The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy

Series: Standalone

Genera(s): Mystery/Horror

Subjects: kidnappings, murder, monsters, amnesia

Setting: Savage, Minnesota

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Stella

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 387 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Simon & Schuster book for young readers

Summary/ product description: “Eleven years ago, Stella and Jeanie disappeared. Stella came back. Jeanie never did.

Now all she wants is a summer full of cove days, friends, and her gorgeous crush—until a fresh corpse leads Stella down a path of ancient evil and secrets.

Stella believes remembering what happened to Jeanie will save her. It won’t.

She used to know better than to believe in what slinks through the shadows. Not anymore.”

My Review: The Creeping is a pretty good horror story. It’s a standalone, so you don’t have to worry about waiting for sequels. It’s about a girl named Stella who was supposedly kidnapped with this other girl named Jeanie when they were six and Stella was the only one to return and she had amnesia. Stella is a pretty interesting narrator. A dead girl who looks like Jeanie is found in the cemetery and this set event into motion. Stella is more determined than ever to recover her memories of what happened when Jeanie was taken.

Stella’s current BFF is Zoey. They’ve been friends since they were kids and Zoey is very popular. Sam was  Stella’s old friend up until middle school. They see each other at a part and Stella tries to avoid the embarrassment of being seen with him because some leechy girls would start nasty rumors. Stella starts to get close to Sam again and romance blooms. I really like Sam. He’s a geek, but a very nice and good looking, even if poorly dressed, one. Also Daniel, Jeanie’s brother, is back in town.

I really liked the setting of this book. It’s set in Savage, Minnesota during summertime. It’s a real place, even though the author changed some stuff about the place. The real Savage, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, has a lot less woods. I checked on Google Earth. 

Blackdog Lake is not a state park, but part of a Wildlife Refuge. There is no cemetery next to in, no houses so close to it and no beach. Prior lake is real too. I’ve never been to Savage, but I’ve visited Minneapolis a few times and the Minneapolis zoo isn’t too far from Savage. I actually when to the zoo the day the bridge collapse happened and we were camping in the Rochester KOA. Unrelated, I know. I just like book with real settings that I’ve been to or near.

This book has twists and turn and lot of dark and creepy moments, but it isn’t super scary. I was kind of disappointed by the lack of ghosts and paranormal stuff. There’s talk of a monster and murderers. It’s closer to a slasher flick like Scream than the Ring. I did remind me of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Genevieve Tucholke, minis the devil stuff. This book is a murder/kidnapping mystery at it’s heart. I enjoyed it and it’s a perfect as a summery horror story or a Halloween tale.

Cover Art Review: The type treatment is interesting. The way the title is woven and layered in the branches. I wish the cover was more creepy though.

Ember & Ashes by T. M. Goeglein

Series: Cold Fury (bk. 3)

Genera: Action-Adventure Thriller/Sci-fi

Subjects: mafia/mob, mystery, missing persons, abilities

Setting: Chicago, Illinois

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Sara Jane Rispoli

Age/Grade Level: Teen 12+

Length: 321 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Penguin: Putnam

Summary/ product description: “Sara Jane Rispoli is on the wrong side of the Russian mob, but closer to finding her family than ever. And she's willing to do whatever it takes to finally end this terrible journey even if the price is her own life.

The very cold fury that has seen her through the worst of her troubles is now killing her; she knows the cure, but she can't sacrifice the deadly electricity until she's rescued her family. But when she finally does rescue them, it's not the happy reunion she pictured. And the torment doesn't stop there, not even when she finally discovers Ultimate Power. Only destroying the Outfit completely can end this terrible nightmare.

Old enemies return to seek vengeance, double-crosses abound, and even more mysteries are uncovered as we rocket toward an end no one saw coming.”

My Review:  Flicker and Burn is the finale to the Cold Fury trilogy. This series is action packed and show cases the city I am closet to: Chicago. This series is unlike any I’ve ever read. It’s a crime thriller, but has a paranormal/sci-fi element.

Sara Jane has an ability called cold fury. She can use it see a person’s deepest fear and make them see it too when she looks in their eye. She can use it to make them do what she tells them (compulsion). She also has electricity in her body because of some enzyme and the gold in her eyes. She can shock people with it, but it also hurts her. The author denied this was paranormal when I asked him. So, I’ll say its sci-fi.

I love the setting so much because I live in Chicagoland. I like picturing places I’m familiar with. There’s a part in the book where Sara Jane and some student take a field trip up to the sky deck on the Sears Tower (or now the Willis Tower). 103 stories up. I’ve never been on any of the sky decks downtown, but I can imagine it’s amazing. The photos I’ve seen are amazing. Also, lots of tunnels, trains and driving on streets in the story. I’ve been on the Blue Line and the Red Line trains only. Going under ground to board a train is kind of scary. Definitely had an easy time picturing the setting.

The character are great of course. Sara Jane is like Maximum Ride and Katniss Everdeen, except in the contemporary world and with a strange power instead of wings. Sara Jane is a boxer, so she can kick butt. She’s very tough and somewhat serious, but she uses sarcasm. She’s friend with Dough, who’s gay and used to be fat, but lost weigh because of some drugged icecream in the previous book. He’s awesome and obsessed with movies. He’s got a little more serious, mostly because the drug withdrawal. He stupidly takes up smoking even though Sara Jane keep telling him how bad it is.

There’s so much action and mystery in the story. I love the mystery of this “ultimate power.” Sara Jane has a note book and some clue and they have theories to. It’s a surprise what it is. There’s so many crazy events and plot twists. This book is such a mind-blowing finale. I don’t think I could’ve asked for more. The ending is perfect. I waited a year to read this. Should have read it sooner. I read both the first 2 books as ACRs, and met the author at a Pre-Pub event. He’s cool. All three books are signed. If Cold Fury wasn’t offered as an ARC at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, I doubt I would have ever discovered this great series. I’m so happy I did.

Cover Art Review: Fits the subject. Like the Chicago photos.

Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Series: Goodnight Family (bk. 2)

Genera: Paranormal Romance/Mystery/Adventure

Subjects: ghosts, psychic ability, supernatural, magic, kidnappings, Chicago, Illinois, Egyptian mythology

Age/Grade Level: Teen and New Adult (because Daisy is a college freshman)

Length: 384 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Summary/ product description: “Daisy Goodnight can speak to the dead. It’s not the result of a head injury or some near-death experience. She was just born that way. And she’s really good at it. Good enough to help the police solve the occasional homicide.

But helping the local authorities clear cold cases is one thing. Being whisked out of chemistry class by the FBI and flown to the scene of a murder/kidnapping in Minnesota? That’s the real deal.

Before the promotion can go to Daisy’s head, she’s up to her neck in trouble. The spirits are talking, and they’re terrified. There’s a real living girl in danger. And when Daisy is kidnapped by a crime boss with no scruples about using magic—and Daisy—to get what he wants, it looks like hers is the next soul on the line.”

My Review: I didn’t think it would be possible that this book would be better than Texas Gothic, the 1^st book in the series, but this was way better. Ridiculously awesome. So many things I didn’t expect. The description barely tells you anything. This book is very different from Texas Gothic. They both have ghosts, but Texas Gothic didn’t have nearly as much action or adventure as Spirit and Dust.

Daisy Goodnight is psychic and can sense spirit energies, of remnants and connections. She can summon then with objects connected to them, talk to them and also help them move on. She’s very sarcastic and funny and wears girly-goth garb. She’s a redhead like her cousin Amy (the narrator of Texas Gothic) and has the same Goodnight determination. I think I like her more than Amy as a narrator. Daisy got a lot more spunk and feels more developed. I almost wish that there can be another book with her as the narrator, instead of a companions series with standalone-sequels. She’s the perfect strong protagonist with unique traits.

Then there’s the other characters. I though Agent Taylor would be the love interest, because he and Daisy had a thing, but that’s not the case.  Daisy meets Carson after being kidnapped by a mobster who’s the father of the kidnapped girl Alexis. Carson doesn’t seem like a hardened criminal. He’s pretty young and too nice. He and Daisy go a search for this Jackal artifact that’s the ransom for Alexis. Carson and Daisy’s romance is the total opposite of insta-love. She even starts to think that she has Stockholm syndrome because she starts to like him. The travel and she’s learns about him.

I also loved the setting. You’d think based off the description that this book would be set in Minnesota. Minnesota was really only the beginning of the book. I’d say 15% set in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 10% set in St Louis, Missouri, and 75% set in Illinois, and mainly Chicago and it’s museums. As a resident Chicagolander, this made me very excited. Another great book set in my home state? Awesome. And the final third or fourth or the book takes place in the Field Museum. My absolute favorite museum to go to. I’ve been there at least 5 times. Probably more. And yes, Sue the T. Rex is awesome. And I did see the Egypt exhibit in 4^th grade, or 5^th. There were a lot of animal mummies down there. I’m never been to the Oriental Institute Museum, but my mom’s been there.

I love the paranormal parts, especially the Egyptian Mythology. I didn’t know that there would be any Egyptian stuff going into this. It really started to remind me of Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles series. Looking for artifacts and some brotherhood and everything. I don’t want to spoil the book, but I think that more people would read this if they knew more about it. So it’s not just another ghost-story/murder mystery. This book turned out to be an unexpected surprise, and I really hope that Rosemary write a 3^rd Goodnight book that’s even better. Maybe from Phin’s perspective? I still would like Daisy’s best.

Cover Art Review: Boring cover. It’s just an eye. Daisy’s eye, and a silhouette. There’s nothing that suggests the content.