Tag Archive | magic

House of Ivy & Sorrow, by Natalie Whipple (book review) – curse on witch family, unbreakable?

May13

book cover of House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple published by Harper TeenA long-lost father,
a friend to the bitter end,
a malevolent chase… to the death.

Even though Nana stops inflicting icky spells on her possible boyfriend, Josephine has much to worry about as a centuries-old curse stabs at the shields protecting her witch family’s magic roots, and her best friend must make a terrifying choice.

Find this compelling tale now at your local library or independent bookstore to see if love and hope can break the curse’s grip on the Hemlocks.

Iowa farm country as a place of deep magic – who knew?

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Book info: House of Ivy & Sorrow / Natalie Whipple. HarperTeen, 2014.   [author site]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: As the curse hounding Jo’s witch family nears, she must sacrifice her normal teen life to control the magic which could save them.

The dark curse killed Josephine’s mother, so it’s just Nana and Jo in the hidden ivy-covered house over a magic well, where Jo’s high school friends cannot visit – until the father she never knew arrives in their small Iowa town, bespelled by the curse-holder to reveal them.

Being in control or being consumed are the only choices where magic is involved. The curse-holder seeking the Hemlocks’ land-hold has relinquished control and will obliterate Jo’s friends, father, town, and new boyfriend in a heartbeat to get their magic source.

Something in the family archives may beat back the curse, if only Jo can find it in time, if only it exists… (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

The Thickety: A Path Begins, by J.A. White (book review) – magic & danger, chance of control?

May8

book cover of The Thickety: A Path Begins by JA White published by Katherine Tegen Books“Work hard,
want for nothing,
stay vigilant”

Dreaming and wishing are forbidden to the Children of the Fold, as are doing magic or entering the dark mystical woods of The Thickety which tries to overrun their island home.

Yet Kara does all these things. After years of being spat upon and punished as “witch’s child,” what does she have to lose?

Except her little brother, distraught father, and her very soul…

Read the first pages of The Thickety  here, then follow Kara’s dangerous, desperate search for answers, if you dare. This will be a trilogy; can we wait until 2015 to read book 2?

**kmm

Book info: The Thickety: A Path Begins / J.A. White; illustrated by Andrea Offermann. [author site]  [illustrator site]   [publisher site]   [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: When a strange bird leads Kara to her mother’s hidden grimoire within the forbidden forest, the teen learns her family’s magic secrets, risking a death sentence… or worse.

As a child, Kara was forced to witness her mother’s execution for witchcraft. She’s spent years enduring the community’s scorn, avoiding The Thickety’s eerie woodlands, trying to hold together her family and their decaying farm.

Compelled by strange dreams, Kara follows a raven with 3 eyes into The Thickety and unearths her mother’s grimoire, a conduit of great magical power – a chance for her to heal her brother and save their land, or a way that will lead the Children of the Fold’s strict leader to kill them all?

How can the leader’s daughter Grace feel the grimoire’s pull?
For using Thickety magic, will evil Sordyr demand a price that Kara cannot pay?

First book of a trilogy set on an island where The Thickety grows daily closer to the village whose religious settlers separated themselves from the world centuries before, banning all dreams, wishes, storybooks, and magic forever. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

After the End, by Amy Plum (book review) – what war? what secrets?

May6

book cover of After the End by Amy Plum published by HarperTeenIn World War III‘s aftermath,
only one clan survives,
deep in Alaska’s wilderness…
but it’s all a lie.

Told in alternating chapters by Juneau and Miles, this roadtrip adventure with paranormal underpinnings and dueling Big Pharma teams as pursuers is first in a two-book series by the author of Die For Me (my review of If I Die series volume 1 here).

Today is the book birthday of After the End, so ask for it at your local library or favorite independent bookstore and hit the road with two unlikely allies (don’t forget the PopTarts).
**kmm

Book info:  After the End / Amy Plum. HarperTeen, 2014. [author site]  [publisher site]  [author video introducing After the End] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: When her clan is taken, Juneau must enter a modern world she thought was destroyed and convince a rebellious teen guy to help her find them while staying clear of the kidnappers.

Juneau can Read glimpses of the future through the Yara in everything, but now the 17-year-old sage in training must grapple with the lies her clan’s adults taught about fleeing World War III’s devastation by settling in the Alaskan wilderness 30 years ago.

Kinda-sorta hijacked into a road trip with this crazy survivalist girl, Miles plans to bring Juneau to Blackwell Pharmaceutical and get back into his dad’s good graces, but then…

Zigzagging from Mount Rainier to Salt Lake City, pursued by her former mentor and his dad’s goons, Juneau and Miles try to unravel cryptic prophecies in a race to find her father and her clan whose members never get sick, never grow old.  First in a two book series. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

V is Violet, trapped Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, by April Tucholke (book review)

Apr25

book cover of Between the Deviland the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke published by DialIntoxicating kisses,
Devil seen in the graveyard,
Suicide, blood, and madness –
O, the things that happen after River comes to town!

Such a summer of secrets and frights – River West woos 17-year-old Violet with his gorgeous eyes and tricksy talk, makes awful and outrageous things happen in her sleepy coastal town, smooths over things with her twin Luke as their artist parents stay and stay and stay in Europe.

Read an excerpt from this romance-slash-horror story here. The Speak paperback will be published July 2014, but you shouldn’t wait that long to travel to the old clifftop mansion and discover River’s secret since Between the Spark and the Burn  comes out in August 2014, and you must know the beginning of the tale before you can follow the trail…

**kmm

Book info: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea / April Genevieve Tucholke. Dial Books, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Violet and Luke expect another boring summer until River arrives to rent their guesthouse – then the teens experience a thrill ride of attraction, mystery, horror, and evil.

With their artist parents in Europe for months, the 17-year-old twins are cash-poor in the big cliffside house. Renting to River West makes perfect sense, until he lies with his charming smile, convinces Violet to stay near him always, and brings death to their sleepy town.

And then there’s the matter of the Devil seen in the cemetery… River’s brother coming to Echo… more death…

Secrets about Violet’s beloved grandmother and their artistic family’s ties to the townspeople must take a backseat to the horror which River’s arrival has unleashed – what evil will arrive on the next train or the next?

Followed by Between the Spark and the Burn  (August 2014), this Gothic romance/thriller makes the idea of ‘devil boys’ all too believable.

R is Riese: Kingdom Falling, by Greg Cox (book review) – princess undercover, in danger

Apr21

book cover of Riese Kingdom Falling by Greg Cox published by Simon Schuster Books for Young ReadersWarring kingdoms,
A menacing cult,
Calm future shattered for this princess.

Riese doesn’t relish the tedium of running her kingdom some day, but she didn’t wish to become a fugitive with a price on her nearly 16-year-old head either. All because of a kiss?

Whether you’re already a fan of the Syfy.com series (all 10 webisodes free here) or new to the world of Eleysia, this steampunk-slash-fantasy is a journey into adventure you don’t want to miss.

And who wouldn’t want to have a telepathic wolf fighting on their side? Read chapter 1 here free.

**kmm

Book info:  Riese: Kingdom Falling / Greg Cox; concept by Ryan Copple and Kaleena Kiff. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2012. [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk:  On the run, Riese and her wolf try to save her royal family and kingdom from a strange mechanical cult bent on world conquest.

Meeting a young artist while away from the palace in servant guise is thrilling for Riese, who dreads becoming Crown Princess soon and losing her freedom to ride and explore.  His intentions toward her are honorable; toward her kingdom…no.

Intricate clockwork gifts presented to the royal family by the Sect cannot hide the grumbling of kingdoms destabilized by the harsh goddess’s followers, and soon Eleysia’s borders are threatened.

Will the mind-bond between Riese and wolf cub Fenrir endure?
Can Riese convince the Queen that alliance with the Sect is folly?
Will the King allow his warrior-daughter to fight alongside him?

Ancestral tradition battles malign technology in Riese: Kingdom Falling, an action-packed adventure as well as a prequel to the Syfy web video series.

O is Ophelia in A Wounded Name, by Dot Hutchison (book review) – “Hamlet” in boarding school

Apr17

book cover of A Wounded Name by Dot Hutchison published by Carolrhoda LabSeeing ghosts,
hearing malevolent spirits,
trying to keep steady for Dane,
as his madness spirals down, down…

Newly-dead headmaster Hamlet will not stay in his grave, “the ghost that walks, that challenges, is the fury that murmurs through his son.” (p. 129)

Yes, we know how this story ends, but the journey to disaster is richly retold by Ophelia in this eerie 2013 version of Hamlet.

Find it today at your favorite local library or independent bookstore, and travel to Elsinore Academy, if you dare.

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Book info: A Wounded Name: A Tragedy / Dot Hutchison. Carolrhoda Lab, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: A mourning son, Hamlet’s rageful ghost, a widow remarried too quickly, the banshee songs tormenting motherless Ophelia – Elsinore Academy’s secrets will soon undo all under its roof.

The sudden death of Elsinore’s headmaster sends his son into deep depression; when the headmaster’s widow marries her brother-in-law hastily, Dane’s rage grows murderous.

Calls to end her worries by drowning, as her mother did, echo from the lake fae – if Ophelia takes the pills which block their siren song, how will she stay awake enough to show Dane the ghost of his father who demands revenge?

This lyrical retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet  brings all the tragedy’s characters together in a boarding school where deception and murder seem to be family tradition. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Clockwork Heart, by Liesel Schwarz (book review) – dark powers invade steampunk London

Oct21

book cover of A Clockwork Heart by Liesel Schwarz published by Del Rey BooksA warehouse filled with beating hearts,
An army of mechanical-hearted homeless,
Danger for London – can the Oracle hold back the Dark?

Grab book 2 of The Chronicles of Light and Dark if you like:

  • steampunk London + romance
  • true friend nightwalking vampires or absinthe fairies with poor judgment
  • dirigible captains with a penchant for gambling and daredevilry
  • ancient entities reborn into a more-modern time
  • the struggle between forces of Light and Dark cast in an alternate history

Naturally, you’ll enjoy this book more if you had already followed Elle battling A Conspiracy of Alchemists  (book 1 reviewed here) when she discovered her heritage as Oracle, but you’ll get bits of the backstory throughout this book as her beloved Marsh is captured and fitted with  A Clockwork Heart  whose time is running out!

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Book info: A Clockwork Heart (Chronicles of Light and Shadow, book 2) / Liesel Schwarz. Del Rey, 2013.   [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: The Oracle must solve the mystery of the Tickers to reclaim her true love and save the world from being overrun by the creatures of Shadow before time runs out!

Looking at young Lord Greychester and his lovely wife, one would never suspect them to be a bound warlock and the Sibyl herself. Marsh and Elle are trying to blend in with London society, but his experiments with Spark and her airship charter flights could make them conspicuous.

Elle’s dreams are interrupted by the warnings of all the Sibyls who have gone before, telling her to turn the airship around and return to London – Marsh has disappeared! Scotland Yard won’t help her find him, so she enlists the help of an absinthe fairy, a Nightwalker with a good heart despite her appetite for human blood, and her father with his inventions to find out where he’s been taken

The Consortium of Shadow prepares to attack the Council of Warlocks and overcome Light once and for all, using an army of mechanical-hearted people animated by Spark and darkness. Among the paupers and drunks brought into Clothilde’s grisly workshop within the electromancers’ monastery is Marsh.

Can Elle uncover the Consortium’s plan?
Can she rescue Marsh before it’s too late?
Is it all a trap to lure her into Shadow forever?

This second book in The Chronicles of Light and Shadow takes readers to an alternate steampunk London where the walls between the domains of good and evil are growing ever-thinner. Read A Conspiracy of Alchemists first to get the full story of this ages-old conflict and Elle’s unwilling rise to be the Oracle which both sides want to possess.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

The Chaos, by Nalo Hopkinson (book review) – myth to reality on city streets

Oct2

Book cover of The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson published by Margaret McElderry Books“Sasquatches, demonic Tinker Bells,
purple hippos wearing party hats;
they were all real now.” (p.167)

Auntie Mryss, cousin of Scotch’s white Jamaican dad, has been waiting for the End Times – looks like maybe they’re here and somehow related to the tarry growths inching along Scotch’s chocolate brown skin.

Hopkinson’s comments on “Noticing Race” are worth hearing, as you can well imagine that questions of race and identity have threaded through Scotch’s life for a long time before the Chaos brings every bedtime story and nightmare to life in Toronto.

Grab this imaginative novel at your favorite local library or independent bookstore and get ready for a mind-blowing ride through the dream-tainted city.

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Book info: The Chaos / Nalo Hopkinson.  Margaret McElderry Books, 2012.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Fitting in at school becomes the least of Scotch’s worries as legendary creatures descend on Toronto with terrifying results and her big brother goes missing.

Scotch (like the Jamaican hot pepper) doesn’t stand out for being biracial at this more-diverse school. Her dancing is stand-out good, like her big brother’s rap poetry. Their conservative parents don’t like either gift. And how they turned in their own son to the police for one joint! Chuh!

The black gooey growths on Scotch’s arm worry her, the hallucinations she sees flying all over worry her, then everything goes crazy as a bubble of light zings her and Rich disappears!

A volcano erupting in Lake Ontario, monsters from myth stomping through the city streets, cell phones not working – Scotch tries to help people as she doggedly makes her way to Auntie Mryss’s house. And those things from nursery rhyme dreams appearing everywhere? Mryss is sure that Scotch is the key to fixing it all…

Why are all these subconscious images becoming real now?
Why is the black goo spreading over Scotch’s skin so fast?
Where is her brother? Where!?

Jamaican author Nalo Hopkinson brings the myths and stories of many cultures into this nightmare reality threatening her adopted Canadian hometown where a heroine who doubts her own strength perseveres amid The Chaos.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Beautiful Decay, by Sylvia Lewis (book review) – her touch is death, except for him

Sep9

book cover of Beautiful Decay by Sylvia Lewis published by Running PressRot, mold,
putrefaction,
all in her touch.

Necromancers in current YA lit are a dime a dozen, but viviomancers?

Sylvia Lewis’ first novel is a doozy, with Ellie facing her first possibility at love, online-only friends who can’t know her true nature, a sort-of-zombie, and supernatural corporation owners on a cost-saving (soul-sucking) quest.

Grab this summer 2013 paperback now – you’ll never look at mold in the shower the same way again, ever (I promise).
**kmm

Book info: Beautiful Decay / Sylvia Lewis. Running Press, 2013.  [author info]  [publisher site]

My book talk: Ellie can’t let her skin touch anyone or anything, unless she wants rot to overrun it all. When a new guy at school seems intent on getting close to her, she realizes that this curse may be a gift… maybe.

Even with gloves on, it’s dangerous for 16-year-old Ellie to be near people – dangerous for them, as the tiniest touch of her skin will cause any germ on or in them to suddenly multiply uncontrollably. The smell of bleach-water pervades her parents’ upscale house (they’re rarely home), and the queen bee clique at school bullies her endlessly (just out of her reach).

Why Nate says that she has an “ability” instead of a terrifying medical condition is a mystery to Ellie, until she discovers that his touch has exactly the opposing effect of hers. She is a viviomancer and can make life grow abundantly, if she can learn to control her ability. So that makes Nate a necromancer, a death controller?

Nate’s home life is even more distressing than Ellie’s, and her online friend Mackenzie has to make a personal appearance to rescue them both. That’s when things start to get weird…

When the beetle walking across her hand stays alive,
And Nate’s mom isn’t alive, but isn’t quite dead,
And the factory bosses are sure that undead workers would be a great money-saver.

A very different gift resides in Ellie and another in Nate, but whether they’ll live long enough to learn how to use them is not guaranteed in this paranormal with a twist.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Fantasy and fairy tales to read with your ears

Aug9

This week’s free audiobooks from SYNC bring us an old tale with new twists and the ‘rest of the story’ of an old favorite.

The first book in the Woodcutter series is filled with fairy tale characters you’ll recognize and spells and prophecies – my no-spoiler review of Enchanted  is here.

And Alice’s further adventures after returning from Wonderland are recounted as she steps Through the Looking Glass  to meet nursery rhyme friends and a terrible enemy.

Be sure to download these free, full-length audiobooks with professional narration by Wednesday, August 14; this summer’s last YA and classic audiobook pair goes live for download on Thursday, August 15.

CD cover of Enchanted by Alethea Kontis read by Katherine Kellgren published by Brilliance AudioEnchanted
By Alethea Kontis
Read by Katherine Kellgren
Published by Brilliance Audio

 

 

 

 

Through the Looking GlassCD cover of Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll read by Miriam Margolyes published by Bolinda Audio
By Lewis Carroll
Read by Miriam Margolyes
Published by Bolinda Audio

Which fairy tale or nursery character would you like to meet ‘for real’?
**kmm