Posts Tagged "Paranormal"

“After getting kicked out of school and sent to live with her grandmother, Sabine Rose is determined to become a normal teenage girl. That’s why she hides her psychic gift from everyone at her new school, pretending that the predictions she helps write for the school newspaper are just fun nonsense.

But when she starts having deadly visions of a girl with a dragonfly tattoo, she’s afraid everyone will think she’s a freak, or worse – that no one will believe her until someone dies. Just like at her last school.

Framed for a crime she didn’t commit, Sabine must find a way to prove her innocence – and warn the girl with the dragonfly tattoo before it’s too late.”

Don’t Die, Dragonfly is the first book in the Seer series by Linda Joy Singleton. Sabine Rose is a teenage psychic. When she predicts a schoolmate’s death in a car crash, her town and family turn against her, believing she caused the accident. She is sent to live with her grandmother, also a psychic, and she begins a new life at a new school. She vows to keep her gift a secret, but with another life on the line, she’s not sure she can.

Singleton establishes a rich, believable cast in Dragonfly. Though sometimes the characters fit into cliché moulds, I still love them. Penny-Love, Sabine’s popular cheerleading best friend, is relatable and funny. She adds normalcy to Sabine’s otherwise abnormal life and, in doing so, grounds Sabine. Sabine also makes friends with her school newspaper editor, Mannie, and the resident Goth-girl, Thorn. These quirky characters bring out different sides of Sabine, allowing her to become a more well-rounded character.

One of the major appeals to Singleton’s story is the love triangle. Josh is popular, kind, and sweet – everything Sabine is looking for. The only thing is, she can’t tell him her secret and his best friend, Evan, will do anything to see the two ripped apart. Then there’s Dominic, the quiet, sexy, and frustrating farmhand Sabine’s grandmother has hired. He has a way of getting underneath Sabine’s skin, yet he’s one of the only people she can truly be herself around. These relationships only grow more interesting as the series progresses.

But though Singleton has provided us with an exciting cast, her main character is lacking. Sabine is, at times, difficult to relate to. She is obsessed with doing the right thing, but always makes the obvious mistake. Therefore, her actions become predictable. Also, Sabine doesn’t seem to understand herself, which makes it hard for us to understand her. She’s not always sure what she wants or how she feels. Plus, she takes everything so seriously. We rarely see Sabine really having fun because she’s always worrying. Still, with such great friends, she’s bound to open up further along in the series and grow into herself.

Singleton establishes some key plot points in Dragonfly, ensuring that the series will have a specific direction. The subplots are interesting and allow Sabine a chance to grow and fully realize her powers before she is faced with her biggest obstacles. For those who enjoy plot-driven fantasy books, this series will be a fast read. Singleton intertwines suspense, action, romance, and magic in a realistic world. The story isn’t complicated or dense. In fact, it flies by due to the small pages and abundance of dialogue. Though it’s a simple read, the series is satisfying, especially to those looking to quench their thirst for the paranormal. This soon to be six-book series allows you to grow close to the characters and live in their world for awhile.

Pages: 288
Publication Date: September 2004
Rating: :

Teaser Quote: “There was no controlling my gift, only learning to live with it — which I didn’t want to do. The more I used my sixth sense, the stronger it would become. Then I’d never be free of other worlds.”

Hey guys! Ivy here.  Some of you might be wondering about the author of this review.   Nope, it’s not Nikki nor Christina.  So who is Kiona?  Kiona Highbridge is a college student from Connecticut who also happens to be our new American reviewer!  Without further ado, here is a short Q&A with our lovely new reviewer to get to know her little better.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a sophomore at Emerson College in Boston, MA majoring in Writing, Literature, and Publishing. Writing has always been my passion, along with playing softball, riding horses, and making people laugh. I like to read and write stories about intricate relationships because I’m fascinated by human nature.

Fave YA book and fave author?
My favorite book of all time would have to be Alanna the Lioness: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce. I just can’t get enough of Tortall, the world Pierce has created. In fact, she is my all time favorite author. However, currently, I am enamored with Cassandra Clare and The Infernal Devices series.

Who is your fave YA couple?
That’s difficult; there are so many I love. The first that springs to mind is Rose Hathaway and Adrian Ivashkov from the Vampire Academy Series. Don’t get me wrong, I love Rose and Dimitri, but Adrian amuses me to no end.

What is your fave YA genre?
Definitely fantasy. I appreciate how much world-building the authors put into their stories and I love that they take me to a different place. Plus, I like the twists in the fantasy genre – so many unexpected things can happen that I’m always on my toes.

Fave movie?
I’m a movie fanatic and I love so many different genres. But my two favorites have always been V for Vendetta and A Walk to Remember. I have to say two because they’re so different and it’s impossible to choose between them. I love the action and message of V for Vendetta, while I love the exploration of the relationship in A Walk to Remember.

Finish this sentence: “On a Saturday night, you’ll find me…”

“…sitting in my room catching up on TV shows I’ve missed, hanging out with my sister, or visiting my friends at their colleges.”

Welcome to the family Kiona!

Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.)

Then her dad turns up dead—but still walking—and Dru knows she’s next. Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—or whoever— is hunting her?

Dru’s world is very different to yours and mine. See, in her world there are many, many things that go bump in the night. Zombies, vampires and werewulfs are just the start of it. Dru’s dad is a professional monster fighter and has taught Dru how to take care of herself, but being the daughter of a demon hunter has its downsides. Dru has to be ready to pack up her entire life at a moments notice and hit the road. Life for Dru has been kind of lonely…

Then her dad comes home from some kind of demon killing mission one night all zombie-fied. Dru is no idiot, she knows that thing that looks like her dad isn’t really him, and she knows that unless she does something fast, she too could find herself six feet under. Without thinking twice, Dru slaughters her zombie-dad right in her very own living room.

More alone than ever, Dru decides that she can’t stay in her house for a minute longer, and takes off.

Meet Graves. He lives at the mall in some kind of backroom but that’s all we really learn about him. He’s hell bent on finishing high school with spectacular grades, but has that whole bad-boy allure about him. He’s completely mysterious and something tells me that we’re definitely going to learn more about him in the coming novels, but for now, all I can say is that I’m pretty certain he’s jonesing for Dru. Dru shacks up with him for a while (in the sleeping in the same room sense, not the romantic sense) and they develop and odd kind of friendship. Then they’re attacked by a stack of demon beaties and Dru realises that she’s not safe.

Enter Christophe. He’s a djampire and pisses Dru off instantly. He’s got information about her dad’s death – information which, he’s not readily giving up – and that makes Dru instantly suspicious of him. But he’s here to help, apparently, and Dru is faced with some pretty tough decisions. Does she let this half demon guy into her life for the sake of safety, or should she trust her instincts and run like hell – away from him, away from everything. It becomes pretty clear that Dru isn’t going to be able to help herself, but is Chris going to be the savior she’s looking for?

Dru is one of those tough-as-nails characters that has the potential to be a real girl power kind of role model for female teen readers. At the moment, though, I find her rock hard exterior a little frustrating. I wanted her to grieve the death of her father properly – I mean, she did slay his zombie butt, after all – and maybe she did, in her own rock hard way, but for me, she moved on from his death way too easily. Although I completely understand why she’s like this, I hate that she is so untrusting. I can forgive her for this, though, because she’s spent her whole life running from, and fighting big bad beasties. Can’t imagine you’d see too much humanity in anything like a demon, that’s for sure.

Strange Angels is all about the tension. From the first chapter right till the very end, each page is full of nail-biting tension. Unusually, though, I didn’t actually find myself compelled to keep reading. Strange Angels is full of unanswered questions, which frustrated me to no end. I can see, however, that having so many unanswered questions in the story is a bit of an aphrodisiac for some and will drive the kiddies wild.

The one thing I absolutely loved about this book was Lili St. Crow’s writing style. She manipulates the English language brilliantly and her imagery is outstanding. It was very easy to picture just what was happening in the story and my imagination came alive with all kinds of mental images. Even though I found many other aspects of this story frustrating, the fact that I loved Lili’s writing style so much made reading Strange Angels an enjoyable experience.

Rating: :

This just in, straight from Richelle’s blog:

Turns out I have a bit of news for those of you who live in Oregon. I will be doing a signing at Escape Fiction, a bookstore in Salem (3240 Triangle Dr SE), on July 18 from 12-2. That’s a Saturday, and I’ll be with the other Seattle-area authors if you’d like to meet them: Mark Henry, Caitlin Kittredge, Cherie Priest, and Kat Richardson. So, if that’s in your vicinity, I hope you’ll come on down to chat and get books signed.

I have this feeling that I might get some comments from people wanting to know why not Portland. Well, this is kind of a thing the whole group threw together, and Escape Fiction was the store that invited us. Also, I was just in Portland in May–so I gave you guys some love! It’s funny, whenever I post new signing dates and locations, I often get people wanting to know why I can’t come to X place. What’s particularly interesting is that I’ll get people who are new blog readers asking me to visit places I was actually at within the last couple months.

So, for those who aren’t familiar with where I’ve been and think I’m missing certain cities, I thought I’d give you a list of the places I visited in the last year: New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Portland, Phoenix, Orlando, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, and of course, Seattle. So, I’ve made some rounds, and while my publisher sends me back to some repeat cities, we also try to get to new places, which is why my tour schedule looks the way it does

Click here to link to Richelle’s blog.

In case you don’t know, Richelle Mead is the author of the ever popular Vampire Academy series. The fourth book in the series, Blood Promise, is scheduled for release in August 2009. Fans will be happy to know that she’s embarking on a book tour throughout America and Australia. Here are her tour dates and locations:

August 25—Seattle, WA
August 26—Los Angeles, CA (Upland)
August 27—San Francisco, CA
August 28—Denver/Boulder, CO
August 29—Houston and Austin, TX
August 31—Detroit, MI (Birmingham)
September 1—Chicago, IL (Naperville)
September 2—Lexington, KY
September 3—Alpharetta, GA
September 4-7—Atlanta, GA (DragonCon)
September 8—Baltimore, MD (Ellicott City)
September 9—Washington, DC (Fairfax, VA)
September 10—Boston, MA (Burlington)
September 12-19—Australia (Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney) Schedule TBA

She’s been uprooted from her small hometown and enrolled at Evernight Academy, an eerie gothic boarding school where the students are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek, and almost predatory. Bianca knows that she doesn’t fit in.

At Evernight Academy nothing is as it seems. The description on the back of the book calls Evernight Academy gothic. I think that’s a little misleading and the writer of the blurb should have told potential readers the truth about Evernight Academy – that it’s not just a school, but is in fact a school for vampires. But Evernight is shaking things up this year and they’ve allowed human enrollments for the first time, too. The humans, of course, are entirely unaware that more than half the school’s population are actually undead Americans. There are strict rules about exposing yourself to a human, though, and vampires are forbidden from biting the human students. But honestly, how cruel is that? Dangling humans under vampire noses is like putting chow in front a dog and telling him that he’s not allowed to have it. How long would poor puppy be able to resist something like that? Not very long, I’d imagine. And it’s the same with the vampires. Put them in living quarters with humans and there are bound to be problems. Problems of the bloodsucking kind.

Meet Bianca – the newest enrollment at Evernight Academy. She’s shy, smart and a bit of a loner. But she gets housed with Patrice, who is more poised and beautiful than anyone Bianca has ever met. She’s so full of confidence that just being in the same room as Patrice makes Bianca feel more than a little uncomfortable. Can an outsider like Bianca and an It Girl like Patrice be friends? Who knows….

Perhaps Lucas knows. Lucas is also a new arrival at Evernight and is instantly drawn to Bianca. And lucky for Bianca because the moment she sees Lucas she knows she’s in love. Life would totally suck if her first true love didn’t return her affections, don’t you think? But there is more to Lucas than meets the eye. He seems well informed about Evernight and its history, and he really, really doesn’t like Patrice and her friends. In fact, he dislikes them so much that he does everything in his power to isolate Bianca and himself away from their prying eyes. Then one night during a hot and heavy make out session, Bianca does something so unbelievably weird and wrong that it changes everything between her and Lucas. This event works as a sort of catalyst for the downward spiral of everything in Bianca’s life, and suddenly Bianca’s world becomes a regular Jerry Springer episode.

I don’t want to give anything crucial away, but I will say this…

- Someone flees Evernight, fearing for their life.

- Someone breaks the Evernight code and bites a human.

- Someone unexpectedly becomes a vampire.

- Someone has an evil, ulterior motive which shakes the foundations of Evernight through history.

- Love is made, trust is lost, hearts are broken and unexpected friendships are formed.
I decided to read Evernight because a lot of people had told me it had a similar Bella and Edward kind of love story happening. I can safely say, with complete and total conviction, that this is not true. For me, Bella and Edward were so real and so alive that I had to remind myself repeatedly that they were fictional and that their connection was fabricated. Not real in any way. Lucas and Bianca’s connection isn’t so intense. Not even half as much, in fact. I felt like Claudia Gray was telling us they had a connection, rather than showing us they did. And just because she was telling me that Lucas loved Bianca and Bianca loved Lucas doesn’t for one second mean that I’m going to believe that. I just wasn’t feeling it with these guys.

Will I read the second novel? Yes, simply because I want to know what happens. Will I loose sleep if I don’t get my hands on it right away? No, I wont.

Evernight is a solid read, but nothing to write home about.

Rating: :