Review: Ghost Girl by Ally Malinenko

Ghost Girl
By Ally Malinenko
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Format: eARC
Source: Sparkpoint Studio

To Sum It Up: In the small town of Knobb’s Ferry, not far from the famous Sleepy Hollow, Zee Puckett stands out, and not in a good way. All Zee wants is to tell her spooky stories and hang out with her best friend Elijah, but her shock of white hair makes her an easy target for teasing at school. It also doesn’t help that it’s just Zee and her older sister, Abby, having lost their mother when Zee was born and their father now gone in search of work elsewhere. As long as Zee has her stories and her friendship with Elijah, though, she can weather anything until a storm rolls through Knobb’s Ferry and seems to bring something very sinister with it. Zee soon learns that while she may love spinning scary tales, it’s a completely different thing to actually find herself living in one.

Review: With Halloween not that far away, now is the perfect time to start getting into the ghostly groove with a chilling read like Ghost Girl that also manages to warm your heart. Zee Puckett is a sixth grader in the small town of Knobb’s Ferry, which the book mentions is near the fabled Sleepy Hollow. Ally Malinenko does a great job of establishing a setting where everybody knows everybody and their business, the type of place where a girl like Zee, with her white hair, unusual name (Zee is short for Zera), and love for telling scary stories, attracts unwanted attention from other kids. It’s a good thing Zee has her best friend Elijah, the only person in Knobb’s Ferry who really gets her. Their friendship is one of the book’s standout parts.

The paranormal aspect starts creeping in when a fierce storm rocks the town and little by little begins affecting its residents. Zee and Elijah quickly realize that something is very amiss and that they are central to whatever is going on. While the identity of the villain isn’t all that hard to figure out, there’s still a good amount of mystery surrounding what exactly is happening in Knobb’s Ferry. Malinenko builds just the right amount of suspense, punctuated by some wonderfully frightening moments.

Ghost Girl also focuses on some very human elements, such as standing up for yourself and not assuming that you know everything that another person may be going through based solely on outward appearances. Perhaps the most important point that the book addresses is that no one can take something away from you that is not given freely. Although these may sound like heavier themes for a middle grade read, Malinenko incorporates them in a manner that’s subtle yet powerful.

With an ominous atmosphere, deep character development, and ample thrills, Ghost Girl more than lives up to the expectations of its eerie title. I definitely hope to see more adventures featuring Zee and her friends.

All in All: A perfect read for the fast approaching spooky season that will appeal to readers of all ages!

Review: City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

City of Ghosts (Cassidy Blake #1)
By Victoria Schwab
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: Cassidy Blake’s parents may write books about ghosts for a living, but for Cass, ghosts are all too real. After being saved from drowning by a ghost named Jacob, who becomes her best friend, Cassidy can step into the Veil, the curtain between the living and the dead. When her parents are given the opportunity to film a TV show about haunted places around the world, the family packs their bags for Edinburgh, Scotland, where Cassidy is about to discover that not all ghosts are friendly like Jacob.

Review: Victoria Schwab has become an auto-buy author for me, so of course I had to check out her middle grade novel, City of Ghosts. In it we meet Cassidy Blake, a girl whose near-death experience has given her the ability to cross into the Veil, the barrier between the worlds of the living and the dead. Cass’s best friend is Jacob, a snarky, comic book-loving ghost who saved Cass from drowning. Cass and Jacob’s friendship was definitely the highlight of the novel for me; I loved the banter between them.

Overall, though, I’m bummed to say that I just wasn’t feeling this book. While I loved the concept and the wonderful, thoroughly detailed descriptions of Edinburgh, the story itself seemed to be missing something. As spooky as some of Cass and Jacob’s forays into the Veil are, the sense of danger doesn’t feel all that palpable.

I also thought that the book took a while to get going, and even then, the plot is pretty straightforward. I think I expected more suspense and tension build-up given that this is a story about ghosts. I realize that this is middle grade, but I felt there was still room to add more layers to the plot and to the characters.

Perhaps I’m too used to the complicated characters of Schwab’s adult novels to fully appreciate City of Ghosts. This one fell a bit short for me, but I do think that the book offers plenty of chills to thrill younger readers who will enjoy watching Cassidy and Jacob grow as characters as they continue their ghostly adventures together.

All in All: Sadly, I didn’t love this as much as I’d hoped despite some snappy dialogue and an immersive setting. The plot was a tad thin for me to really get into the story. Middle grade readers, however, will very likely find City of Ghosts to be a promising start to the series.

Review: The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson

The Shadow Cabinet (Shades of London #3)
By Maureen Johnson
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: After making a painful and fateful decision, Rory and the team are determined to find their missing friend, but they must also devote precious time to thwarting Rory’s former captor, Jane. Jane’s plans are far more elaborate and nefarious than previously thought and put all of London in danger. It’s up to Rory and friends to stop her, and they’re going to need every resource at their disposal, including ghostly ones, to do so.

Review: For some reason, I thought that The Shadow Cabinet was the conclusion to the Shades of London series, but it’s not. And I’m happy about that, because after reading this, I’m not yet ready to say goodbye. I also feel that I haven’t raved about this series enough; I’ll try to remedy that now.

The previous book, The Madness Underneath, went out on a heartbreaking cliffhanger, and The Shadow Cabinet picks up with the immediate aftermath. The Shades, i.e. London’s ghost police, are without a leader, and their supervisor from MI5, Thorpe, steps in to fill the gap. I like Thorpe. He’s the quintessential intelligence guy—efficient and enigmatic; it’s the enigmatic part that intrigues me, of course. Thorpe has been steadily seeing more page time with each book in the series (he also appears in the prequel novella, The Boy in the Smoke), and I approve. I would also approve of a Thorpe novella.

After everything that Rory has seen and been through, it’s not surprising that she’s grown quite a bit since The Name of the Star. The anecdotal humor that she’s so brilliant at is still present, but I think this book is the most serious in tone yet in the series. It makes sense, though, because Rory and the squad are walking around with very heavy hearts, plus the threat they’re attempting to stop is very, very scary.

Jane, the “therapist” who turned out to be a murderous lunatic in The Madness Underneath, continues to create gigantic problems for Rory and her friends. The Shadow Cabinet further explores Jane’s past and reveals a plot that could wreak havoc all over London. The conviction with which Jane and her associates believe in what they’re doing is frightening, and an overall feeling of dread looms over the novel. It’s the unshakeable sensation that something really, really bad could happen to anyone at any time. Credit Maureen Johnson with pacing this book so perfectly. I felt compelled to turn the pages quickly because I was so engrossed in the story, but at the same time, I was afraid to actually find out what awaited on the next page and even the next sentence.

I have to admit that I’m a wee bit frustrated with how my ship is going, but as the romance in the series has been low-key from the beginning, it didn’t rain on my overall enjoyment of the book. I also found the resolution to the novel’s Big Momentous Moment a little abrupt. It happened at the end of a chapter, and that was that. Again, though, this was not a deal breaker to enjoying the novel, especially considering the complex, thrilling match of wits that ensues between Rory and Team Ghost Squad and Jane and Team Crazy Cult. The Shadow Cabinet really delivers on the suspense and the spooky, and the ending promises much more of both in book four.

All in All: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, and I definitely appreciated the balance between wrapping up a major plotline from the previous book and setting up the next installment.

Review: The Boy in the Smoke by Maureen Johnson

The Boy in the Smoke (Shades of London #0.5)
By Maureen Johnson
Format: eBook
Source: Wattpad

To Sum It Up: Stephen Dene has always been the perfect son, even if his parents barely acknowledge his existence. But after suffering an unbearable loss, Stephen takes extreme action. His decision has unintended consequences, however, including a newfound ability to see what most others cannot.

Review: The Boy in the Smoke is a prequel novella to Maureen Johnson’s Shades of London novels and fills in the backstory of Shades’ Stephen Dene. Although Stephen speaks briefly about his past to series protagonist Rory Deveaux in the first book, The Name of the Star, The Boy in the Smoke delves deeper into Stephen’s character and the events that shaped the person Rory meets in book one.

Stephen instantly intrigued me from his first appearance in The Name of the Star, so of course I had to read this. He projects collected and reserved, but there’s also a hint of something more going on with his character. A large part of that something more is the focus of The Boy in the Smoke, which will break your heart many, many times over in less than 100 pages. The story here gets quite intense, but it’s not melodramatic. This is a very finely crafted novella that delivers a sizeable emotional punch despite is page tally. Although I would have eagerly read a longer Stephen story, I think this one is the perfect length, giving readers new to the series a solid induction into its world while at the same time thoroughly filling in the backstory of one of its main figures for those who’ve already read one or more of the novels.

You don’t need to have read any other Shades of London books to jump into this. I do want to mention that although The Boy in the Smoke has a serious tone to it, Rory’s narration in the novels is punctuated with a fair amount of humor. So it’s not as though the entire series is somber, if that might be a concern in continuing on with it. Because I don’t read novellas often, I tend to forget how impactful they can still be in a relatively compact number of pages, and The Boy in the Smoke was a great reminder that I need to keep a better eye out for these series shorts.

All in All: This is available to read for free on Wattpad, and I highly recommend it, regardless of whether or not you’ve read Shades of London. And if you haven’t, read The Boy in the Smoke and then pick up The Name of the Star.

Review: Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Afterworlds
By Scott Westerfeld
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: Darcy Patel is fresh out of high school and on her way to New York with a book deal in hand to embark on her career as an author. As Darcy learns to navigate the publishing world, she also faces the pressure of revising the draft of her soon-to-be-published novel Afterworlds as well as delivering the draft for a sequel. Interweaved with Darcy’s story is that of her Afterworlds protagonist Lizzie Scofield, the lone survivor of a terrorist attack that leaves Lizzie with the ability to see ghosts and cross over into the afterworld.

Review: Scott Westerfeld has long been on my list of must-read authors, especially with all of the love I’ve seen for his Leviathan series. But Afterworlds ended up being my first Westerfeld read/purchase when I spotted a pile of signed copies last December at my local Barnes and Noble (the store permanently closed its doors two weeks ago. *sniffles*). Out of curiosity, I read the jacket blurb and knew I was going home with a copy because the two main characters were named Darcy and Lizzie. I took that as a sign from the Pride and Prejudice gods that this purchase was meant to be.

After waiting my usual months and months before getting around to actually reading a book I had to buy, I plucked Afterworlds off the shelf. Or lifted with both hands, more like, because this baby weighs in at almost 600 pages. The book’s heft intimidated me at first; at the rate I’ve been reading lately, I figured I’d need a few weeks to finish. I was most pleasantly surprised, however, by the novel’s crisp pacing in both narratives. It wasn’t long at all before I found myself utterly engrossed in the pages of Afterworlds and utterly annoyed whenever we had to spend time apart due to work, meals, sleep, etc.

Another lovely surprise about Afterworlds was its narrative structure; actually, my mind is still kind of blown away by it. In the novel’s “real” world we have Darcy, who wrote a novel in thirty days during her senior year of high school. She’s signed a six figure publishing deal and deferring college for a year so she can move to New York City and work on revising Afterworlds and then get cracking on its sequel. Each chapter of Darcy’s journey into the YA publishing world, told in the third person, alternates with a chapter from her book. Darcy’s Afterworlds is told from the first person perspective of Lizzie Scofield, a teenager whose brush with death forever alters her; Lizzie is now a psychopomp—someone who guides spirits to the other side—and she sees ghosts all around her. Lizzie takes an interest in one ghost in particular, and the ensuing attempt on Lizzie’s part to unravel a mystery and possibly serve up some long overdue justice makes for page-turning reading. I’ve read a few story-within-a-story novels before, but not one with alternating genres. Westerfeld is truly a genius here, effortlessly switching gears every chapter. I would have gladly read either tale as a standalone, so to be able to read both of them in one novel is a unique reading experience indeed.

I don’t think I’ve ever been as jealous of a fictional character as I was of Darcy. She’s just out of high school and has already authored a novel, sold it and a yet-to-be-written sequel, and has relocated to Manhattan from Philadelphia to write full time. In other words, Darcy is living my dreams! As much as it appears that she’s on the fast track to success, though, Darcy has her doubts about how Afterworlds will be received and her ability to find the same magic that propelled her to write her debut novel in thirty days. Her path to publication is absorbing to read about, especially considering that you’re literally watching Darcy’s work unfold before your eyes.

Afterworlds the novel-within-a-novel is just as compelling, so much so that I enjoyed both halves of the book equally. Here again my envy kicks in, as I must credit Darcy with penning an impressive debut. After surviving a terrorist attack at the airport by pretending to be already dead, protagonist Lizzie is permanently able to cross over into the afterworld and see ghosts in the “real” one. She’s startled to discover that the spirit of her mother’s murdered childhood friend Mindy has been with them for years, and Lizzie makes it her personal mission to seek peace for her new friend. The search is riveting, as Lizzie learns that not all psychopomps like her want to help the dead. This Afterworlds is a paranormal that brims with suspense, the type that makes you a little wary of turning the page because there’s a good chance that danger awaits Lizzie on the flip side of it. My only tiny issue with Lizzie’s story was the romance, which felt very insta-lovey, and even by the end of her last chapter, I still couldn’t buy it. But because this is a fictional work written by a another fictional character, I wonder if perhaps the way the romance was portrayed was intended to show an area in which Darcy needed to grow as a writer. Or maybe I’m reading too much into this.

Whatever the case, I was too awed by Scott Westerfeld’s prose and how he essentially wrote two damn fine novels in one to dwell on much else. As far as I know, Afterworlds is a standalone, but Darcy’s publishing contract does call for a sequel, which I would read in a New York minute.

All in All: I absolutely loved the clever and creative narrative format of Afterworlds. I easily lost myself in both stories, and those nearly 600 pages whizzed by all too soon. Highly recommended if you’re looking to try something a little bit different.

Review: The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

* This review contains spoilers for the previous book, The Name of the Star.

The Madness Underneath (Shades of London #2)
By Maureen Johnson
Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: After almost being killed by a Jack the Ripper copycat, Rory is trying to move on with her life. Therapy isn’t really helping, she’s seriously fallen behind in school, and she’s in Bristol while her friends are back in London. But then Rory’s therapist suddenly recommends that she resume her studies at Wexford, and, as Rory soon learns, her return to London has been carefully orchestrated. Her recently acquired ability to dispose of ghosts with her touch makes her a very valuable asset to the Shades, the secret ghost police, especially since a new supernatural threat seems to be developing around London.

Review: I loved The Name of the Star, the first book in the Shades of London series, so it’s beyond me why I waited so long to pick up the sequel, The Madness Underneath. Especially since it’s been sitting on my shelf since its release, and the third book in the series was published a few months ago. Let’s just say that after reading this, I won’t be waiting too long to start The Shadow Cabinet.

It only took a few pages of The Madness Underneath to remind me why I enjoyed the previous book so much. Rory is a fantastic, lively narrator. She tells the best, and often hilarious, anecdotes. I love her narrative voice, and it’s the heart of the humor in a series that can also be dark at times. While writing my review for The Name of the Star, I felt more than a little weird for admitting that I laughed as I read a book about a ghostly Jack the Ripper copycat. I did laugh, though, because this series is an eclectic mix of comedic and chilling moments. And this particular book almost had me in tears at one point—and they were not tears of laughter.

As much as Rory is still a masterful spinner of yarns and quick with a quip in The Madness Underneath, she’s very much struggling with the aftermath of the events in The Name of the Star. The details of her scrape with death at the hands of a homicidal ghost have of course been skillfully covered up, because you can’t just go around telling everyone that a ghost stabbed you. Not unless you want your sanity questioned. So not only is Rory dealing with the trauma of the attack, but she can’t even reveal the truth about what happened to her to most people. When she returns to school at Wexford, the scene of the incident, she’s unable to focus on her studies and is in danger of flunking out. Rory’s plate is just so full, and it’s tough seeing her go through this.

For all that Rory has to keep to herself, there are three people with whom she can speak freely about ghosts: her friends in the Shades, i.e. the ghost police. I practically cheered aloud when Rory reunited with Boo, Callum, and Stephen. Especially Stephen. See, I’m rather taken with his character. While I wouldn’t call him angst-ridden, he is on the serious side—and most deserving of a spot of happiness.

There were two little things that didn’t work for me: I still couldn’t find Rory and her school mate Jerome convincing as a couple, maybe because I’d love to see Rory with a certain someone else. *ahem* There was also something that I was surprised Rory, who’s usually very perceptive, didn’t pick up on sooner. But, The Madness Underneath was still a thrilling read, and I will be acquiring a copy of The Shadow Cabinet very shortly!

All in All: I repeat: why did I wait so long to read this? The Madness Underneath boasts another fantastic story from Maureen Johnson with ghosts, a secret ghost police force, and an ample amount of humor.

Review: Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

* This review may contain spoilers for the previous book, Anna Dressed in Blood. *

Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2)
By Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor Teen

To Sum It Up:

The ghost of Anna Korlov saved Cas Lowood and his friends, but now Anna is trapped in Hell. Cas sees visions of her being tortured, and despite being told that there’s no way to bring Anna back, he’s determined to help her. Cas faces a lot of obstacles to his plan, including a secret organization that believes all ghosts, regardless of whether they’re peaceful or evil, should be permanently banished from the mortal world.

Review:

I’d seen quite a few mixed reviews for Girl of Nightmares from readers who, like me, had loved Anna Dresssed in Blood. So I didn’t really know what to anticipate from the sequel and maybe even went into reading it with slightly lowered expectations. While I can now see why this may not have garnered quite as much love as the first book did, I was far from disappointed with Girl of Nightmares.

I think the most common gripe I’d seen about this novel was how little Anna was in it. And she really isn’t, at least not to the extent you might assume from the title and the cover (which is fantastic, by the way). Yes, I felt a little let down about this, but my biggest concern was how Cas was going to handle her loss. I was worried that he was going to act all mopey and angsty throughout the book. Now that would have upset me immensely because one of the things I loved about Anna was Cas’s snarky narration. Fortunately, he holds himself together reasonably well. I mean, I wouldn’t call him cheerful, and his distraction over seeing glimpses of Anna being tortured in Hell nearly gets his friends, Thomas and Carmel, killed. On the whole, though, Cas avoids turning into a one-man pity party and still manages to make plenty of biting comments, a Cas Lowood specialty.

Speaking of Thomas and Carmel, I’ve really grown to like these two. Okay, so I was kind of mad at Carmel for a few chapters while reading this, but I understood her reasons for her actions. Plus, she eventually worked her way back into my good graces (Yay, Carmel! I knew you were a good person at heart!). To think that I found Thomas sort of annoying when I first met him in Anna—man, I love that kid! I love his geekiness and his loyalty to his friends, and I love that he’s found a clique with Cas and Carmel. Thomas seems a lot more confident here, too, and at times his wit rivals even Cas’s. Oh, and I’d also just like to say that Thomas’s grandfather, Morfran, is like one of the coolest, if not the coolest, grandpas in YA.

You know which character I didn’t like in Girl of Nightmares? Gideon Palmer, the friend of Cas’s family whom Cas consulted for advice in Anna. Here I was thinking that Gideon was this happy-go-lucky English chap/supernatural expert, and he turned out to be a secretive jerk, emphasis on “secretive.” I felt foolish for taking a liking to him in the previous book. He’s not a villain here, exactly, but I’d certainly never trust the guy again.

So why didn’t Girl of Nightmares quite measure up to Anna Dressed in Blood in my mind? Well, I didn’t think it was as scary as the first book, and the fright factor was, surprisingly for a chicken like me, a big reason why I enjoyed Anna so much. There’s also a lot of focus in Girl of Nightmares on how Cas’s athame (i.e. his ghost killing knife) might be more than merely a weapon. The knife probably ended up in more pages than Anna did, and really, I wasn’t all that interested in the athame’s story. But, this was still a very, very good sequel, and I was sad to see the story come to a close.

All in All:

I really liked this, even though I had a few small quibbles with it. It’s not the all-out horror read that Anna Dressed in Blood was, but I still think Girl of Nightmares is totally worth reading.

Review: Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

Paper Valentine
By Brenna Yovanoff
Publisher: Razorbill

To Sum It Up:

Since the death of her best friend Lillian, Hannah Wagner has been haunted by Lillian’s ghost. As Hannah struggles to cope with the daily reminder of how her friend died, a string of murders throws the community of Ludlow into a panic. The victims are all young girls, and the killer leaves a paper valentine at each crime scene. Hannah’s ability to see ghosts becomes key to stopping whoever’s responsible, but it’s not going to be easy to explain how she knows what she does.

Review:

Paper Valentine makes me think of a string quartet. Individually, each instrument produces a beautiful sound; put them together, though, and the music is even more powerful. That is this book. Each story thread draws you in, but taken as a whole, you have one knockout novel.

Hannah Wagner sees the ghost of her dead best friend, Lillian Wald. Never able to please her mother, Lillian essentially starved herself to death. Its impact has affected Hannah in several ways. Of course there’s the fact that Lillian is haunting her, and Lillian can be quite the disruptive ghost. Under her outward appearance of calm that is underscored by her cheery outfits, Hannah is wrestling with the guilt she feels over just looking on as Lillian wasted away. Lillian was also the leader of their circle of friends, and without her, Hannah begins to realize that she shares nothing in common with the remaining members of the group.

Watching Hannah deal with the loss of Lillian made for a compelling story on its own. While she seems to be carrying on with her life, she’s not okay. It’s subtle, but it’s there. This book is full of nuances that are slowly built up; it’s when you view the assembled picture that you feel the full weight of what’s happened throughout the novel. It takes Hannah some time to become aware of how much she’s holding in, and adding to that burden are her conflicted feelings toward Finnegan “Finny” Boone.

Hannah has known Finny since childhood, and he is most decidedly trouble. Yet there’s a gentleness to him that belies his sharp edges. Finny is the type of boy whom Lillian and the rest of their clique never would have allowed Hannah to be seen with. What they think isn’t really an issue anymore, though. The tension and uncertainty about what exists between these two are riveting, and again, here’s a fraction of the story that stands strongly by itself.

And now for where the title comes in. A serial killer is targeting young girls in Hannah’s community and leaving paper valentines at the crime scenes. The book takes its darkest turn yet with this part of the story. The paranormal plays a significant role in catching the killer, and it’s cleverly worked into the murder mystery aspect of the novel. I did, however, find the big reveal of the killer’s identity somewhat wanting. For all of the meticulous plotting that led up to this moment, I felt like it went by too quickly, as if there were fifteen minutes left in a movie and all the loose ends needed to be tied up.

Ending aside, Paper Valentine was a fantastic read. Brenna Yovanoff is a brilliant storyteller, and I’m just in awe of her literal and figurative uses of ghosts in this. It’s a paranormal read like this one that reminds me why I love the genre so much.

All in All:

Reading Paper Valentine late at night gave me the chills. The dark tone and build-up of suspense are so well done, as is its incorporation of the supernatural.