YA Fantasy/Urban Fantasy

Tunnel of Bones is the second book in the City of Ghosts series and follows Cassidy, a twelve-year-old girl who can see ghosts and her ghostly friend Jacob.

This time, the story takes place in Paris, where her “ghost-hunter” parents are filming in the creepy Catacombs, which is basically an underground cemetery that is a labyrinth containing the bones of millions of Parisians. Think it might be haunted? If you answered yes, then you’re correct.

In this novel, Cassidy and Jacob end up awakening an angry Poltergeist who ends up wreaking all kinds of havoc in Paris.

The problem is that Cassidy can’t stop him with her mirror because the Poltergeist doesn’t remember who or what he is, which is a necessary element for the mirror trick to work.

As time passes, the spirit grows stronger and more dangerous, and it’s up to Cassidy and Jacob to stop it before someone ends up getting killed.

This was a super creepy story with a delightful, pervasive sense of menace that lingers over the story. It’s a story with tons of suspense, gobs of creepiness, and tension galore. It was also quite eerie — how could it not, given that it literally takes place in a tunnel of bones.

The characters of Cassidy and Jacob continued to grow on me with this second book, and I love watching them work as a team to fit together the pieces of the mystery and fix what’s going on around them, in this case, a super angry ghost.

The story has an excellent atmosphere, and at times, I felt like I was walking right along with them in the twisty underground boneyard. The author succeeded here in giving us another suspenseful Cassidy Blake story with just the right amount of creepiness and adventure. As a plus, we got to learn quite a bit more about Jacob in this book, which renders him all the more endearing.

All in all, Tunnel of Bones is a fun, spooky middle-grade paranormal fantasy that had the perfect amount of creep factor and mystery. I loved the fact that the story takes place in Paris because I lived there for a while, so that was an extra plus for me having one of my favorite cities as a backdrop.

I don’t read a lot of middle-grade, but the author has really me hooked with this series. I can’t wait for the next installment.

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This is the second book in the Necromancer’s Song series and follows Naya, the daughter of a sea merchant captain, who was murdered and then brought back to life as a wraith by a Necromancer.

In this book, she finds herself back in her country of Talmir, a place she never thought she’d ever see again given that Talmirans absolutely loathe the undead. Because of the events that took place in the last book, she’s also marked as a traitor to Talmir.

There’s quite a bit going on in this book. First and foremost, she has to rescue Corten, fellow wraith and lover, from a dark, dark place where there are shadows who wish to claim him permanently — and time is quickly running out for the both of them. But in order to save him, she has to find and obtain missing secret necromancy journals, which on the surface appears to be a nearly impossible task.

She’s also sucked into an intricate political web where she’s forced to form new alliances in order to survive though she’s not quite sure who she can trust. Like the last book, there are plenty of secrets, lies, and layers of treachery, but this time, the entire world is peril, a tidbit we don’t learn about until nearly the end of the story. The plot and the continuous action enthralled me right until the end of the book. I felt that the author did an excellent job portraying the political tension between the two countries, as well as the moral disagreements and mistrust.

I also enjoyed the dual POVs in the book, going back and forth from Corten to Naya, and witnessing the feeling of ever-growing desperation that both of them were experiencing. I also liked how much Naya’s character has grown since the first book where she’s transformed into quite a decisive, less gullible, and courageous young woman (or young wraith, as it were). She’s spirited, headstrong, and alert and has the backbone and personality to complement and balance many of the other no-nonsense characters, includes the stodgy Talmirans. I also was surprised by the “bad guys” in the story, which totally took me by surprise.

All in all, a mesmerizing, action-packed multi-layered adventure story with a unique and compelling spin on necromancy. The narrative never bogs down, and I was on pins and needles pretty much the entire time I read this book. My only niggle was the abrupt ending. Though it wasn’t exactly a cliff-hanger, it was pretty darn close, and because of that, I knocked off one star. Still, a super-fun read, and I’ll definitely be picking up the third in the series.

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This book is supposedly based upon a popular podcast series called “Bright Sessions,” which I was not familiar with before reading this. I definitely plan on checking out the podcast now, as well.

Infinite Noise is a YA Contemporary Sci-Fi story that follows a 16-year-old high school football player named Caleb Michaels. But lately, he hasn’t been his usual self. Whenever he’s around a group of people such as in class or at a party, he feels overwhelmed to such a point that he fears passing out. He’s also noticed that his moods swing back and forth to extremes of the spectrum without explanation or cause, sometimes even culminating with him violently lashing out in anger.

Upon receiving therapy, it’s determined that Caleb is in fact what the book called an “Atypical” — a powerful empath who feels and experiences the moods of everyone around him, which can be pretty intense if one is in a room full of teenagers whose moods are often extreme and ever-changing. But there’s one person who seems to help Caleb deal with the overwhelm, and that is Adam, an introverted gay teen who suffers from severe depression.

Though Adam’s emotions are often extreme and tend toward the dark side, they seem to “fit” with Caleb’s, and when Adam is around, Caleb finds it much easier to control the crushing, overwhelm that he experiences when Adam is not around. So in this way, Adam’s presence is calming to Caleb. Because of this, Caleb’s therapist encourages him to befriend Adam, and so the two of them form a unique friendship. In the process, they discover they have more in common than they’d initially thought.

Eventually, their friendship evolves into something more, which poses an entirely different set of challenges for our two main characters. There’s also the danger of others finding out about Caleb’s ability (there was even mention of a nefarious organization), which also added a bit of compelling intrigue to the narrative.

I love stories about people who possess superpowers and/or enhanced abilities so it was fun to journey along with Caleb as he struggled to understand and control that part of himself. The story was told from both Caleb and Adam’s alternating points of view, which really helped the reader understand the emotions and motivations of the characters. The dual perspectives worked exceptionally well in the book as both characters’ voices were so distinct that there was little danger of confusing them.

The book also had phenomenal descriptions of emotions, and I thought the author especially nailed it when describing Adam’s depression from Caleb’s point of view. I found the use of colors and physical sensations in describing emotions to be especially effective.

All in all, this is is a delightfully moving character-driven coming-of-age love story that was also a journey of self-discovery for our two highly complex protagonists. It’s an exceptional novel with lovable characters that teaches us to find solace in the special friendships that we forge and to trust those who love us.

I do believe this is going to be a series. I do hope so as I’d definitely love to delve more deeply into the world that the author has created here. The author also briefly introduced a couple of other Atypicals in the story, so hopefully, we’ll be seeing them in future books.

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So first off, I’ll mention that I love the body swapping trope and some of my favorite films include Freaky Friday, Big, 18 Again, Vice Versa, 17 Again and the like. Now I’ve read a few body swapping books, and my experience has been that this trope doesn’t translate all that well to the written form. Body swapping novels often end up being frustrating and confusing, so though I was intrigued by the synopsis of this book, I was also a bit hesitant. But I needn’t have been because the author managed to pull it off here.

This story follows a somewhat shy, young man named Ezra Slevin who is obsessed with a girl named Imogen and is working up his courage to ask her to the prom. The only problem is Imogen’s overly protective best friend Wynona, a loud and annoying girl who has made Ezra’s life miserable for as long as he can remember and seems to derive enjoyment from tormenting Ezra whenever possible.

But on the night of the total solar eclipse, something weird happens to Ezra and Wynona — they wake up in each other’s bodies. But what’s especially strange is that they begin randomly swapping back and forth every day. To make things even more interesting, Ezra learns that Wynona has a crush on his best friend, Holden.

So the two enemies are forced to come together to form an alliance as they need to pretend to be the person whose body they’re inhabiting. They also agree to help each other with their crush — Ezra will help Wynona with Holden and Wynona will help Ezra with Imogen, with the body swapping adding in all sorts of additional hilarious complications.

There’s also the problem of the play all four of them are in, a rendition of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in which a bit of gender swapping itself is part of the story. But also what’s comical here is the whole issue of learning your lines and being expected to perform while in the wrong body.

The entire novel is told through Ezra’s perspective, which helps to keep track of the body swapping. Also helpful, is that when Wynona is in Ezra’s body, he refers to her as Wynezra, which is super useful in keeping everyone straight.

I was never confused or overwhelmed by the swapping and was delighted when the author turned up the tension a couple of notches by throwing in themes of gender fluidity and homosexuality into the works. This additional complexity worked well in this story, especially as various characters developed feelings for each other, and I thought that this added to the richness and depth of an already gripping plot.

What especially worked for me with his book was the hilarity that would ensue if you found yourself not only in the body of the opposite gender but of someone whose personality is night and day different from yours — and all this taking place while in high school. There were so many laugh-out-loud moments in this book, and I thought it was so much fun to go on this journey with Ezra and Wynona as they struggled to figure out how to live in each other’s bodies, and navigate the challenges associated with the other’s sex and personality.

I thought it was interesting how the story follows Ezra but is still able to give a more in-depth inside look into Wynona’s life through Ezra swapping bodies with her. Likewise, it gave Wynona a deeper peek into Ezra’s life with each of them developing empathy and understanding for the other person’s issues and baggage in the process. That being said, this is also a story about how both people manage to find new wisdom by being in the other’s shoes.

I like how this story teaches empathy and understanding. By using a body swap as a tool, the author gets to show the world through the other person’s eyes resulting in a comedic contemporary with a heartfelt emotional relationship between two people who couldn’t be more different. It also succeeded in illustrating how we cannot judge or make assumptions about others based solely on outward appearances and Norton provides a means of exploring one’s own preconceived notions about others without being preachy.

I also loved how the author dealt with sexuality in such a unique and interesting way, a way that I haven’t come across before in a novel. This book is a new twist on body swaps and with it come themes of sexual preference, gender fluidity, and figuring out who you really want to be.

There are also themes of family, friendship, forgiveness, grief, and self-acceptance that also rendered this quite a serious novel as well. What worked nicely for me was how Wynona and Ezra learned to be their authentic and best self at the end of the day.

I liked how real and authentic these characters felt to me. The author gives us real teenagers with real problems and in so doing, provides us with a cast of flawed, lonely, impulsive, and quirky individuals that are totally relatable.

Where I End and You Begin is as inventive as it is moving and ended up being a beautifully rendered story of love, attraction, sexuality, family, and friendship. It’s a clever, engaging, and wildly entertaining read, and I felt that the author did an excellent job of bringing his characters to life, allowing all of them to thrive in their complexity. All in all, a lovely, subtle thought-provoking blow-me-away kind of book that I’m still mulling over. Needless to say, I loved it.

A big thank you to Netgalley and Disney Hyperion for providing me with an advance reader copy of this book.

This title will be released on June 4th, 2019 but it is available for pre-order now. Link is below.

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“Do I look like a princess?”
“You look like a queen.”

I’ve been a fan of Brigid Kemmerer ever since I’ve read her Elemental series years ago about four brothers with magical powers, so I was excited when I heard that she was doing a contemporary fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast, though it’s much darker than the original tale. I immediately pre-ordered it and read it the day I received it in the post.

The story follows the enigmatic Prince Rhen, AKA “The Beast,” crown prince of Emberfall who was cursed by a powerful enchantress named Lilith. How his curse works, is that for the past 300 plus seasons, Rhen has repeated the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, after which he turns into a different beast every time but a creature hell-bent on destruction. Over the years, he — or the beast — has murdered his family, his guards, his army and many innocent townspeople. In fact, a man named Grey, Rhen’s loyal guard commander, is the only living person left at the castle with him and Prince Rhen’s only friend.

Now the stipulation of the curse, is that it can be broken only if a woman falls in love with him before the end of autumn and each season Grey, who has the power to travel to our world, captures a girl and brings her back for Rhen, hoping that perhaps this time, she will be “the one.” Of course, it’s not easy to love a blood-thirsty beast, so he hasn’t been successful in finding his true love.

At this point in the story, overcome by angst and tragedy, he has pretty much given up all hope given that he’s pretty much lost everything over the years; his family, his kingdom, the respect of his people and eventually, his friendship with Grey. He’s also ripped apart by guilt for every vile act he’s committed during his time as The Beast. At this point, he longs for death.

Enter Harper, a young woman with cerebral palsy whose mother is dying, and her brother is in a whole heap of trouble with the both of them desperately trying to hold their family together. When she tries to save a woman who appears to be in the process of being abducted, she ends up sucked into a parallel world — Rhen’s world to be exact — with no way back home for at least an entire year and ends up being the latest pawn in the “break the curse” game.

Now Harper is not a pushover, but a firecracker of a woman — determined, resourceful and scrappy who refuses to play the role of victim. But as she spends more time with Rhen and the people of Emberfall, she begins to understand just how much is at stake. Rhen soon realizes that this woman is entirely different from the many, many others he has tried to charm. She mocks him, fights against him, taunts him, antagonizes him and before he realizes it, begins to fall for this feisty woman — a woman who challenged him to be more, to be better, to be who he was meant to be.

Because of Harper, Rhen soon finds himself daring to hope for the impossible — that there may be a way to breaks his curse after all.

But there is more going on here than just Prince Rhen’s curse. Powerful forces are threatening to destroy Emberfall, and its people and our characters soon understand that it will take more than ending the curse to save the kingdom. Harper has to make a powerful choice: go home to save her family or stay in Emberfall and save Rhen’s kingdom.

There is so much to love about this book, but I especially enjoyed the fresh, original take on one of my favorite classic fairytales. I do love retellings, and this was definitely one of the better ones with a delightfully chilling villain; a fierce and determined kick-ass heroine, high-stakes political intrigue that builds throughout the story; a handsome yet someone angsty prince; a mysterious storyline; a looming war; and the colliding of the modern world (DC to be exact) with a fantasy medieval-feeling fairytale kingdom. This reimagining ticked all the right boxes for me. I loved how every character in the book became a better version of themselves by the story’s end.

Harper was my favorite character. All of her life because of her Cerebral Palsy, she was seen as weak and as someone who needed to be protected, especially by her brother Jack. But in Emberfall, she really came into her own and took charge – and instead of needed to be protected, she filled the role of the compassionate protector of others.

And rather than being defined by her handicap, she rose above it by sheer will and determination, and in so doing, ended up accomplishing amazing things. She’s definitely the least classic fairytale princess that I’ve come across, and I loved her for it.

The story is told from Rhen and Harper’s alternating points of view which helped get to know the characters and what makes them tick. Usually, I’m not a fan of dual POVs, but I thought it worked exceptionally well in this instance.

All in all, A Curse So Dark and Lonely was a delightful, fast-paced, action-packed retelling of an old favorite with evocative imagery, beautiful writing, amazing characters, and exquisite world-building. Though the ending was entirely satisfying, I understand there is going to be a sequel entitled “A Heart So Fierce and Broken,” and I for sure will be picking it up. But yeah, this was a solid 5-star read for me.

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