Tag Archive | relationships

I for In the Shadow of Blackbirds, by Cat Winters (book review) – dead man’s worries, live girl’s fears

Apr10

book cover of In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters published by AmuletSpirit photography,
Searching for answers,
Trying to find meaning for all those deaths…

Between the ongoing “Great War” (World War I) and the sudden Spanish Influenza epidemic, fall 1918 was a dangerous and desperate time in the USA. Researchers were trying to ascertain the weight of the human soul, wondering yet again what animates life.

Read the wartime poetry of Isaac Rosenberg to imagine what life in the trenches was like for Stephen, consider that scientists are still puzzled about how the Spanish Flu killed so many healthy 20- to 40-year-olds, and you too might wish to see the image of a dead loved one when the photographer’s glass plate negative was developed.

Just published on April 2, 2013 – don’t miss it!
**kmm

Book info: In the Shadow of Blackbirds / Cat Winters. Amulet Books, 2013.  [author site]  [book site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My recommendation: When Mary was sent to her aunt’s house in San Diego, her father thought she would be safe from the influenza epidemic, from the authorities who imprisoned him when he spoke out against the war, from fear. He couldn’t know that her sweetheart’s ghost would visit her and cry out for justice.

Schools, theaters, dance halls – all closed to keep the contagion from spreading, but in autumn 1918 the death toll is mounting here and over in Europe where countless soldiers are dying. Aunt Eva lost her husband in the earliest days of the epidemic and is trying to contact him through spirit photography and séances.

Stephen told Mary that his brother Julius used trickery to create the spirit photographs, but after her sweetheart left for the war, she visited the studio with her aunt anyway. An expert who debunks spirit photographers has found nothing fraudulent in Julius’ work where ghostly images appear next to the living.

The letters from Stephen stop arriving, a telegram comes for his family, a funeral for yet another fallen young soldier – then he starts visiting Mary in her dreams and her waking moments, begging her to make the blackbirds quit attacking him. She volunteers her time at the veterans’ center, reading to injured soldiers back from the war. One man tells her that Stephen wasn’t killed over there, and 16-year-old Mary begins to wonder what really happened.

Is she truly talking to Stephen’s spirit?
How could blackbirds have caused his death?
Why does he tell Mary to stay away from his family’s house and studio?

The author ably captures the terror of the Spanish flu epidemic which often killed within hours and the longing of people wanting to believe that death is not the end of everything in this historical novel with a psychic twist. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

H for Heath in Catherine, by April Lindner (book review) – music, mystery, star-crossed lovers

Apr9

book cover of Catherine by April Lindner published by PoppyA legendary punk rock club,
Launching new talent, booking the best bands,
Just home-sweet-home…until she disappears.

It’s easy to see why Chelsea wants to find out more about the mother she thought was dead, to discover what made Catherine leave her behind, to learn why she never communicated with them again. What better place than The Underground, where Catherine grew up?

Based on the classic doomed romance of Wuthering Heights  and transported to the punk music scene of New York City, Catherine features alternating chapters by Chelsea now and Catherine then, threaded throughout with missed cues, misunderstandings, and mystery.

Check out “How I Wrote It” article by Lindner here, then read the first two chapters of Catherine  here – you’ll be hooked!

So, why are we so attracted to stories of romance with unhappy endings?
**kmm

Book info: Catherine / April Lindner. Poppy/ Little Brown, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]

My recommendation: As a teen Chelsea discovers that her mother didn’t die years ago as Dad told her, but had left to find out something and never returned. What and why are questions that Chelsea vows to answer – now!

Dad never told her much about Mom; it was a letter from her addressed to toddler Chelsea that she finds in a box of old photos that spurs her search. That return address in New York City is her only lead, so away she goes. Turns out that Mom’s family home is a decades-old punk rock club founded by Chelsea’s late grandfather! The Underground launched countless bands in the 70s and now is owned by a moody guy named Hence…who knew Catherine, her mom.

Unwillingly, Hence allows Chelsea to stay in Catherine’s old apartment in The Underground for a few days while she tries to piece together some answers. When Chelsea finds Catherine’s journal among her collection of books, even more questions arise. Now she must locate Mom’s best friend and her brother before it’s time to head home to Dad and school.

Why do folks at the club react so strangely to her mom’s name?
Where did mom’s brother go when he gave up the club after the death of their father?
What exactly is Hence’s connection to Catherine?

As Chelsea discovers more about the mom she never got to know, alternating chapters have Catherine telling her own story of love, music, passion, and betrayal. This updated version of Wuthering Heights,  transplanted from the gloomy moors to New York’s music world, spins through both young women’s lives with all the personal turmoil and drama intact.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

F for Freaks Like Us, by Susan Vaught (book review) – voices in his head, missing person mystery

Apr6

book cover of Freaks Like Us by Susan Vaught published by BloomsburyThe police say…
The FBI special agent says…
The voices in his head say…
What if Jason did something to make Sunshine disappear?

Jason answers to the nickname Freak, counts himself lucky enough to be with his best friends Sunshine and Drip in the special class full of “alphabets” like ADHD, and knows that he can’t trust his own memories because of his schizophrenia – yet is determined to find out what happened to selectively mute Sunshine when she just vanished.

Discover Jason’s unusual story of friendship, love, and loss at your local library or independent bookstore and consider how you treat the “alphabet” people in your life.
**kmm

Book info:  Freaks Like Us / Susan Vaught. Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers, 2012. [author site]  [book trailer] – ebook may still be available

My recommendation: When their best friend goes missing, Jason and Derrick know they have to find Sunshine, because she had let them know that someone was hurting her. These self-contained class teens are best friends forever, and if they have to go off their meds to get the answers, they will.

Jason knows he’s schizophrenic, hears voices even when he takes his medication, calls himself Freak like everyone else at the high school, and worries that Sunshine’s delinquent brother will drag her along into his troublemaking. Derrick’s big brothers nicknamed him Drip when he was little, and the name stuck when he didn’t outgrow his allergies and ADHD. And sweet Sunshine is selectively mute: she can talk, but she just doesn’t want to.

The three friends got off the short bus together in their neighborhood at 4:30, and by 5 o’clock Sunshine had vanished. Their routines never vary; they must keep things the same to cope in the big world; there’s no way that Sunshine left of her own choice!

Jason’s mom, the Army colonel, pulls some strings to get the FBI on the case before too much time has passed. The voices in Jason’s head tell him that he should remember something that would help the searchers find Sunshine…so he decides to stop taking his medication so the voices will tell him the answer.

The FBI agents say the best chance of finding Sunshine is in the first 24 hours, so Jason counts the hours remaining, tries to hear which voice in his head is reminding him of clues he heard earlier, and agonizes that he might have something to do with her disappearance.

Should Jason and Drip try to find Sunshine on their own?
Why won’t her stepdad cooperate more with the agents?
What about those boys who always tease her at school?
Why can’t Freak remember that important clue?

The clock is ticking, the voices are insistent, and Jason’s not sure whether he can trust Agent Mercer of the FBI or not – Freak’s world turns upside down when Sunshine vanishes, and readers are along for his dangerous and confusing journey toward the truth.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

D for Doty’s Surviving High School (book review) – school, swim, sleep, repeat?

Apr4

book cover of Surviving High School by M Doty published by Poppy Books Ultra-competitive swim team,
Every life-minute scripted by Dad-the-coach,
Why isn’t big sister Sara here to help Emily cope with her freshman year of high school?

No wonder Emily wants to sidestep the schedule and have some time with Ben. After all, Sara didn’t get to have her first love before dying in that car crash…

Whether you know the mobile game of the same name or not, you’ll agonize with Emily over the choices she has to make and cheer when at least some things go her way. Max Doty’s second book in the series, How to Be a Star, features Emily’s best (and only) friend Kimi and will be published in May 2013.

How far should you push yourself to get to the victor’s stand?
**kmm

Book info: Surviving High School / M. Doty. Poppy, 2012.  [author website]  [publisher website]

My recommendation: Competitive swimming is Emily’s whole life as she enters high school. Gotta keep up her grades to stay eligible, gotta keep her race times fast to stay on top. But what if there’s more to life than this?

Her dad is the high school swim coach, just as he was when her older sister was at Twin Branches, before she died in the car crash. There’s Sara’s name on the state records plaque with her national record time for the backstroke – a lot to live up to, a goal for Emily to beat.

She’ll have to beat Dominique, too, who’s just a trace faster on freestyle and backstroke, just a bit slower than Em in breaststroke and butterfly, way beyond anyone else at school in mean-girl remarks, nicknaming her “Swimbot” on their first day of varsity practice. That article in Swimmers’ World magazine comparing the girls as future Olympians just adds fuel to the fire.

Emily’s entire life is optimized for swim racing – nutrition intake, sleep hours, strength training – and there’s no room for anything else. With the national qualifying meets coming up, she’s got to concentrate. Handsome Ben starts paying attention to her, but can’t understand why she doesn’t have time to see him outside school…sigh.

Could Emily possibly squeeze in a little time with Ben between her honors classes and the ever-increasing demands for perfection from Coach/Dad?

Does senior Nick flinch when he sees Emily because she looks so much like her late sister, who never had time for a boyfriend?

Will she swim through her freshman year or sink from the weight of everything?

This first YA novel from screenwriter/author Max Doty reflects his experience as game writer for the related mobile game, but stands alone as a story of big demands on young athletes – are all the choices theirs to make? (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

C for The Candymakers, by Wendy Mass (book review) – sweet competition, dark secrets

Apr3

book cover of The Candymakers by Wendy Mass published by Little BrownA scrumptious contest to win!
An entire candy factory to use!
Secrets to keep…

Logan, Miles, Daisy, and Philip each have worrisome problems in their lives which they must overcome or work around so that they can succeed in this sweet opportunity that most twelve-year-olds can only dream about.

Despite having four youngsters entering a candy factory, this is not at all a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,  but a unique story with its own variations and flavors of friendship.

Pick up this yummy tale today at your local library or independent bookstore; it’s a great all-ages read-aloud with mysterious twists.

What candy would you invent to satisfy discriminating sweet tooths?
**kmm

Book info: The Candymakers / Wendy Mass. Little Brown, 2010 hardback, 2011 paperback.  [author’s website]  [book website]   [publisher site] [fan-created book trailer]

My Book Talk:  Inventing a new candy! What could be a sweeter contest for kids, especially the four regional finalists who live near the famous Life Is Sweet candy factory? Except that only one can win, even if the twelve-year-olds can overcome their differences and become friends…

Logan lives in Life Is Sweet with his Candymaker parents, who stopped giving factory tours a few years ago. Miles is allergic to rowboats and wonders constantly about the afterlife, sometimes speaking in code. Daisy carries a big book in her bag everywhere, is amazingly strong and often looks distracted. Philip in his business suit chooses regular pizza over chocolate pizza for lunch and doesn’t want to have any fun.

From calming the bees whose honey makes the best nougat to squooshing through the mud to harvest roots to make marshmallows, the four young people learn about all the ingredients that go into candy on their first day at the factory. Camping out under the sapodilla trees and vanilla vines in the Tropical Room, they dream about making the best, most unique candies in the world.

So whose idea will work – and win? Logan’s chocolate that turns into gum then back into chocolate? Daisy’s ummm-something flower or Philip’s playable candy harmonica? And they have just one full day to create the actual product!

The winning candy will be produced by the factory sponsoring its creator, so if Life Is Sweet brings a winner to the Confectionary Association’s contest, they’ll be able to keep making high-quality candies. It’s an open secret that Life Is Sweet puts their secret ingredient into every candy they make…and that other candymakers really want to have it.

Is someone trying to steal the secret ingredient?
Why does Logan live at the factory instead of going to school?
Can the four competitors be friends and still make amazing candy in just one day?

Friendship, complications, misunderstandings, and trust fill the many compartments of this story told from four viewpoints with a surprise ending and a yummy twist. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

B for Bluebeard in Strands of Bronze and Gold, by Jane Nickerson (fiction) – luxurious halls, ghostly companions

Apr2

book cover of Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson published by KnopfRescued from a life of drudge work,
Cocooned in luxury,
No visitors welcomed or allowed, at all.

An old English abbey transplanted with all its contents into the sweltering Mississippi woods, secrets behind every locked door, mysterious names etched into hidden corners of Sophie’s bedroom furniture… four wives tragically lost, M. Bernard’s only child dead, ghosts murmuring in her room.

The Bluebeard legend is lushly retold by Jane Nickerson, who lived in Mississippi several years before moving to Canada. She shared her writing inspiration in a Nerdy Bookclub blog post on her novel’s publication birthday, and I saw a tweet that it’s the first in a trilogy!

How do you know when something is too good to be true?
**kmm

Book info: Strands of Bronze and Gold / Jane Nickerson. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2013. [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation:  Whisked away to her godfather’s mansion after her father’s death in 1855, auburn-haired Sophia envisions plenty in place of her family’s genteel poverty. She is startled by the luxury she finds there, unsettled by slavery supporting the rich, sensitive to the ghost women wandering the halls, yet slow to heed the dire messages they try to convey.

The seventeen-year-old couldn’t have prepared herself for the magnificence of Monsieur de Cressac’s estate, a real English abbey shipped to America stone by stone and reassembled at his rural Mississippi plantation 25 years ago. Nor could she have imagined that her bearded godfather was so handsome, so much younger looking than always-ailing Father, nor that Madame de Cressac was deceased and that Mrs. Duckworth the housekeeper would be her chaperone in this vast mansion.

Monsieur insists that Sophia call him by his first name, that she cast off her mourning for the finest clothes, that she try every dish the chef prepares. Mrs. Duckworth cautions her against defying him, as his temper can get the better of him, so she allows the new lady’s maid to help her dress for dinner and plays the piano pieces he prefers.

But amid all this opulence, strange details emerge: M. Bernard has lost not one wife, but four. Their spirits appear to Sophia when she visits the long-closed nursery, as she pretends to sleep when Bernard taps on her door in the middle of the night, as her nightmares begin to outnumber her dreams.

By chance, she meets a young minister and an old former slave woman in the Abbey’s extensive woodlands; both warn her of Bernard’s very dark reputation. She writes many letters to her sister and brothers in New England, yet receives none in reply. Bernard decides that they must be married, despite their age difference and her misgivings – and will not accept no for an answer.

What truly happened to M. de Cressac’s wives?
Did he choose to court each one because of her red hair?
Can Sophia escape this house of darkness before it is too late?

This lush retelling of the Bluebeard story is garlanded with details about all that Sophia experiences as she moves from a loving home with few comforts to Bernard’s extravagant estate, supported on the backs of countless slaves and circumscribed by his moods.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Secret War (Jack Blank #2), by Matt Myklusch (review) – superhero-in-training with dark secret

Mar27

book cover of The Secret War by Matt Myklusch published by Simon Schuster

Job-shadowing true superheroes!
Saving humanity from brutal invading robots!
Finding the robot virus too close to home…

From a bleak orphanage to the technological marvels of the Imagine Nation, Jack has now found true friends, a productive outlet for his power to communicate with machines, and a growing sense of dread regarding the Rustov virus that has crept into his new home city.

You can get all three books in the Jack Blank series now at your local library or independent bookstore.

Be sure to read book one, The Accidental Hero (my no-spoiler review here) before you meet up with the Secreteers in book two, and yes, I’ll have a recommendation of The End of Infinity (book three) on BooksYALove soon!

How can you tell whether an inner voice is friend or foe?
**kmm

Book info: The Secret War (Jack Blank #2) / Matt Myklusch. Simon & Schuster, 2011 hardcover, 2012 paperback. [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation:  Jack has found his place in the world at last, a superhero-in-training in the Imagine Nation. But some still think he has connection to the evil Rustov who won’t stop until they’ve conquered all worlds, and something inside Jack whispers that they might be right!

Called into the real world on an emergency with their superhero mentors, Jack and his classmates have their first brush with the Secreteers who keep humanity in the dark about the Imagine Nation. Selective memory wipes erase the superheroes’ involvement in these outside rescues, although Jack is sure he saw the true form of one Secreteer.

Jack’s gift of communicating with any machinery leads him to investigate the rumored Rustov virus that’s targeting the Mecha citizens of his city – another secret to hide from his School of Thought friends, like his growing concern that he really could turn into the most feared enemy of all.

When a rogue Secreteer announces that he’ll sell any and all secrets of the Imagine Nation to the highest bidder, the young superheroes decide to track him down before he can further endanger everyone. But how can you find the best-hidden place in the universe?

Will Jonas Smart buy the secrets and discover that Jack might truly become Revile?
Can Jack disarm the virus before it infects the city with evil?
Can he dismiss the new voice inside him that swears it is Rustov?

This second book in the Jack Blank trilogy follows the astounding developments in Jack’s life told in book one, The Accidental Hero, and sets the stage for the mighty war at The End of Infinity, book three.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Exposure, by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes (fiction) – Predictions, fame, love, death

Mar22

book cover of Exposure by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes published by Merit Press
Competitive pals Duff and Duncan,
Three masks predict doom,
Bloodstain that will not wash away…
in an Alaskan high school instead of medieval Scotland.

Welcome to the second book in Askew and Helmes’ Twisted Lit series, definitely as brooding as Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” which inspired it, as dark as the long winter nights in Skye’s hometown of Anchorage, as dangerous as Beth’s desperation to rise above her modest beginnings.

If you know the “Scottish play” well, some twists here will still surprise you; if not, you’ll find that the plotline is largely faithful to the original, so you will have a better chance of following all the action in the play when you read it yourself.

How far should ambition take us? How far is too far?
**kmm

Book info: Exposure (Twisted Lit #2) / Kim Askew and Amy Helmes. Merit Press, 2013.  [Kim’s website]  [Amy’s website]   [publisher site]   [book series trailer]

My Recommendation: Skye would rather be home in Anchorage, but how could she stay after what Craig did? A boyfriend who killed someone…

The summer that he moved north for his dad’s job, cute sophomore Craig hung out with Skye, but once school started, he was rapidly drawn into the popular clique. Skye would much rather hide out in the art room than listen to Beth and her posse giggle and posture. Just one more year, then she can get out of here…

As photographer for the school paper, Skye at least gets to see Craig through her telephoto lens at hockey games. The team was lucky that he’d turned out to be a great power forward since their star player Duff had suddenly gone to Scotland as an exchange student. Rumor has it that former girlfriend Beth had something to do with that, but now she’s all over Craig.

Skye wishes that everything were as easy as developing film (yes, she’s old school about that). Then she could un-separate her parents, un-commit to going to prom with dorky Lenny, un-hear the eerie predictions coming out of the Native Yu’Pik masks worn by her three best pals for their art project.

She told Craig that the party in the woods would only be a drunkfest, but came along anyway just to make his social-climber girlfriend mad. When flashlight tag in the snow begins, Skye retreats to the jeep, never dreaming that she’d overhear Beth telling him they’d keep it all a secret, never imagining that hockey player Duncan would be found dead beside the half-frozen creek the next day or that the police would still be investigating weeks later.

Life sort of goes on at school after Duncan’s death, with the crush of college applications, protests against chopping down its 200-year-old courtyard tree, the Running of the Reindeer and other efforts to keep the long Arctic winter at bay. Beth is sure that she and Craig will be Prom King and Queen, despite her increasingly bizarre behavior.

How can Skye go away to college if Mom and Dad really do split up? Money was tight before they separated…
What’s the secret that Beth and Craig are keeping? It seems to be eating away at them…
Are the answers in Skye’s huge collection of senior year photos? Those eerie predictions might be right…

A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth under the Northern Lights, this sinister tale uses quotations from “the Scottish play” as its chapter headings in Askew and Helmes’ second book of the Twisted Lit series.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Mothership, by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal (book review) – pregnant teens, space yacht, attacked!

Mar20

book cover of Mothership by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal published by Simon Schuster BFYRPregnant at sixteen,
the dad leaves town,
by 2074, some things haven’t changed.

But having such a surplus of unused earth-orbiting luxury cruise ships that one can be repurposed into a school for unwed mothers? That definitely puts this book into sci fi category (aliens as high school teachers and vid-ads targeted to your personal nutritional and health needs are just bonus!)

You can find Elvie’s rather offbeat pregnancy journey at your local library or independent bookstore as it’s a 2012 release (still waiting on publication date for book 2).

Anyone you know been abducted by aliens lately?
**kmm

Book info: Mothership (The Ever-Expanding Universe, Book 1) / Martin Leicht and Isla Neal. Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2012. [Martin’s info]  [Isla’s info]  [video interview]   [publisher site] [book trailer]   (Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher)

My Book Talk: Elvie wanted to go into space, but as part of the Mars colonization project, not as a pregnant teen in the first-ever low-orbit high school for unwed mothers… Getting attacked by paramilitaries wasn’t part of the plan either, but Elvie still has some brains despite the Bump.

She’s been planning her whole life to travel everywhere, like her mom didn’t get to do, dying when Elvie was born, leaving behind a huge book of maps with notes about future family trips. Her dad has an emergency plan for absolutely any possible (or improbable) event and decides that Hanover School for Expecting Teen Mothers is just the place for her; he obviously didn’t know that Elvie’s nemesis in the Class of 2076 would be part of the school’s first group, too.

And the baby’s daddy? Vanished into thin air as soon as Elvie told him the news. Thankfully, she has best-friend-for-life Ducky as backup; that guy is so dorky about researching pregnancy stuff. Too bad he’s on Earth, and Elvie’s in orbit with snooty cheerleader Britta, who got pregnant a couple of weeks before her. No, Elvie won’t tell her that Cole fathered both babies; she doesn’t have a death wish.

When an unexpected ship docks onto the space cruise liner, Hanover is boarded by paramilitary forces…including Cole, who tells Elvie that her teachers are aliens and that their babies aren’t exactly their own anymore. She decides her baby belongs on Earth when it’s born in a few weeks, so she and the other very-pregnant teens waddle through escape routes and try to sabotage the aliens’ plans along the way.

If the teachers are aliens, what are the paramilitary guys?
Should Elvie believe the handsome hunk who knocked her up and left town?
Will there be any chocolate-pretzel-caramel-prenatal ice cream left in the snack center?

In this first book of the Ever-Expanding Universe series, Elvie’s life changes drastically in a short time; the rest of Earth’s population is in for a big surprise as well!

Sisters Red, by Jackson Pearce (fiction) – werewolf-hunting sisters long for love

Mar18

book cover of Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce published by LBTeenRemote town or crowded city,
more “missing” young women reported,
time to hunt down the werewolves.

The first in Pearce’s Fairytale Retellings, Sisters Red  takes the Little Red Riding Hood tale several steps into the present-day with chilling effectiveness.

The Atlanta-based author keeps her Retellings series firmly rooted in today’s South with Sweetly (Hansel and Gretel…and Fenris) and Fathomless (the Little Mermaid…and Fenris). Click the title links to go to my no-spoiler recommendations.

Which cover art do you prefer – the new paperback release with the hatchet or the original hardback and paperback art with the two girls’ faces and those red wolfeyes?
**kmm
original paperback cover of Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce published by LBTeen
Book info: Sisters Red (Fairytale Retellings #1) / Jackson Pearce. LB Teen, 2010 hardback, 2011 paperback. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation:  Girls are disappearing – time for Rosie and Scarlett to take up their hatchets, don their red cloaks, and hunt down the werewolves again. Perhaps the teen sisters can kill enough of these Fenris before their power becomes too strong…

Closer than twins, Scarlett and Rosie feel like they are one heart divided between two people and that they have a mission to protect people from the Fenris who slaughtered their grandmother, clawed out Scarlett’s right eye, left the March sisters selling off Oma’s things to stay afloat – hunting killer werewolves near and far leaves no time for a regular job. At least Silas is back from California, back to being their nearest neighbor out in the Georgia countryside, even if he didn’t take the traditional woodsman’s path like the rest of his family.

Attacks on young women during the Apple Time Festival reveal that outside clans of Fenris are converging on their area, and the sisters’ scan of the news tells them that Atlanta is getting hit hard. It’s Silas who suggests that they temporarily move to the city to deal with the werewolf outbreak, the three of them hunting together again to keep unwitting victims safe.

Now the trio has a whole new landscape to learn, trying to remain unseen as they stalk the leering men whose skin bursts forth into full fur when their prey has no more way to escape, the two girls donning mysterious red capes to entice the Fenris away from others and into the death trap of their hatchets and knives.

Silas insists that Rosie do something – just one thing – that’s not Fenris-related so she can keep her mind and soul together, so she tries an origami class. In the calm classroom, Rosie wonders if she’ll fight the Fenris forever, if she could have a future with Silas.

What is luring the other Fenris into territory not their own?
Can the three young people stop them?
Is there more to life than fighting away this darkness?

Told in alternating chapters by Rosie and Scarlett, Sisters Red brings an old fairytale into the here and now as the author’s home city is plagued by werewolves.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.