Alender, Katie. Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer.

Alender, Katie.  Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer.  Scholastic Press/Point     2013  292p  $18.99  ISBN 978-0-545-46809-1  ms/hs  Supernatural  VG-BN   

Colette Iselin goes on a class trip to Paris.  While there she discovers her family is tied to the betrayal of Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution. She enjoys the sights of Paris and a little romance with the tour guide, and she researches her family connections while evading the ghost of the dead queen.

Hannah and Pilar are part of the popular crowd that Colette is desperately courting while shunning Audrey.  The importance of friendship and honesty becomes important to all of the girls during the trip.

Paris is the city of love. Personal connections get slightly crossed when Armand decides to set his sights on Colette, while Hannah has staked her claim and purports to love him.  Then Colette decides that she favors Jules, their tour leader. The tension is palpable in the bedroom the three girls share.
    

Paris is well known for its history.  However, it seems that one former resident, Marie Antoinette, was not happy with the aristocrats who deserted her during the French Revolution.  When the city opens up her grave to secure her bones, her ghost decides to get even.  Thus begins a series of beheadings of dependents whose families were members of the Order of the Key.           

Summary: Colette Iselin goes on a class trip to Paris.  While there she discovers her family is tied to the betrayal of Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution. She enjoys the sights of Paris and a little romance with the tour guide while she researches her family connections and tries to evade the ghost of the dead queen.

French Revolution-Fiction, Romance-Fiction, Supernatural fiction

--Linda McNeil

Toffler-Corrie, Laura. My Totally Awkward Supernatural Crush.

Toffler-Corrie, Laura.  My Totally Awkward Supernatural Crush.  Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press  2013  342p  $17.99  ISBN 978-1-59643-733-3  ms/jr  Supernatural  E-BN   

On her birthday Jenna did not get what she wanted. Instead, she ends up at this fast food place that is decorated cowboy style, with peanut shells on the ground.  As a gift from her parents she gets the ugliest large, round silver pendant with hieroglyphic writing around the disc.  Her disappointment is not noted, however, before she looks up from the table and sees the boy who saved her last night when she was on the roof trying to save David, the boy she was babysitting.  The surprise on her face alerts her family that something is up with Jenna as she stares at the waiter, whose name is Luke.

 
Luke happens to be a new kid at her middle school who can sing like an angel.  When the try-out for Fiddler on the Roof is announced, Jenna, Adam and her friends audition and are chosen.  And it turns out that Luke has not been truthful about who he is and why he is here on Earth.  

This middle-school story is full of laughter, tears and heavenly surprises. David, who is nine years old, is full of mischief and causes all kinds of trouble, but he is also endearing and likable.  Luke is cute and has a story like no other, which is linked to the bad guy Adam.  This heavenly delight of a story is a must-read.   

Summary: Jenna is not sure why she babysits her next door neighbor’s son who is nine.  He is always out to get her, and as expected, he has pulled a fast one on her and she finds herself on the roof of his house trying to get him to safety when all of a sudden she feels herself slip off the roof.  Then the most unexpected thing happens as she feels herself float down to the ground! 

Angels-Fiction, Middle schools-Fiction                            --Magna Diaz

Verday, Jessica. The Beautiful and the Damned.

Verday, Jessica.  The Beautiful and the Damned.  Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse  2013 272p  ISBN 978-1-4424-8835-9  hs/adult      VG    Fantasy    

Cyn is plagued by memories of her boyfriend’s murder, which she thinks she committed.  Her boyfriend’s brother, a former police officer, chases her to New Hampshire where he finds her working in a small cafe.  Cyn finds a protector in Avian who is half angel, half demon. 

Author Jessica Verday’s creativity shines in several areas.  First, her plot is crafted well.  The reader feels the escalation of tension as Cyn struggles to figure out her place in society as an Echo.  Echos have skills in the areas of persuasion and trickery, but in Cyn’s case, they also have liabilities.  She loses herself at times and wakes up in precarious situations with no memory of what happened.  After she discovers her boyfriend’s blood on her hands, she flees.  Seeking revenge and/or justice, Hunter’s brother Declan follows her.  She cannot hide from him.  The conflict escalates as she figures out who he is and why he is pursuing her.  The climax and falling action are like something out of a movie, exciting and action-packed. 

Verday’s next strength lies in her ability to create supernatural characters who seem authentic.  Verday introduces Avian, and whereas he is viciously demonic at times, at others he is warm, as in his relationship with Father John, a man who “adopted” him in Avian’s time of need.  When Father John is killed, Cyn believes, once again, that she is the murderer.  Avian is now part of her life, and their relationship develops as Avian tries to help her figure out who is inhabiting her body during her blackouts. 

Verday’s final area of expertise lies in her appeal.  Readers who don’t necessarily enjoy reading books about demons will be pleasantly surprised by her innovative creations, the Echo and the Revenant.  It might be a stretch for typical readers to imagine a demon with angel wings that can spread and be used as necessary, yet this creature’s definition calls for just that.  This book is an enjoyable read all around. 

Summary: Cyn is plagued by memories of her boyfriend’s murder, which she thinks she committed.  Her boyfriend’s brother, a former police officer, chases her to New Hampshire where he finds her working in a small cafe.  Cyn finds a protector in Avian who is half angel, half demon. 

Supernatural-Fiction, Demons-Fiction                  --Martha Squaresky

Johnson, Hal. Immortal Lycanthropes.

Johnson, Hal.  Immortal Lycanthropes.  Houghton Mifflin/Clarion  2012  292p  $16.99 978-0-547-75196-2       Fantasy     VG-BN   

Under-sized thirteen-year-old Myron Horowitz is a boy with an unfortunate name and an even more unfortunate face, which was marred in an accident he cannot remember and which makes him a target for the local bully, but as it turns out, being bullied by larger children is the least of his worries.  After an incident at school, Myron is pursued by violent strangers, rescued by other strangers who tell him that he is an immortal lycanthrope, and then lost by his rescuers before they can determine what form he takes when he is not looking like a human.  With only the faintest clue about what he’s getting into, Myron begins a quest to discover who and what he is. His quest takes him from Pennsylvania to Canada, and all over the North American continent, in the company of others of his kind, some of whom are friendly, while others are hostile, and few are what they seem to be.  From these fellow immortals he learns more about their kind and some useful skills, including wilderness survival, grifting, and dealing with ancient secret societies like the Illuminati and the Rosicrucians.  The story is narrated by a fellow immortal lycanthrope whose other form is a binturong and who cannot resist inserting his own opinions, which he thinks are very clever.  The narrator’s style is reminiscent of Kipling, but his wit is much more vicious, and while both his style and his wit could easily become tiresome, author Hal Johnson has enough sense not to overuse them.  The narrative style will appeal a great deal to teenage readers, and probably make up for the fact that none of the characters is particularly likable, not even Myron.       

Shapeshifting–Fiction, Supernatural–Fiction, Disfigured persons-Fiction                                                       --Bethany Geleskie

Hardy, Melissa. Geomancer’s Compass.

Hardy, Melissa.   Geomancer’s Compass.    Tundra Books      2012  254p  $17.95  978-1-77049-292-9       ms/hs  Supernatural      VG-BN

When Miranda’s grandmother dies, she inherits the “geomancer’s compass”, a mystical device that will aid her in removing the curse that has caused much strife and dysfunction within her family.  Through this device and its mystical powers, the author examines a Chinese-American family, its familial expectations and its traditional values as it moves forward into the future.  This well-written novel demonstrates that the relationships Miranda develops with her cousin and deceased grandfather allow her to find herself.  In many ways this is a coming-of-age novel with serious, mystical overtones.  The characters are fleshed out and the plot moves quickly.  Teenage girls and boys alike will become engrossed in the mystery, action and fantasy.  This book was a one-sitting read; I couldn’t put it down.           

Magic – Fiction, Fantasy – Fiction                       --Lynn Fisher    

Kotecki, Nathan. The Suburban Strange.

Kotecki, Nathan.  The Suburban Strange.  Houghton Mifflin  349p  $16.99  978-0-547-72996-1        2012  hs  VG-BNS  Mystery/Detective

Celia Balaustine is a new transfer to Suburban High, where she is befriended by a mysterious group of students called the Rosary.  Plentiful references to contemporary music and art are incorporated into Celia’s orientation to the exclusive Rosary group.  As she embarks on a journey of self-discovery and forges new relationships, Celia becomes aware of a supernatural conflict between good and evil -- the Kind and the Unkind.  When her lab partner becomes a fatality as a result of the curse that has been cast on girls who are turning sixteen, Celia must confront the malicious Unkind who are responsible for the girl’s death.

Two elements in this novel will rivet the reader’s attention and compel him or her to read Nathan Kotecki’s debut novel.  The first one is the Rosary; readers will devour the details about what it is like to be an insider in an exclusive coterie that is more clever, more edgy, more attractive, and more sophisticated than any other social group in a school.  The references to music, art, and literature will stretch readers’ horizons as they (inevitably) explore and sample new possibilities that are woven into the story.  Although storytelling would generally have the Rosary dabbling in the supernatural, instead this is a group of cognoscenti teens pushing their intellectual and creative boundaries to the limit.  Readers will also long to find a chic haven like the Diaboliques.  Secondly, every intellectual outcast who has longed for an elite group of sympathetic allies will be drawn into Kotecki’s spell-binding tale of the underground conflict between good and evil.  Even if no supernatural powers were involved, it would appear that most people fall into one category or the other.  Due to the curse affecting girls who are about to turn sixteen, virginity is a recurring topic in The Suburban Strange and the subject is handled deftly.   A same-sex relationship is also no cause for fanfare.

Since the story has an open ending, fans are going to demand to know what happens in Celia’s junior year at Suburban.  Be prepared to buy the sequel, Pull Down the Night.     

     

Supernatural–Fiction, Friendship-Fiction              --Hilary Welliver