Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

Series: Standalone

Genera(s): Paranormal/Horror

Subjects: monsters, supernatural, revenants, mystery, death, murderers, magic

Setting: Nebraska, Wyoming and Boulder, Colorado, Chicago, Illinois

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Breezy Lin

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 358 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegen

Summary/ product description: “Breezy remembers leaving the party: the warm, wet grass under her feet, her cheek still stinging from a slap to her face. But when she wakes up, scared and pulling dirt from her mouth, a year has passed and she can’t explain how.

Nor can she explain the man lying at her grave, dead from her touch, or why her heartbeat comes and goes. She doesn’t remember who killed her or why. All she knows is that she’s somehow conscious—and not only that, she’s able to sense who around her is hiding a murderous past.

Haunted by happy memories from her life, Breezy sets out to find answers in the gritty, threatening world to which she now belongs—where killers hide in plain sight, and a sinister cult is hunting for strange creatures like her. What she discovers is at once empowering, redemptive, and dangerous.”

My Review: I had no idea what to expect from this book. I went in kind of blindly. I only read this because the supernatural elements. It had this broody atmospheric feeling from the start, when Breezy’s at a gas station in Nebraska and there’s summer storm in the distance. She can sense killers. They have a dark aura. Some young guy named Danny tells her about a church that could help her. She thinks that he think’s she a drug addict and homeless.

Breezy hitches a ride with an older guy that’s definitely a murderer. She knowingly enters a car with a murderer, which is dumb, unless you can heal really fast and not die. Breezy was dead for a year and returned with these abilities. And also, she can pull the memories out of the murders she finds, rendering them in a coma or dead. Breezy ditches the murderer and takes to the road by skateboard in search of this church. Since she doesn’t have to eat of sleep, she’s got plenty of time and energy.

The church turns out to be a cover for some anti-monster folks trying to cure the monsters of their afflictions. They say Breezy is unnatural and she ends up in a room with blood on the wall and another girl named rain who’s some kind of a monster. Breezy is able to get some answers from her, but Breezy still doesn’t know what she became when she rose from the dead. Answers don’t come until later.

Shallow Grave is pretty intriquing and unique, but it’s not the most exciting paranormal story. I enjoyed this interesting setting and some of the humor. I think Breezy’s scientific curiosity and love of astronomy is pretty awesome. She turn “ways I can’t die” into a morbid experiment. Breezy also mixed racial, half-Chinese, half-Irish and has 2 sisters named Sunny and Meadow. Interesting name choices.

There is mystery, but it’s not delivered in the best way. There’s no anticipation and not much build up. This book is only a standalone. I recommend this to fans of book like the Outliers, the Soul Screamers series, and other book with dark mysteries or monsters.

Cover Art Review: I like the watercolor texture of the sky and the creepy underground roots. It’s a simple and creepy brooding cover.

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

Series: Standalone

Genera(s): Paranormal/Horror

Subjects: supernatural, ghosts, spirits, death, afterlife, hauntings, asylums

Setting: An ex-Asylum in Pennsylvania

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Delia

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 329 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: Scholastic: Point

Summary/ product description: “In this asylum, your mind plays tricks on you all the time…

Delia’s new house isn’t just a house. Long ago, it was the Piven Institute for the Care and Correction of Troubled Females—an insane asylum nicknamed “Hysteria Hall.” However, many of the inmates were not insane, just defiant and strong willed. Kind of like Delia herself.

But the house still wants to keep “troubled” girls locked away. So, in the most horrifying way, Delia gets trapped.

And that’s when she learns that the house is also haunted.

Ghost girls wander the halls in their old-fashioned nightgowns. A handsome ghost boy named Theo roams the grounds. Delia finds that all the spirits are unsettled and full of dark secrets. The house, as well, harbors shocking truths within its walls—truths that only Delia can uncover, and that may set her free.

But she’ll need to act quickly, before the house’s power overtakes everything she loves.

From master of suspense Katie Alender comes a riveting tale of twisted memories and betrayals, and the meaning of madness.”

My Review: I was surprised by this book. I’ve been having a hard time making time to read over the past few weeks and this is the first book that I’ve finished this fast in months. I’ve only read one other book by this author, Bad Girls Don’t Die. This is similar and different. That book was about possession, and this one is about the afterlife.

Delia and her family go to the home of her great-aunt Cordelia, which turns out to be an ex-asylum for trouble girls. This place is haunted. And very soon in the story something causes Delia to jump out a window and kill herself. Delia become a ghost, trapped on the property, forced to live out her afterlife in the last place she’d want to be.

I’ve read a few books in which the main character is a ghost. This one a kind of interesting take. There’s weird time jumps and freezes. Time becomes unpredictable for Delia and she ends up staring out a window for about two year, frozen. Four years after her death is when things get really interesting and she sees her sister as a teen. Delia’s sister Janie has been deeply affected by Delia’s death and want to contact Delia’s spirit.

Delia’s met the other ghost girls of Hysteria Hall. Florence, Eliza and Maria, and a few others. Eliza’s British and Florence is from the south. Maria’s very strange and wears a sheet like a ghost costume. There’s Theo, the dead boy on the ground who’s never entered the house and also become a love interest to Delia.

This book is very fun, creepy, light and fast. It’s a standalone. I definitely recommend it. I recommend this to those who enjoyed: Asylum by Madeleine Roux, Ashes to Ashes by Melissa Walker, Hereafter by Tara Hudson, Anna Dresses in Blood by Kendare Blake, Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, and Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke.

Cover Art Review: The cover is sparkly opalline paper. It’s creepy, ghostly. It fits the book.

The Tattooed Heart by Michael Grant

Series: Messenger of Fear (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal/Horror

Subjects: supernatural, good vs. evil, apprentices, games, death, fear, bullying

Setting: Various places, including Iowa and Nashville, TN

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, past tense: Mara

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 389 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Tegan

Summary/ product description: “Mara has already witnessed more evil as the Messenger’s apprentice than most people do in their lifetime, but the games continue.

The Messenger leads Mara to the funeral of a Muslim boy named Aimal, who died standing up for his people, and then to an abandoned store, where they discover Graciella, a girl battling addiction. The all-knowing Messenger recognizes that they are victims of heinous crimes. Mara and Messenger will find the wicked—those who act out of selfishness and greed, and others who become violent because of prejudice and hate.

But Mara and Messenger pay a price too. For every person who is offered justice, they will wear a tattoo that symbolizes the heart of the crime. And as Mara delves deeper into her harsh reality, she is suprirsed to realize that part of her is drawn to the sometimes compassionate Messenger. In spite of all the terror she and Messenger inflict, Mara will discover that caring in this world is the hardest part of all.

The second book in New York Times bestselling author Michael Grant’s Messenger of Fear series, The Tattooed Heart combines fantasy with real-world horror stories to create a satisfying conclusion.”

My Review:  The Tattooed Heart is the sequel to The Messenger of Fear. Mara is still the Messenger’s apprentice. She’s viewing people’s lives, finding the ones who are causing pain and punishing them. There’s a racist jerk that is mean to a Muslim girl and there’s people who screwed over a girl who writes country song and made her become a drug addict. The Messenger of Fear’s purpose is to punish those who spread hate and cause pain and get away with it.

This series has been quite unique. The Messenger is kind of like an angel or the Ghost of Christmas Past & Future in a way. He’s not the only Messenger. There’s a lot of them and they take on apprentices. He’s very mysterious and doesn’t talk about his past except the girl named Ariadne who he loved and hurt. Mara is attracted to him, but there isn’t much romance. They don’t fall in love because Ariadne had his heart.

I really enjoyed the country music drama part. It made me think of the show Nashville on ABC. Graciella is kind of like Scarlet O’Conner and gets screw over selling her songs to a singer named Nicolet, who’s like Juliet Barnes and her manager who’s like Jeff Fordam. Then Graciella ends up as a hooker and does drugs. That’s awful.

This series is really Grant’s way of trying to say that bullying and racism are bad. It’s got a great message and it’s also very dark and fantastical. This story was longer than the previous book and still felt like it was lacking some substance. I enjoyed it. It wasn’t hard or boring, but something felt missing and I guess that’s the romance. We did get to see some demons though. I’m excited for the final book. The description misled me to believe that this was the final book, but I’m glad it’s not. I want to see Mara become a Messenger herself.

Cover Art Review: Reminds me of the Grisha Trilogy cover, but different artist.

Dust to Dust by Melissa Walker

Series: Ashes Duology (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance

Subjects: supernatural, death, ghosts, afterlife, hauntings, love

Setting: Charleston, South Carolina

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, present tense, Callie

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 310 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Teagan

Summary/ product description: “Perfect for fans of If I Stay or Imaginary Girls, Dust to Dust is the mysterious, thoughtful, and poignant sequel to Melissa Walker's haunting and heartbreaking novel Ashes to Ashes.

When Callie McPhee miraculously recovers from a tragic accident that should have taken her life, she thought her connection to the ghost world would be severed forever. And that she would never see Thatcher—the ghost she fell in love with in the hereafter—again. But when she receives unexpected signs from Thatcher, she's led down a dark road toward the angry souls who once tried to steal her soul's energy for another chance at life.

Now Callie must prevent the real world and the spirit world from colliding, and that could mean saying good-bye to people she'd never imagined she'd lose.”

My Review:  Dust to Dust is the sequel to Ashes to Ashes and also the finale. It’s very different from the previous book, which was set in the afterlife called the Prism. Here we have the real-world setting of Charleston, South Carolina. We get to see more of Callie’s friends and school-life. We also get paranormal stuff like ghosts and poltergeists just like the previous book, but now Callie’s not one of there. She’s awake and alive, no longer in a coma.

I did enjoy the characters in this book. The story was character driven, but had a solid plot. We get a lot more of Carson, Callie’s best friend. Carson is very relatable and also obsessed with paranormal stuff and watched ghost hunting shows and supernatural TV and movies. She wants Callie to spill her experience and Callie gives in and Carson is super enthusiast about Callie getting her story out there. Callie rather keep it private.

There’s also Nick, Callie’s boyfriend who not really in love with her anymore. Thatcher who’s a spirit guide and the love interest of the previous book. Callie is still in love with him, but she can’t really interact with him outside of dreams. Dylan, a new character that has a crush on Carson, is kind of a bookish hipster who’s family owns a paranormal book store. He’s always quoting famous people.

This story is very fun a reminiscent of other paranormal stories I’ve read in the past. It’s not cliché but it’s like other ghost books I’ve read that include possessions or the afterlife. Like the Ghost Huntress series, or Hereafter by Tara Hudson. It’s got a lighter tone. Nothing too scary or dark. It’s romance and friendship and hard choices. It’s sometime bitter sweet. I also love the southern setting. Beautiful Creatures was the only other series that really gave me a taste of South Carolina. I actually have a cousin who moved there a while back, but I’ve never been father south the Kentucky. I’d recommend this series to those who want to read a really unique ghost story.

Cover Art Review: Looks like a Shadow Falls novel cover. Not very unique, but it sets a mood. I like the warm tones of orange and pink.