Possession or Obsession?

A small, cold town in Maine. A creepy entity that has haunted the town for decades, despite the fact the townspeople refuse to acknowledge its existence. Carrie Jones and Steven E. Wedel transform a sleepy little town into a complete nightmare in After Obsession.

Aimee's town has suffered sea tragedies before with such a big fishing industry, but the most recent tragedy took her best friend Courtney's father. While they haven't found the fisherman, it is assumed they are lost, to everyone but Courtney. In danger of losing their house, Courtney's aunt and cousin Alan move from the midwest to help them stay on their feet. The tragedy is hard to deal with, but when the rest of town starts to act strange, the loss of the fishermen becomes the last thing on everyone's mind.

People start to act irrational and violent with little to no cause. Alan uses his Native American background to cleanse the house he shares with Courtney, but when she becomes moody, violent, and breaks out in seeping "acne", he suspects something is seriously wrong. Aimee, having lost her mother to mental instability, is worried her suspicions are symptoms of her own insanity. What they realize when they come together, though, is that the current events and past events in the town are no coincidence. Something is rotten in the state of Maine.

I went back and forth about this book before reading it, but I am glad I did. It was a really interesting stand-alone ghost story full if icky, creepy factors and mystery. I really loved Alan's character, who related to his Native American father despite never knowing him. I liked that his heritage was so important to him despite never being handed down to him. He researched his tribe, knew about their ceremonies and customs, and practiced on his own. It was a really interesting new type of character I had not seen before in YA. Sure he was swoon-worthy as well, but this inner conviction in Alan was really inspiring. It also brought this idea of the "modern Indian" out there in a way people haven't really seen before. I was glad the author's took Alan down this road. 

The story itself is a medium kind of creeper with looming mystery and possession. Courtney's symptoms are gross and scary at times, but don't expect "The Exorcism". This would make a good upper middle reader through young adult book for those kids who are a little more mature than their age, but not ready for some heavy horror stories. I really enjoyed the story, and would like to see these author's team up again!

Soul Sharing

Do you believe in ghosts? Are they good ghosts, stuck to earth by unfinished business, or are they mean ghosts, there to haunt and hurt people? Do you believe people can talk to ghosts? In Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey, Lenzi reluctantly realizes she "can see dead people". 


Lenzi hears voices and is terrified she is going to end up like her father who committed suicide as a result of his schizophrenia. She avoids the voices, but they grow more and more persistent. When a strange young man named Alden arrives and claims he is her Protector and she is a Speaker, she thinks he might be crazy too... until he helps her realizes the voices aren't in her head, they are ghosts who need help resolving issues before moving on. But allowing Alden to help her requires something Lenzi might not be ready for: trust.


In order for Alden to help Lenzi, he has to take his own soul out of his body and put it into hers to remove the Hindered soul that used her body as a vessel. But Lenzi is barely tolerating the fact that she might be a Speaker without having to share her body with other souls. Then she learns that she and Alden have been reincarnated generation after generation and always emerge again with all their memories in tact in order to continue the job easily, but Lenzi's memories are gone and the IC (strange, controlling, government-like board that oversees Protectors and Speakers) claims to have no knowledge of such a thing. But their generational history isn't the only thing Alden has kept from Lenzi. Will she learn the truth before its too late?


So, I really enjoyed the whole Speaker/Protector aspect of this book. I had a few icky moments involved in the soul sharing thing (not a pleasant experience for the Speaker as the new soul enters and exits), but I got over it. But there were a few things I wasn't overly fond of. First, the IC was mostly a horrible, relentless, heartless group that controlled the Speakers and Protectors with little concern for the fact that they were actual people. That bugged me. Then there was Lenzi's dad. It seemed like his hearing voices was going to be a huge part of the story at first, tied to her own voices, but then the resolution went something like: "Nevermind. He was just crazy. But you aren't Lenzi, so forget about mental illness and your father." It was so important one moment then disgracefully ignored the next! I think if you are going to introduce an important element like that, you have to at least give it a solid resolution.


As for characters, I liked Lenzi, but Alden seemed a little wishy washy for me. He was so concerned with Protecting Lenzi, he wouldn't even think of doing anything the IC wouldn't approve of. He was a real "by the books" kind of guy. She was clearly expressing an interest in him that was beyond just business, but he wouldn't hear of it. I think showing a little more interest and desire on his part would have invested my interest in the two of them as an item. But still, I did like them together. And this is yet another novel where you will most likely love the supporting characters more than the main characters. Why can't we have leading characters who are funny, snarky, witty, and harmless pranksters? Why do the main characters pull the broody weight while the supporting characters get to have all the fun? All in all, this is an interesting book that has a new take on souls moving on and the help they need. Not the best, but more than mediocre. I enjoyed it, but there could have been more!

What's With All This Bloody Magic?!

Blood is considered powerful, the life source, embodiment of the human soul... magical even. So when a book emerges with blood as the source of magic, we are intrigued, but not terribly surprised by the connection. Tessa Gratton's novel Blood Magic delves into the world of magic, handed down through the generations, curses and all.

Silla is the girl everyone avoids. Especially now. Her parents are dead, her father was ruled to have killed her mother and then himself, and Silla is the one who found them. Then her brother found her, kneeling in their blood and in shock. Now she and her brother Reece live with their grandmother, but life is far from normal. In school, the more mild mannered kids just assume she has been driven crazy from her parents' deaths, but the more mean spirited kids assume she is just as dangerous and murderous as her father.

Nicholas was dragged to this small town from his life in Chicago by his evil stepmother Lilith (actually her name is Mary but he prefers the nickname of the woman who created all monsters- terribly fitting!). He is dreading his new life, but from the moment he sees Silla, he can't think of anything but being with her. When he finds out Silla and Reece have stumbled upon a family legacy- Magic- he begins to realize magic is entwined into his own life from the mother who tried to commit suicide then abandoned him as a child. When they find out Nicholas' mother and Silla's father knew one another, they know there is some connection, but they aren't sure what it is. What they aren't expecting is a centuries old witch who has cheating death and time and wants something Reece, Silla, and Nicholas have- their magic. Can they protect all they have left from their parents from the witch? Can they get to the bottom of who their parents really were?

With supernatural books in abundance these days, it is hard to find one that stands out from the pack. While I am not saying this is the best supernatural book ever written, it did indeed catch my attention. I really liked the characters and their weird intertwined relationships with one another. The combined story lines had me guessing as to the connection right up until the time Gratton delivered the real story. That guessing game is the root of the suspense we all want in this kind of story. While I had figured out a few things along the way, I wasn't expecting the final verdict. The characters were also very interesting in and of themselves. They had flaws, inner demons, and loss like no one their age should feel. At times I felt the loss of Silla's parents was handled very well, but Nicholas' mother's disappearance was glossed over. This was the one glaring flaw in my mind. At one point, Silla even mentions his mother and he says something along the lines of "forget her, she is gone, its over" even though she is alive and out there in the world. It seemed odd to me to pay such close attention to one family and gloss over the other family, especially since they were connected in the end.

This book would be appropriate for most junior to senior high school students. There is a lot of bloody gore throughout the story, but it isn't overdone in comparison to the darkness of the story. An aspect of the book that annoyed me a little was the sexual tension and relationship between Silla and Nicholas. Everything happens so fast, yet they cannot break themselves apart from one another. It seemed too forced, too fabricated. I suppose you could use the magic to explain it, but I felt it directly clashed with the time line of the story. There were also long drawn out make-out scenes that were unnecessary compared to the purpose of the story. They didn't go very far, but it left me thinking, "Enough already! Where is the evil witch so we can kick her butt?!" But overall, this was a pretty good story. It will appeal to those supernatural junkies who need magic and spells and hocus pocus in their lives!