Category Archives: Read This

Read This!: THESE VICIOUS MASKS by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas

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These Vicious Masks (These Vicious Masks, #1)These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas

Summary: England, 1882. Evelyn is bored with society and its expectations. So when her beloved sister, Rose, mysteriously vanishes, she ignores her parents and travels to London to find her, accompanied by the dashing Mr. Kent. But they’re not the only ones looking for Rose. The reclusive young gentleman Sebastian Braddock is also searching for her, claiming that both sisters have special healing powers. Evelyn is convinced that Sebastian must be mad, until she discovers that his strange tales of extraordinary people are true—and that her sister is in graver danger than she feared.

What a terrific story! I loved Evelyn, our restless, sometimes reckless, heroine, to whom propriety matters but saving her sister matters more. I loved Mr. Braddock, our dark and brooding hero, who would rather not be dark and brooding, but can’t help it. I loved Mr. Kent, Evelyn’s ardent, smooth, sometimes-smarmy suitor. I REALLY loved Tuffins, the butler with a heart of gold. (I need a Tuffins. I think we all do.) And I loved the way the Victorian setting, complete with its underbelly of humans with secret powers and even more secret motivations, leapt off the page. Running through it all is Evelyn’s distinctive wry narrative voice. Can’t wait for the second book!

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Read This!: THE SERPENT KING by Jeff Zentner

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The Serpent KingThe Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

Summary: Dill has had to wrestle with vipers his whole life—at home, as the only son of a Pentecostal minister who urges him to handle poisonous rattlesnakes, and at school, where he faces down bullies who target him for his father’s extreme faith and very public fall from grace. 
He and his fellow outcast friends must try to make it through their senior year of high school without letting the small-town culture destroy their creative spirits and sense of self. Graduation will lead to new beginnings for Lydia, whose edgy fashion blog is her ticket out of their rural Tennessee town. And Travis is content where he is thanks to his obsession with an epic book series and the fangirl turning his reality into real-life fantasy. Their diverging paths could mean the end of their friendship. But not before Dill confronts his dark legacy to attempt to find a way into the light of a future worth living.

The characters in this book, especially Dill and Lydia, are people I wanted to hang out with long after I turned the last page. I loved the way this book showed three young people taking on the world in all its vibrantly hopefully and tragically unfair glory.

THE SERPENT KING is out now.
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Read This!: INTO THE DIM by Janet B. Taylor

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Into the Dim (Into the Dim, #1)Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor

Summary: When fragile, sixteen-year-old Hope Walton loses her mom to an earthquake overseas, her secluded world crumbles. Agreeing to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers that her mother was more than a brilliant academic, but also a member of a secret society of time travelers. Trapped in the twelfth century in the age of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Hope has seventy-two hours to rescue her mother and get back to their own time. Along the way, her path collides with that of a mysterious boy who could be vital to her mission . . . or the key to Hope’s undoing.

What an adventure! Hope is still reeling from the news of her mother’s death when she is sent to her aunt’s Scottish manor and finds out that her mother has been keeping a great big family secret from her for her whole life. And it’s a doozy – there’s a time travelling portal in the basement and her family has visited many eras, all while fighting against an evil group called the Timeslippers who care nothing for the impact of their actions on history. Hope has to travel back to 12th-century England to save her mom, and she’s aided by new friends and a handsome Timeslipper boy who may or may not be playing her false. Despite her photographic memory and wide ranging knowledge, Hope has to struggle against her own demons to fight for the people she loves. Fans of romance, adventure, and Scottish hunks will love this book!

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Read This!: THE MAYPOP KIDNAPPING by C.M. Surrisi

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The Maypop KidnappingThe Maypop Kidnapping by C.M. Surrisi

Summary: In the coastal village of Maiden Rock, Maine, Quinnie Boyd’s teacher has disappeared. Quinnie thinks it’s a kidnapping case, but her mom, the town sheriff, just thinks the teacher has left town. Still, Quinnie’s going to follow her instincts that something’s wrong.  Her investigation takes her through a damp and smelly marsh, a lobster pound, and more of Maine’s messiest places. She even gets help from her glamorous new neighbor, Mariella. As the girls hunt for clues around Maiden Rock, they encounter a cast of unlikely characters. And if Quinnie’s hunch is right, the search may lead them right into danger . . .

The characters in this mystery crackle and snap with life. At thirteen, Quinnie leads a pretty quiet life in the tiny town of Maiden Rock on the coast of Maine – a town so tiny that her crusader mother plays the parts of real estate agent, mayor, sheriff, AND postmaster. (And, in my absolute favorite detail, her office contains a separate desk for each role.) But things change when Quinnie’s beloved tutor disappears under suspicious circumstances, and no one else seems alarmed. Quinnie is determined to figure out what’s happening, and she’s aided by Ben, her childhood crush, and Ella, the daughter of a famous crime novelist staying in town. Maiden Rock is drawn in loving detail, from the diner run by Quinnie’s dad that serves as a central meeting place for the residents, to the slightly batty nuns at Our Lady of the Tides convent. There’s just enough scary stuff to keep readers on edge, but characters, setting, and details of the crime keep the book firmly in middle grade territory. The only problem is that now I really really want to vacation in this fictional town…guess rereading this terrific mystery will have to suffice!

THE MAYPOP KIDNAPPING is out now.

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Read This!: THE GIRL WHO FELL by Shannon M. Parker

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The Girl Who FellThe Girl Who Fell by Shannon M. Parker

Summary: Zephyr is focused. Focused on leading her team to the field hockey state championship and leaving her small town for her dream school, Boston College. But love has a way of changing things.  Enter the new boy in school: the hockey team’s starting goaltender, Alec. He’s cute, charming, and most important, Alec doesn’t judge Zephyr. He understands her fears and insecurities—he even shares them. Soon, their relationship becomes something bigger than Zephyr, something she can’t control, something she doesn’t want to control.  Zephyr swears it must be love. Because love is powerful, and overwhelming, and…terrifying?  But love shouldn’t make you abandon your dreams, or push your friends away. And love shouldn’t make you feel guilty—or worse, ashamed. 
So when Zephyr finally begins to see Alec for who he really is, she knows it’s time to take back control of her life. If she waits any longer, it may be too late.

This story begins with a snippet of the end – the dark place where Zephyr’s relationship with handsome, brooding hockey star Alec will lead. And then we go back and see how it all started. That disturbing prologue is a necessary and brilliant touch, as it primes readers to see the oh-so-small warning signs that the relationship is not the paradise it seems. And that, of course, is the point: an abusive relationship often looks like any other in the beginning, and Zephyr, a strong-willed field hockey player who dreams of attending Boston College, gets swept up in the romance. Her friends grow concerned when Zephyr’s relationship with Alec isolates her from them, and her own insecurities about her talents and her father’s abandonment of her push her to see Alec as the only one who understands. Alec’s manipulations pull her in ever more deeply, until he goes so far that Zephyr can’t explain his behavior away anymore. But Alec, of course, can’t let go, and his obsession crosses into physical abuse.

This story is honestly painful, and painfully honest. It’s riveting stuff – I read the last third of the book with my heart in my throat, pulling for Zephyr to get out of the pit of abuse. Zephyr is no weakling, and this book is a powerful statement about the many forces in our society that limit girls’ choices. (An early scene in which Zephyr chooses not to eat even though she’s starving, because Alec isn’t hungry, made my stomach clench with its verisimilitude.) It’s easy to see, through this story, how anyone, no matter how strong-willed, could end up drawn into an abusive relationship. Alec is all the more frightening because of how fully realized he is as a character; he believes that he is working for Zephyr’s good when he’s “teaching her a lesson”.

An important book that will launch many discussions about abuse, consent, and female empowerment. Don’t miss it.

THE GIRL WHO FELL is out now.

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