters Dead is a great high school clique novel with a ghoulish twist. Honestly, readers won't be able to put this one down. Anyone who loves a ghost story or a thriller will love this book. Peck is a masterful storyteller.

Highly recommended. Grades 7 and up.
Publishing release: October 26, 2010

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this ARC in a box sent to me from a fellow librarian. I received no monetary compensation for my review.

Paranormal Pick

Wings
by Aprilynne Pike
Harper Teen (Harper Collins Publishers)
2009
293 pages

Fellow Utah native Stephenie Meyer, says of author Aprilynne Pike's novel, "Wings is a remarkable debut."

It is a truly unique novel that had this reviewer engaged from the moment I picked it up. You think you know all about fairies, trolls, King Arhur, Merlin and Avalon, but then you read Wings.

Highly readable and thoroughly engaging, paranormal and romance fans will love this book. Readers may believe in fairies after meeting Laurel--just a normal girl who happens to be home schooled and never has seen a doctor. Oh, and Laurel never remembers being injured or bleeding either. The truth is--Laurel doesn't have red blood at all--she discovers her cells are actually plant cells. If that isn't strange enough, she soon encounters others like her and must choose between her "human" life and a life with the fairies.

Recommended for YA collections grades 8-up. Some violence--but it's against trolls, not humans.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from a fellow librarian who gets ARCs from publishers. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

YA Picks

Ninth Grade Slays (The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, Book 2)
by Heather Brewer.
Scholastic, 2008.
278 pages.

The second installment in this series does not disappoint. Readers are "sucked" (pun intended) into the story by the second paragraph. A hunter for hire is after Vlad. Not only that, a vampire slayer shows up in town looking for any vampire to slay. Vlad truly has his hands full--trying to fool a hunter and a slayer and yet keep up his grades and try to get Meredith to notice him. This is no small feat--even if you are super-human!

Vlad learns skills from the greatest teacher in vampiredom. He is now able to read people's thoughts and to plant thoughts into their minds. He is even able to communicate telepathically with his Uncle Otis and Henry, who is not only Vlad's best friend, but has become his drudge--a faithful servant of a vampire.

This novel is even stronger than the first and much more fun. Readers who enjoyed the first novel will like the second and chomp at the bit to devour (again, pun intended) books three and four. Great fun, and recommended for YA collections. Grades 7-high school

YA Pick

Witch & Wizard
by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
Little Brown and Company, 2009.
314 pages.

Teen readers will be drawn to this novel for three reasons: the large "W" ablaze dominating the cover, the words "witch" and "wizard" in the title, and those readers who followed the Maximum Ride series will want to read Patterson's latest YA novel.

Siblings Wisty and Whit Allgood are awakened in the middle of the night by armed thugs who arrest them, transport them to a "trial," and drop them off at a sadistic prison. The old government has been overthown and replaced by a maniac who refers to himself as "The One Who Is The One." The Allgood teens are dangerous to the new order because of their powers. Wisty and Whit discover that they are a witch and a wizard, respectively. As they begin to harness their powers, they befriend a ghost or "curve" who helps them escape the prison through the Shadowlands, a dangerous otherworld where spirits, and sometimes, humans, roam. Later, they join a gang of likeminded kids who hope to overthrow the new regime and fulfill a prophecy that kids will rule and peace will come.

This is a quick read with chapters only 2-4 pages in length. Each chapter ends on a suspenseful note to keep those pages turning. Action and adventure readers will enjoy this novel. Patterson continues to use a formula he has had past success with: working with another author who is comfortable in the children's and YA lit market. Charbonnet, with over 75 titles to her credit, is best known for the Babysitter's Club Baby Sister's books.

The ending of this novel makes possible a slew of sequels. As prolific a writer as Patterson is, he will likely churn out a whole series.

Recommended for YA collections. Grades 6-high school.