Archives

Clarity, by Kim Harrington (book review) – psychic gift or curse?

Jun20

book cover of Clarity by Kim HarringtonIt’s a mystical Monday. What’s your ideal summer job? Bet it’s not like Clare’s, where “the family business” uses the psychic gifts of the Ferns.

Her brother loves summer, when he can romance the visiting girls – what local high school girl would date a guy who gets messages from dead people?

The Ferns can tell tourists about hidden things which have happened in the past, but the new psychic in town starts taking away their customers by promising that she can predict the future.

Add a murder to the summer crowds during an election year, and suddenly Clare’s gift for psychometry is in demand by the local authorities.

Kim Harrington says that Perception (Clarity #2) is due out in March 2012. Hope YA paranormal fans can wait that long! (She’s also writing a middle grades detective series, due out next summer).
**kmm

Book info: Clarity / by Kim Harrington. Point (Scholastic), 2011. [author’s website] [author’s blog] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Book Talk: Just another summer at the family psychic business, where Clare sees what happened with an object by just touching it, brother Perry sees spirits, and Mom hears people’s thoughts. They can’t predict the future, but Cape Cod tourists wanting answers keep them in business.

Too bad the town residents aren’t as accepting of the Ferns – Clarity and Periwinkle (named by hippie parents) have been bullied and scorned ever since their gifts began to manifest. Just another year of high school and they can escape to somewhere else… especially after Clare’s only boyfriend cheated on her.

A murder – the first in decades –shocks everyone on the Fourth of July weekend. The mayor is up for re-election and asks Clare to help the police find clues. So she’s stuck with the mayor’s son (her ex-boyfriend) and the new detective’s son (completely anti-psychics) as she visits the murder scene… and finds that Perry was with the woman before she died! He assures Clare that he did not kill the woman, but they’re not sure that the police will understand visions instead of evidence.

On tourist row, a new psychic arrives, saying she can foretell the future and luring clients away from the Ferns. Perry disappears when a witness states that he was seen leaving a restaurant with the victim. Clare’s worst bullies boast about inside knowledge, then vanish.

How can Clare keep working with Justin when she still can’t forgive him? How can she convince Gabe that her visions are the truth (without telling too much)? Can Clare find the real killer without becoming the next victim? (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Vespertine, by Saundra Mitchell (fiction) – visions at sunset, perilous forecasts

Jun13

Mysterious, metaphysical Monday, and we look to the Sunset, the beginning of evening, those bright moments before dusk and the fall of night… In those fiery glows, is there perhaps the thinnest opening from the spirit world into our own?

In Amelia’s day, spiritualism was a popular pastime with society ladies and their daughters, who enjoyed visits to mediums as part of their social calls. But I don’t think they honestly expected Amelia’s visions to come true…neither did she!

Mitchell is busy on a companion novel, The Springsweet, which will take us west to Oklahoma – due out in Spring 2012.

This is a delightfully spooky tale with a psychic gift that’s rather out of the ordinary and definitely beyond Amelia’s control. Would you believe the Vespertine’s visions?
**kmm

Book info: The Vespertine / by Saundra Mitchell. Harcourt Children’s Books, 2011. [author’s website] [author’s blog] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: Sunsets brought the visions to Amelia, unasked for. She’d come to Baltimore to finish school and perhaps find a husband, not to capture visions of futures good or bad.

Amelia’s never had a friend her own age or traveled away from her tiny Maine town, so she has much to learn about party manners and calling cards and everything that Zora considers vital for them as well-bred young ladies of 1889. Her cousin soon whirls her into the dances and dinners and archery and park outings favored by the young people of the city. Amelia looks forward to seeing Nathaniel, even though the painter is not in their social class, according to Zora’s mother.

When the red-orange flash of sunset causes a prediction to fall from Amelia’s lips, Zora is intrigued; when it quickly comes true, she’s enthralled. Word spreads among their friends, then among the society ladies of Baltimore, and Amelia is hailed as “Maine’s Own Mystic” for her visions of the future, seen only at the hour of Vespers, at sunset.

But when one vision becomes a perilous reality, Amelia’s world is torn apart. Will she ever stop seeing the future? Can she and Nathaniel find a way to stay together? Will “the Vespertine” be forever entranced and ensnared by the sunset?

Hopeless and hopeful, gloomy and gleaming – sunset may be the finale of one day or the beginning of tomorrow in this stunning book. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs (book review) – monsters are real

Jun7

book cover of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs published by Quirk BooksUntil it’s grown, you don’t known if that weedy stuff is crabgrass or horrible, clawing grassburrs.

Likewise, Jacob didn’t realize that the monsters that Grandpa warned him about were real until it was too late, as he looks up from the dying man to see the horrifying creature…and the monster sees Jacob.

Author Ransom Riggs started collecting old photos some years ago, drawn to the captions often written on them. For the most peculiar images, he began inventing their backstories and what the oddest captions might have been.

In this thriller, Riggs’ imagination has gone far beyond those idea seeds planted by the old photos, as he brings the “peculiar children” to life, as well as the monsters that pursue them…and Jacob.
**kmm

Book info: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children / by Ransom Riggs. Quirk Books, 2011. [author’s blog] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Book Talk: Jacob stopped believing in Grandpa’s monster stories years ago, but what else could kill someone so thoroughly? Fatally attacked, Grandpa gasps that Jacob “must go to the island” where he will be safe, as he sees the blackened creature of his nightmares disappear into the Florida woods.

Now 16 year old Jacob has the nightmares, the monster alternating with the old photos of “peculiar children” who were his grandpa’s friends at the Welsh orphanage which rescued him from the Holocaust – an invisible boy, the floating girl…real or faked? Clues found at Grandpa’s house convince him that he must find that island and the orphanage, or go insane!

Thankfully, his psychiatrist agrees, so Jacob and his dad head for Wales, and the mystery grows deeper.
If the orphanage was bombed-out in 1940, how did Grandpa get there later?
Why can Jacob hear voices in the old building when no one else can?
Who is following them on the tiny island?

As the past and present tangle and unravel, Jacob finds the old photos to be new truths as the monsters pursue children for their peculiar talents. A chilling debut novel for very mature readers which ponders how the balance point between good and evil loops through human history… (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Who Is Frances Rain? by Margaret Buffie (fiction) – family squabbles, Gold Rush ghost

Jun3
book cover of Who is Frances Rain by Margaret Buffie published by Kids Can Press

Ah, summer vacation season…the change of scenery, the same ol’ family. Except when your family suddenly has a new member, like a stepparent.

So, escaping to the island is Lizzie’s best way to cope with the rising tensions at Gran’s place in Manitoba’s gold country. Even if she does start seeing visions…or ghosts…

So “who is Frances Rain” you wonder? Hope you’ve got plenty of flashlight batteries…
**kmm

Book info: Who Is Frances Rain? / by Margaret Buffie. Kids Can Press, 2007 [author’s website] [publisher site]

Recommendation: Lizzie is sure this summer will be awful – the Canadian gold rush country, all lakes and wilderness, was the kids’ special place with their grandmother, so why did Mom suddenly want to leave her law office and bring their new stepdad here for the summer?

Gran’s old lodge is the same, with board games for everyone and plenty of blueberry pie. Their across-the-lake neighbors are still the same, except 16 year old Alex has grown tall, towering over Lizzie and her big brother Evan. But Evan is awful to their stepdad, Mom’s good mood has vanished, and Gran tells Lizzie to stay away from Rain Island.

Of course, 15 year old Lizzie decides to escape the tension at the lodge and explore Rain Island on her own. When she finds an old pair of glasses that might have belonged to a woman prospector there, she begins to see ghosts or maybe visions of the past.

What are they trying to tell her? Why does she feel this strange connection to the island? When she and Alex start digging into the history of the island and the area’s gold rush days, the mystery becomes stranger than they ever could have imagined.

This great tale of suspense from noted Canadian author Margaret Buffie will have you wondering “who is Frances Rain?” with Lizzie and Alex until the very end. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Green Witch, by Alice Hoffmann (book review) – stories of hope, love may come too?

May29

book cover of Green Witch by Alice Hoffmann published by ScholasticSurviving disaster is one thing. Living beyond the confines of your grief is another. Making memorials to mark the passing of loved ones should help ease the pain…

In this sequel to Green Angel,  Ash begins to heal, as the memories of her former world cry out to be recaptured, the captives to be freed, the forbidden technologies whisked out of sight of the invaders. And so she writes down the memories, travels to hear the stories, uses the machines, regardless of the peril.

Are there parallels to our own history in the events of Green’s world?
Can we learn to see different stories as reasonable, to live together in peace?
May this hopeful tale lead us to hopeful times.
**kmm

Book info: Green Witch / by Alice Hoffman; illustrated by Matt Mahurin. Scholastic, 2010. [author’s website] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: Green had watched as the City burned, consumed her family, turned the world to ash as the Horde tried to destroy all technology. Scarred, then healed, she now watches her garden grow tall and strong near the memorial stones for her father, her mother, and her sister.

The village folks come to Green’s farm and tell her their stories, so many stories that she must make new paper to write them all down (books are the first things that the Horde destroys). And they tell her of “the witches,” the wise ones who never come to the village, who have special powers after The Fire. But Green will only write down a story directly from its source, so she journeys to find each of the witches and learn their stories, her sister’s dog as her companion.

When the Finder of hidden technology asks her to help rescue his sister from the Horde’s prison, Green uses the stories of the witches to guide them. Might she find her lost love, as well?

This beautiful sequel to Green Angel shows hope shining through the ashes of war and destruction. (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Green Angel, by Alice Hoffmann (book review) – past happiness, ashes today

May28

book cover of Green Angel by Alice Hoffmann published by ScholasticAnd the world as you know it ends.

What would you do if everyone, everything was taken from you? How could you cope, not yet 16, the ash falling, falling, falling… The end of Days? Prophecy coming to pass? Invasion?

This slim volume holds much sadness, many fears, and a fragment of hope as a young woman tries to go on living after unimaginable disaster.

Followed by Green Witch,  tomorrow’s featured book.
*kmm

Book info: Green Angel / by Alice Hoffman; illustrated by Matt Mahurin. Scholastic, 2003. [author’s website] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: Black ashes fill the sky, as the City across the river burns. Green thought it wasn’t fair that she had to stay in the garden while her little sister and parents took their produce to the market across the bridge. Soon she would be 16 and could move to the city if she wanted to. She was always shy around other people while her sister, Aurora, glowed with happiness. But fire rained down on the City, burned the bridge, and consumed her family.

Green doesn’t need her ember-burnt eyes to see how the ashes kill the birds, blanket the garden, and smother the plants. She tattoos herself with each memory of loss, hacks off her hair, and armors herself against the world in her father’s coat sewn over with thorns, renaming herself Ash.

Food becomes scarce, and looters try to take over the farm. Hearing more than seeing, Ash gets through one day, then the next, with her sister’s dog as companion.

Will the sun never shine again?
Why was the City attacked?
Will this world remain ashes and death forever, or will it be green again someday?

This short lyrical tale traces Ash’s despair and Green’s hope. Next in the series is Green Witch. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

The House of Dead Maids, by Clare B. Dunkle (book review) – prequel to Wuthering Heights

May21
book cover of House of Dead Maids by Clare B Dunkle published by Henry Holt

Sometimes you wonder what happened in a person’s past to make them turn out the way they did. What’s their backstory? But authors don’t often give us the behind-the-scenes glimpses that we desire.

Such is the case with Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights, whose creator Emily Bronte tells us so little of how he was orphaned or why his unseen childhood turned him into such a brutal man.

Clare B. Dunkle decided to tell Heathcliff’s backstory in this very creepy and very plausible prequel to Wuthering Heights – lots and lots of scary packed into a short book! (I don’t ever, ever want to travel to those moors…)
**kmm

Book info: The House of Dead Maids / by Clare B. Dunkle; illus. by Patrick Arrasmith. Henry Holt, 2010. 146 pgs. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Book Talk: Hired as a nursemaid for a little boy, Tabitha wonders what happened to the other girl from her orphanage who held the position before her. Seldom House is a huge, gloomy place on the English moorlands, with no windows facing south and a bleak inner courtyard where nothing grows.

The villagers stare and whisper, no one from Seldom House goes to church with her, and Tabby finds odd toys suddenly uncovered in her bedroom. Who is the other girl she hears running down the hall? Mrs. Winter says that no other girls live in the house.

Soon Tabby sees the ghosts she’s been hearing, all the dead maids of the house, and meets the little boy, who’s savage and wild, who has been promised that he will be Master of Seldom House, who can see the ghosts of all the dead masters. Overhearing a plan to murder them during a thunderstorm, as the land must have blood to be satisfied, she vows that they’ll both escape.

This chilling prequel to Wuthering Heights gives the dark background of the little orphan boy brought to Seldom House to ensure its luck, to take the place of its master, to learn of murder – the savage little boy who grew up to become Heathcliff… (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.u

Dark Is Rising Sequence, by Susan Cooper (book review) – Guest post on classic fantasy series

May16

Today I’ve invited fellow Blogathonner Stephanie Suesan Smith to talk up her favorite YA books for WordCount Blogathon Challenge 2011 guest post day. She’s selected a great fantasy series which has withstood the test of time – Enjoy!
**kmm
—–
Recommendation: There are many books that were published well before Harry Potter that contain magic, quests, and the fight between good and evil. One such series that was published starting in 1965 is as vibrant today as when it was written. Although the settings contain no computers or cell phones, The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper takes us to a world within our world just the same.

Written for preteens, the stories are so ageless that I still re-read them when I need to remind myself that it is up to each of us to do our part in order that the end result comes out all right. The stories are set in Britain and are an arc of Arthurian quests without that being the overwhelming feature of the books.

Over Sea, Under Stone is the first book and is more of a prequel than a part of the series. Start with it, but know that even better things are coming. Three children go to Cornwall with their parents to vacation with a distant relative. While rambling in the home, the children find a map to a treasure. With the dark trying to obtain the map on one hand, and the light trying to help the children, it is a race to see who reaches the object first.

The Dark Is Rising is one of my favorite books to read on a bad day when the rain is coming down and the shadows won’t go away. The British celebrate Christmas differently than Americans, and perhaps that is part of the magic of this book. It is set to the tempo of the twelve days of Christmas as a young boy, Will, becomes an adult in the world of beings who fight for or against the Dark. He is the last of his order to complete this task, and failure means the fight is lost.

Greenwitch is a book dealing with a pre-Christian ritual and belief about the sea and powerful spirits leaving there. It is well known fishermen are superstitious and believe in things others do not. The children from the first book are joined by the one from the second to recover a lost object held by one of these spirits. No force can compel this spirit to part with the needed talisman. Can friendship?

The Grey King is the gathering. The Grey King is a powerful evil spirit working to keep the Light from winning. Will goes to Wales to stay with relatives after an illness. He must overcome the evil and help the light as the last gathering of forces begins. The final battle looms as time grows short.

Silver on the Tree is the last book in the series. Will and all his kind go on a final quest to rid the earth of the Dark and leave it safe for mankind. Each child, Will, his three friends from the first book, and a fourth from the fourth book, is tested by the Dark and the powerful earth magic that governs how the quest must be followed. Will they succeed? Will it be enough?

People who like the Harry Potter series will like these books. The violence is much less obvious in this series. The books can be read again and again as more is discovered in each reading.

Book info: The Dark Is Rising boxed set, by Susan Cooper. Paperback: 1088 pages
Publisher: McElderry (August 21, 2007) [author’s official website] [publisher site]

Guest blogger bio: Stephanie Suesan Smith mainly uses her Ph.D. in clinical psychology to train her dogs. She is also a master gardener, member of the Garden Writer’s Association, and woodworker. Stephanie writes on almost any nonfiction topic and has had some unusual experiences that contribute to that ability. Getting pooped on by a rattlesnake probably ranks tops there, but things just seem to happen to her. View more of them at www.stephaniesuesansmith.com. View her photos at photos.stephaniesuesansmith.com. View her woodworking at wood.stephaniesuesansmith.com.

Trickster’s Girl, by Hilari Bell (book review) – nanotech, ley lines, unbalanced Earth

May7
book cover of Trickster's Girl by Hilari Bell published by Houghton Mifflin

Ley lines and legendary figures from Native American/First Peoples mythology.
Bioplague and a Gaia/Earth that can no longer heal itself.
Our potential future, Kelsa’s world, so much at stake.

Read this first book in the Raven Duet outside, under a real, living tree.
**kmm

Book info: Trickster’s Girl / Hilari Bell. Clarion/ Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. 268 pg [author’s site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Recommendation: As Kelsa is burying Dad’s ashes in the scrap of forest left near the city, a young man with no ID chip approaches her, wondering why she doesn’t believe in magic. Ha! Her father just died of cancer, that curable everyday problem, worrying about the bioplague dropped by terrorists in the Amazon rainforest, the antidote that didn’t work, the deforestation of whole countries that followed. Magic in a world of aircars and compods and microchefs?

This isn’t hocus-pocus magic, Kelsa finds out, as Raven transforms himself into a fish, a bird, right before her eyes. He describes how humankind’s demands have blocked the ley lines of spirit, keeping the earth from healing itself. Now forests can’t fight off the bioplague and humans can’t fight off curable cancers and worse natural disasters loom ahead.

Kelsa has a flicker of magic in her soul, and Raven needs her help to unblock key nexus points on the ley lines from Utah to Alaska with a Native American artifact. But first they have to rob a museum to get it, then slip away from the police without worrying her mother.

Surviving in the wilderness as her dad taught her, escaping from agents of spirits who’d rather erase humanity and start earth anew, riding bikes and motorcycles over mountain trails toward nexus points, crossing boundaries without passports…
Can Kelsa really help the earth heal itself?
Is Raven the Trickster telling her the whole truth?

This is the first book of Bell’s new series based in a high-tech, high-security future United States whose only hope is the magic recounted in ancient folklore. (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandhug.com)