Glimmer by Phoebe Kitanidis

Series: STANDALONE

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Mystery

Subjects: supernatural, ghosts, small towns, memory loss, magic

Setting: Summer Falls, Colorado

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense, rotating between Elyse and Marshall

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 347 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperCollins: Balzer and Bray

Summary/ product description: “When Marshall King and Elyse Alton suddenly wake up tangled in each other's arms with zero memory of how they got there or even who they are, it's the start of a long journey through their separate pasts and shared future.

Terrified by their amnesia, Marshall and Elyse make a pact to work together to find the answers that could restore their missing memories. As they piece together clues about their lives, they discover that they're in the idyllic mountain resort town of Summer Falls. Everyone seems happy there, but as Marshall and Elyse quickly learn, darkness lurks beneath the town's perfect facade. Not only is the town haunted by sinister ghosts, but none of its living inhabitants retain bad memories of anything—not the death of Marshall's mom, not the hidden violence in Elyse's family, not even the day-to-day anguish of being a high schooler.

Lonely in this world of happy zombies, Marshall and Elyse fall into an intense relationship founded on their mutual quest for truth. But the secrets they're trying to uncover could be the death of this budding love affair—and of everyone, and everything, they love in Summer Falls.”

My Review:  I’ve had Glimmer sitting on my shelf waiting to be read for year. It came out in 2013. I bought it because I liked the cover and I love a good mystery with paranormal elements. And nothing says paranormal mystery like amnesia, a strange small town and ghosts.

Glimmer was different from how I expected it. It wasn’t scary or dystopian or full of odd twists. It kept me guessing, and sometimes I was able to predict things correctly, but I liked it when I was surprised. I also really enjoyed the setting. I visited Colorado in 2003 on a family vacation and it was beautiful.

Summer falls is this magical made-up Colorado town in which it’s always balmy summer weather and tourist feel like they’re on a drug when they are there. It sounds great, except anyone who experiences anything negative, like a fight or sadness, suddenly passes out in a “heat nap” caused by ghosts. Only Elyse can see the ghosts are causing it.

I also enjoy stories about memory loss. It’s always interesting to see character deal with the present without knowing their pasts. Elyse and Marshall don’t even know their names when the wake up, but since their names are already in the book’s description, it’s not read a spoiler. They wake up in bed with each other, naked. They don’t know how they got there. Elyse think’s she was kidnapped, that Marshall drugged her. It’s a real mess and they find clothes and leave out the window. And soon after Elyse sees a ghost.

I really did enjoy the characters. They didn’t like it when they found out about their pasts. Things didn’t fit to them. But their personalities were pretty interesting. Elyse was stubborn and strong willed, but also honest. She didn’t like how everyone noticed her. She used to be popular apparently. Marshall had a strong ego, but everyone seemed to treat him like he was invisible. Everyone else in Summer Falls suffered from selective memory loss, and acted like happy zombies or pod people.

I recommend this book to those who enjoyed the Shadowlands series by Kate Brian, Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton, or books with ghosts or people with memory loss.

Cover Art Review: Pretty colors and I like the effect on the type, but I realize now that this it generic and kind of boring for a cover actually.

Behold the Bones by Natalie C. Parker

Series: Beware the Wild (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Southern Gothic

Subjects: swamps, folklore, supernatural, mystery, ghosts, spirits, ghost hunters

Setting: Sticks, Louisiana (A town near a swamp/Bayou)

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, present tense: Candy (Candace) Craven Pickens

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 356 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Candace “Candy” Pickens has been obsessed with the swamp lore of her tiny Louisiana town for…forever.

That doesn’t mean Candy’s a believer, however. She and her friends entered the swamp at the start of summer and left it changed, but Candy’s the only one who can’t see or feel the magical Shine. She’s also the only one who can’t see the ghosts that have been appearing in town ever since. So Candy concentrates on other things—real things. Like fighting with her mother and plotting her escape from her crazy town.

But ghosts aren’t the only newcomers in Sticks, Louisiana. The King family arrives like a hurricane: in a blur and unwanted—at least by Candy. Mr. King is intent on filming the rumored ghostly activity for his hit TV show, Local Haunts. And while Candy can’t ignore how attracted she is to eighteen-year-old Gage King and how much his sister, Nova, wants to be friends, she’s still suspicious of the family.

As Candy tries to figure out why the Kings are really in town and why the swamp now seems to be invading every crack in her logical, cynical mind, she stumbles across the one piece of swamp lore she didn’t know. It’s a tale that’s more truth than myth, and may have all the answers…and its roots are in Candy’s own family tree.”

My Review: Behold the Bones is a companion novel to Beware the Wild, which was told in Sterling POV. This book is from the POV of Sterling’s skeptic friend, Candy Pickens. It’s set in the small town of Sticks in the Louisiana bayou. Candy, unlike most of the town, can’t see the wasting Shine. Sterling says that the Shine actually goes out of its way to avoid Candy. Candy also can’t see the ghost that other folk are seeing.

Candy is scientifically minded and very much a skeptic of the southern superstitions. She sees the swamp stories that she’s read and herd as a fun thrills used for manipulation. Until people in Sticks report ghost siting’s that sound like the ones from the stories. Candy feels left out because she can’t see the ghost. Sterling, Abigail and Candy trek into the swamp to the Shine tree and try performing a ritual that Candy hope will let her see the Shine. Nothing seems to happen.

A few days later the producer and star of the hit TV show, Local Haunts, Mr. Roosevelt King moves into the Lillard house historical site and they renovate it. Sticks is now in the spotlight. Mr. King hopes to film his show there and find answers to what’s happening. Candy meets his children: Gage, an attractive 18-year-old guy, Nova, his sister who’s in Candy’s grade, and their kid brother Thad. 

Candy  (and the whole town) goes to a gala for Gage’s 18^th birthday. A ghost crashes the party and it’s the first ghost Candy’s ever truly sited. She touches the ghost and the ghost disappears and now the whole town thinks she’s got a superpower for banishing ghosts. It’s caught on camera and Mr. King wants it for his show and Candy believe that this will ruin her life. Candy wants out of Sticks and she doesn’t want any country baggage following her.

Natalie C. Parker really knows how to write a southern story full of creepy atmosphere. I’ve never been to the South before (unless Kentucky counts), but her books make you feel like you’re there. Since the book is set in late summer, you can imagine the sticky heat and stick that the swamp must bring. Sometimes in summer, it feels like that here in Illinois too (we have lots of mashes and it gets very humid). The swamp becomes like a character in itself. The Shine is some kind of magic that lives in the swamp and comes from a cherry tree that’s always in bloom.

Candy’s perspective is actually more interesting than I remember Sterling’s being. Sterling described by Candy actually seems a lot more peppy and sweet than I remember, possibly because she got together with Heath, and also she’s got her brother back. Abigail is very quiet and she’s African American and like girls. I forgot about her in the first book. Anyways, these three girls and a great bond of friendship. Sometimes things become strained. Candy’s sometimes to bold, and Sterling is like the glue and Abigail tends to be bottled up. They make friends with Nova King because she seems nice, but she may actually just want their help and information.

These books are really enjoyable and fun. If you enjoyed paranormal stories set in the south, like Beautiful Creature, The Magnolia League, Ghost Huntress, or TV shows like the Originals, you may enjoy this. Also, if you love anything related to New Orleans or Louisiana, swamps and gators. Even horror stories not set in the south, like the Creeping.

Cover Art Review: I love the colors of this cover. The Payne’s gray-blue and magenta contrast really well. There’s a face in the fog above Behold with eyes made of branches. The title treatment is cool and creepy.

Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers

Series: Assassin’s Heart (bk. 1)

Genera(s): High Fantasy/Romance

Subjects: assassins, murder, revenge, adventure, gods and goddesses, love, supernatural, ghosts, spirits

Setting: The kingdom of Lovero

POV/Tense: 1^st person, past tense: Lea (Oleander) Saldana

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 420 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover 

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.

Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.

With shades of The Godfather and Romeo and Juliet, this richly imagined fantasy from debut author Sarah Ahiers is a story of love, lies, and the ultimate vengeance.”

My Review:  I had no idea what to expect with this book. When I first saw it coming out, I didn’t think it would be my kind of fantasy. The cover was kind of interesting. Then I read the description. I was a bit more intrigued. I tried reading it and I was pulled in. This is a really awesome unique fantasy story.

There are assassins, Families, ghosts and gods. Lea’s a Saldana and bear a mask that’s half bone white and half black with a design, like the rest of her Family. She has dirty blond hair and brown eye and she’s a Clipper, an assassin who takes jobs to murder in the name of the goddess Safraella. Lea is romantically involved with a rival Family member, Val Da Via, who’s blonde, sexy and arrogant. This forbidden romance between rival families has the influence of the play Romeo and Juliet.

Lea’s Family is killed in a fire set by the Da Vias and she’s the last Saldana left. Lea wants revenge and meets with the king, who’s a friend of her now dead father. He gives her the location of her only living relative, her uncle. Lea travels to another country full of canals and angry ghosts that haunt the night. There she meets dark-haired Alessio (Les). He’s a wannabe Clipper. She agrees to train him in exchange for his help in making a fire-bomb.

A romance develop between them. I really liked Alessio. I know rightaway her was going to be important, even before we know his name. Just based off the way he was described in the market. He’s funny and sweet. Lea’s a badass and trains him. It made me think of Wren and Callum from Reboot, or other relationships from YA books. I enjoy the humor and banter between them. The ending was pretty good. I found out there’s a sequel that possibly a companion. I’m guessing it’s from another character, maybe in the future (Allegra maybe…)

I recommend this to fans of Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, The Young Elites or Legend by Marie Lu, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Page, The Jewel by Amy Ewing, Defiance by C.J. Redwine, Snow Like Ashes by Sarah Raasch, and Shadow and Bone by Leugh Bardugo.

Cover Art Review: This cover put me off because I didn’t understand it. Now I read the book and know that’s the holy coin of the Saldanas and not some strange medallion. I like the velvet texture of the paper.