The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved Louise Erdrich's narration of this story that takes place between All Souls' Day 2019 and ends on All Souls' Day 2020 with Tookie, a once lesbian Native woman, incarcerated for stealing a dead body with cocaine on it. But this book deals with so much MORE and all of it was so tantalizingly good, I loved this story so much---mystery, humor, ghosts, the supernatural and most important a bookstore and many many great titles recommended for readers!!!


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Ghostlight by Kenneth Oppel

Ghostlight by Kenneth Oppel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my 1st Kenneth Oppel middle grade novel and it is just the beginning!!! I will be go back and read all his other books! The suspense, thrilling plot, and awesome characters sucked me in; and the ghosts were both GOOD and EVIL! Gabe's summer job telling about the ghosts in the Gibraltar Light House can get boring so he embellishes the story of Rebecca Strand and her father the lightkeeper. What it does is bring the ghost of Rebecca to Gabe and what she tells him about her "death" changes things. Gabe and his friends, Yuri and Callie, race to help Sara, while evil ghost Viker is on a rampage to consume all the ghosts he cane, getting stronger and closer to his evil plans for humans! Highly recommended, I could not put this book down, neither will you!

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Me (Moth) by Amber McBride

Me by Amber McBride
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This YA debut by Amber McBride took me totally by surprise; Moth is so alone after losing her family in a car accident, living with an aunt and going to school feeling lonely and invisible until one day in school, she meets Sani. McBride's descriptions of Sani from Moth's POV were just so beautiful and gripping. How they find each other and becomes friends is a must read for all and oh that ending!

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Paola Santiago and the River of Tears (Rick Riordan Presents) by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With a rip roaring introduction by Rick Riordan, this 1st book in Rick Riordan Presents by Tehlor Kay Mejia was nonstop tension, adventure, ghosts and friendship as Paoala and her two friends, Dante and Emma, become involved in a mystery of missing children. But this is so far out of Pao's world because she is a scientist believing in facts but what this mystery involves is so out of reality---but involves sinister forces, evil gods and goddesses. These are what her mother has believed in since Pao's childhood with her scary tales of La Lorona, who lures children into the river. I held my breath with all the awesome Latinx food, culture, religion, and beliefs author Tehlor Kay Mejia weaves seamlessly and suspensefully in this first book about a fierce protagonist and her 12 year old nightmares, insecurities and friendship woes. A must read!!! Highly recommended!

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Beetle & the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

Beetle & the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a great graphic novel; appealing to children, middle grade and YA! Beetle is best friends with a ghost imprisoned at a mall. She lives with her grandmother who practices goblin magic and is her home school teacher, kind, honest, motherly and nice. When an old childhood friend, Kat, returns to Hollowbones, she is now an apprentice to her scary aunt. As Kat and Beetle rekindle their friendship, forces are at work to tear down the mall where her ghost friend is and create havoc with the old friends. This graphic novel has it all witches, magic, horror, ghosts, zombies, in a colorful backdrop with suspense, humor and friendship. Highly recommended, all readers will enjoy this graphic novel!

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The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to my reader/librarian friend, Nancy Summers for recommending this new series from Maureen Johnson! It will also be part of my #YearofYA reading for October--anything that leaves you with goosebumps and this Jack the Ripper copycat thriller did just that!!! Come join us for a discussion of creepy YA titles Thursday 10/24 @8pm EST for a delightful twitter chat with #YearofYA. Rory is a teen from Louisiana spending a year at the London Boarding School Wexford. It is there that she begins to make friends, choke and almost die and begins seeing ghosts!!! Maureen Johnson's writing was sizzling, perfect, and scary as a Jack the Ripper copycat begins murdering again in and around her school. As Rory falls into life at her school, she also unknowingly sees the real murderer; but why didn't her roommate see him? Enter the police and also "secret police" investigating the current murders. I could not put down this book; can't wait to read the 2nd book and find out what happens with Jazza, Jerome, Stephen, Callum and Boo. Even more delicious was the Oh My Gosh ending!!! You have to read it, it is creepy, scary and I could not put it down. Teens will love Rory and her fierce personality.

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Tunnel of Bones (Cassidy Blake, #2) by Victoria Schwab

Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh did I LOVE this 2nd book in the Cassidy Blake, ghosthunter series!!! Cassidy along with best friend, ghost Jacob, delves into getting rid of a poltergeist in the Catacombs under the city where millions and millions of bones and ghosts live. I could not stop turning the pages, I can't wait for the 3rd book---I LOVE Victoria Schwab; highly recommended!

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The Agony House by Cherie Priest

The Agony House by Cherie Priest
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just as I loved Cherie Priest's book, I Am Princess X, The Agony House was such a great read-part horror, part mystery, containing graphic novel portions and blue font for texting each other and hearing what the ghosts have to say. Denise, her mom and stepdad, have returned to New Orleans after fleeing during Katrina (losing her father and grandmother) and move into a haunted house Denise renames as Agony House. I just loved the fear Priest writes into this story and the characters. Denise makes new friends who school her in what it is like to still be a native in New Orleans, and Denise's observations of the many shortcomings of this home and their venture to make it a bed n breakfast, endows the reader with the "real" situation of what Denise has walked into - as she explores, listens to the stories about ghosts, and unearths a comic with a kick ass female heroine---readers will not be able to stop turning the pages. I loved the comic book - Lucida Might Denise finds and as it raises lots of questions, Denise and her friends search for clues, answers, anything to explain why this house has become hazardous---is someone trying to scare them away, tell them something? Teens will love the blending of novel and comics, Priest is the queen of this format, I want more!!!

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City of Ghosts (Cassidy Blake, #1) by Victoria Schwab

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just continue to fall more and more in love with Victoria Schwab (& pseudonym V.E. Schwab) books!!! I read this book as part of the #yearofYA twitter chat on Middle Grade Books taking place 10/6 at 8PM EST, please join us!!! Cassidy Blake died and was brought back by a ghost who becomes her best friend, Jacob. As she navigates her "new" life, the Veil, her parents who hunt ghosts for a living; she is part and parcel of a new adventure when her parents surprise her with a documentary TV show "The Inspecters" they are hosting that takes them to Edinburgh. I reveled in Cassidy, her joys and fears, her hauntings were riveting, and I can't wait to join her continued adventures (hopefully Lara will follow her) with Jacob as she is dragged to a new TV ghost location in Book 2!!! Highly recommended!

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My Plain Jane (The Lady Janies #2) by Cynthia Hand

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh did I love this 2nd book & listened to the audiobook in The Lady Janies series! Narrators, Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows continue to thrill in this series that is laugh out loud, mysterious, and ghostly!!! Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre are friends in an orphanage where they do not get enough to eat, are cold all the time and many are dying from the "disease" and reprehensible Mr Brocklehurst makes life hell until he is poisoned, but his ghost is still around to taunt them. The mystery surrounding broody Mr. Rochester is resolved and Charlotte & her interest in becoming a member of Society for the Relocation of Wayward Spirits is fun and Jane's friend, Helen (who is a ghost) brought a lot of humor and drama to Jane's predicament! I loved this new take on Jane Eyre, there was so much to be thrilled with-ghosts, friendship, the Victorian Age, and lastly a jolly, rollicking good read and listen!!!

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Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a 5 star book for me until the last 2 1/2 pages. The book was beautiful in its world building (Lazlo's time with the monks, Weep in Lazlo's mind and the real Weep), characters (Hated Minya, loved Lazlo and Sarai and so many more) and the magic, fantasy, gods, and ghosts. Now back to my 3 star rating...this book was tantalizing (some in a good way but also some in a bad way) and since Lazlo's life was tough but as a dreamer he always searched for the good in everything...hence the ending completely undid me and since the story was steeped in the darkness of the Godslayer and the daily world of the blue gods and goddesses and Lazlo's early life, there were quite a few ways to make the ending more redemptive than it was. Especially when you wait for another book in the series, it is nice to have a cliff hanger with a positive spin. The characters and the readers did not deserve this ending, I know it says "to be continued" but I will be waiting in dread and it would have been nice to tweek the ending just a little to have me waiting with a smile on my face. Those of you who know me as a reader and reviewer, I rate most books 4 & 5 so when I have to give a book a 3, it really hurts me, just like this ending did. I hope Laini Taylor can give a better ending to Book 2 and 3 if there will be more in this series. Again I loved the story, the characters, just would have liked a better ending (it could have been easily written that way, for Lazlo, Sarai and the reader).

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Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier

Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Justine Larbalstier's book of 1920's Australia, ghosts, and a girl who can see and talk to ghosts is a rip roaring good read. Kelpie is a strong female protagonist who has lived on her own since she was young. But she stumbles into a murder and meets Dymphyna who can also see and talk to ghosts. For a look at the fictional town of Razorhurst and the likes of Kelpie and Dymphyna, struggling to survive in a community where mobsters vie for tenuous control; the reader will go on a one of a kind reading adventure and not be disappointed. I love the characters, the plot and setting---all so good. Join the twitter chat with #readyalit 8/2 at 8pm CST!

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Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for the ARC, Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray, second book in The Diviners Series and oh was it awesome and heart-pounding! I could not put it down. Once again the reader is ensconced in the 1920s world where Evie O’Neill has become a hit radio personality as a Diviner. But all is not well in New York as an unknown sleeping sickness is claiming more and more victims. Evie and her Diviner friends are pulled into an increasing storm involving underground railroad tunnels, ghosts, and dreams. What I loved about this book was the increasing suspense as more and more Diviners join to thwart the demons. Are the Diviners the only ones who can do something about the evil, hungry ghosts lurking in the tunnels? If you enjoy paranormal phenomena, this book is a thriller; suspenseful, and horror-filled with a spine-tingling plot and well-developed characters that do not disappoint!

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