Gold Star Review: The Diviners

The Diviners
by Libba Bray

Book Description:
Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

Review: 

Creepy and fun!  

This book is set in the 1920's, which is one of my FAVORITE historical eras. So glamorous.  Speakeasys, flappers, jazz...New York City must have been one happening place.  I would have loved to have seen it.  As it is, I envy the clothes and the sense of freedom that the flappers must have felt.  

I loved the way this book unfolded.  It was subtle at first how all the different characters were going to end up intermingled into one big story. I liked how they all fit together eventually like puzzle pieces.  I found the reason for them developing their psychic abilities intriguing and I'm desperate to get my hands on the next book ASAP! 

The serial killer story was gripping and while it had it's gory moments, it wasn't overwhelming. It was the perfect blend of creepy and compelling.  I found the language to be helpful in this...even when Evie was staring at a gruesome murder or was learning grisly details, her horror was offset with her attempts at humorous colloquialisms, "And how!," "Jeepers Creepers." Those moments were helpful to deflect a little bit from the grotesqueness of the crime scenes.  

With fun language, a sit on the edge of your seat plot, and great characters, I have to give The Diviners a GOLD STAR.  I will most definitely read book two, Lair of Dreams, as soon as it hits the shelves! 

Review: The Gift

The Gift
by Andrea J. Buchanan

Book Description:
High school sophomore Daisy Jones is just trying to get by unnoticed. It doesn’t help that she’s the new girl at school, lives in a trailer park, and doesn’t even own a cell phone. But there’s a good reason for all that: Daisy has a secret, unpredictable power—one only her best friend, Danielle, knows about.

Despite her “gift” (or is it a curse?), Daisy’s doing a good job of fitting in, and a gorgeous senior named Kevin even seems interested in her! But when Daisy tries to help Vivi, a mysterious classmate in a crisis, she soon discovers that her new friend has a secret of her own. Now Daisy and her friends must deal with chilling dreams and messages from the beyond. Can Daisy channel the power she’s always tried to hide, before it’s too late?


Review:
This book, originally self-published, could probably have benefited from a thorough editing job. While the premise had moments of promise, there were too many small extra plotlines that were actually distracting from the main story. I also think that it seemed to take a little too long for the two major arcs of the story to come together. That *could* be partially attributed to the fact that I listened to this as an audio book, so the whole story took some time, but I really think the ghost/energy connection was too hard to piece together the way that the author presented it. 

Even though I didn't really enjoy the story, I was happy to find that the author included the songs that Kevin "performed" and also Danielle's diary entries (which I thought would have made a nice addition perhaps interspersed within the story...). It made for a more interesting end.

Movie Review: Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures

2013

Alcon Ent./Warner Bros.

Rated: PG-13

124 Minutes

 

Movie Description:

Ethan longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.

 

Review: 

This movie was good. I really liked it and will probably see it again...even though they did change some BIG things from the book!

 

All right, without trying to ruin this for anyone, I will try to disclose how I felt about the changes without giving too much away. Let's see if I can do it!

One: A huge revelation about a character's secret identity is revealed about one third of the way into the movie...allowing viewers to build the story upon that reveal...BUT I loved how in the book, I was pretty sure that was going on, but did not find out for sure until the LAST third of the book. I thought it was much more dramatic in the book, though the revelation scene in the movie was well done, too!

Two: Although the movie still features one of the coolest libraries I've ever seen in fiction, I was saddened that they combined two characters in the movie, cutting out the awesome librarian from the book series. I suppose this was to make it easier for viewers to keep track of characters, but it also inadvertantly changed Ethan's mother's backstory in a way I wasn't too fond of... *and* the library itself is a little downplayed in the movie. *My librarian heart is breaking.*

Three: When Lena must finally face what is going to happen on her sixteenth birthday, she decides to handle the situation all on her own. A HUGE change from the book. This change sets in motion a bunch of littler changes, including the entire moral character of one of her cousins, and allowed for a very different ending to seem to happen. Thankfully, in truly movie magic fashion, and a very dramatic way, the moviemakers pulled through at the last moment and things work out again...though it will make for an interesting start to the second movie...

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and think that people who have not read the book will love it. I think readers will probably bemoan the same things that I did, but also realize that this made for a great *movie* experience. And now, I have to read book two!

Review: On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave

On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave

by Candace Fleming

 

Book Description:

Set in White Cemetery, an actual graveyard outside Chicago, each story takes place during a different time period from the 1860's to the present, and ends with the narrator's death. Some teens die heroically, others ironically, but all due to supernatural causes. Readers will meet walking corpses and witness demonic posession, all against the backdrop of Chicago's rich history—the Great Depression, the World's Fair, Al Capone and his fellow gangsters.

 

Review:

This book was interesting. I liked how it was one boy's story that interwove all the tales of the other teens' deaths. Some of the stories were far more interesting than others, but they were all fun and easy to read. I loved how each was supernatural and creepy, but not enough to induce nightmares.

 

Did you used to love Goosebumps, but don't quite want to jump into full scale horror? This would be a great book to check out.

Review: The Name of the Star

The Name of the Star

by Maureen Johnson

The Shades of London, book one

 

Book Description:

The day that Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London to start a new life at boarding school is also the day a series of brutal murders breaks out over the city, killings mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper spree of more than a century ago. Soon "Rippermania" takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him--the only one who can see him. And now Rory has become his next target.

 

Review:

This is exactly how I like my ghost stories. Creepy, but not horrifying enough to keep me awake all night, huddling under the covers in terror... Johnson uses just enough description to keep you riveted, to make you shudder, but not enough to imprint mutilated body parts in the back of your brain.

 

Easy to read, intriguing, and with a main character that I thought was pretty cool, from the moment I turned the last page, I found my fingers itching for the next book. I hope it's coming out soon! I'm totally trying to guess what may happen in the next book as it seems there may be a change of venue... ooops! NO more spoilers, I promise. LOL.  

Review: The Prisoner of Cell 25

The Prisoner of Cell 25

by Richard Paul Evans

Michael Vey, book one

Book Description:

My name is Michael Vey, and the story I’m about to tell you is strange. Very strange. It’s my story.

 

To everyone at Meridian High School, Michael Vey is an ordinary fourteen-year-old. In fact, the only thing that seems to set him apart is the fact that he has Tourette’s syndrome. But Michael is anything but ordinary. Michael has special powers. Electric powers. Michael thinks he's unique until he discovers that a cheerleader named Taylor also has special powers. With the help of Michael’s friend, Ostin, the three of them set out to discover how Michael and Taylor ended up this way, but their investigation brings them to the attention of a powerful group who wants to control the electric children – and through them the world. Michael will have to rely on his wits, powers, and friends if he’s to survive.



Review:

If you love adventure and people with crazy powers, you need to check out this book. I was surprised how easily I was drawn into it. I found myself turning pages faster and faster...

Michael was a good character. Not perfect, by any means, and he acknowledges that... but he loves his friends and his mom with everything he has, and he tries to do the right thing whenever he can. He also has the crazy power to shock people, like an electric eel! Wowza! I kept thinking how much it would hurt to get shocked by him. *shudders*

Though I've never read anything by this author before (his adult books are a different style), I will definitely be making time sometime this fall to squeeze in book two, Rise of the Elgen.

*Terri also loved this book. She even booktalked it at the Middle School this year for some of our suggested reads for this summer...I'm sure some of you remember, LOL! Next week, I'll be adding her thoughts here, so check back!*

Review: Anna Dressed in Blood

Anna Dressed in Blood

by Kendare Blake

Book Description:

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.

Review:

Suprisingly enough, though horror is not usually my thing, I really enjoyed this book. I'm a huge fan of the TV show, Supernatural, and this book really reminded me of that... creepy, cool ghost hunter vibe.

I loved the way that Cas and his mom and he would travel round, working together, taking care of the supernatural. I thought the athame, inherited from his dad was a really cool relic. The way it ties in later is pretty creepy, too. It was really interesting to then see how Anna differed from the ghosts that Cas usually dealt with...Cas is normally one cool cucumber, but he's met his match in Anna.

I will warn you that this book has some graphically gory scenes. There were spots that I read kind of quickly for fear of lingering and leaving images lodged in my brain that might induce nightmares...but it was really well written and compelling. I had to know what happened to Cas and Anna.

I am super excited to read book two, Girl of Nightmares, as soon as it comes out!

*This was my selection for the January Meeting of our book club, Flippin' Pages. We did horror books this month! Next meeting is Feb. 14th and we'll be talking about our favorite "break-up" books.*