Review: THE HAUNTING by Natasha Preston

Release September 26, 2023

I had great hopes for this novel, given the title and the author (and its release just prior to Spooky Season). Those hopes did not completely manifest, as almost all the book focuses on 1st person narrative of an unreliable Narrator who is ruled by her heart,  not her head, and pays only surface respect to authority.  Also, if this were a Horror or Suspense film (and certainly it very well could be!) knowledgeable audiences would be constantly groaning because young Penny (okay, she's seventeen but hardly acts it) flies headlong into trouble over and over, more than lemmings diving from a cliff.

All that aside, the plot premise is good, the reprise a year later of earlier events is engrossing, but kudos go to the Denouement, which in its entirety is super far out! So 4 stars to the novel,12 stars to the Denouement and conclusion!😊

Review: THE HAMPTON HOUSE MYSTERY by Ellen Alexander

THE HAMPTON HOUSE MYSTERY is a YA cozy mystery in Ellen Alexander's THE DINSWOOD CHRONICLES Series, about 4 students at Dinswood Academy, tightly bonded friends, who solve mysterious events. It's intriguing, heartfelt, with lots of Suspense and some gentle romance. Friendship is a very strong theme, as is compassion, chivalry, and supporting the "underdog" and those in need. There's also a significant emphasis on integrity and moral justice. All in all, this is a fairly fast and satisfying read.

Review: THE CHEERLEADERS by Kara Thomas (2018)

Review:
THE CHEERLEADERS is a very twisty, YA psychological thriller appealing to fans of Megan Miranda's and Shari Lapena's adult thrillers. The protagonist, a high school junior and dance team member, undertakes to investigate the deaths of five cheerleaders five years earlier, including her sister. Of course as she turns over rocks a lot of ugliness comes to light. I consider THE CHEERLEADERS on the edgy side for YA, as it covers serious emotional, social, and physical issues. So, a note of caution, as some events and situations may be triggering for sensitive readers.

Review: THE ONLY SURVIVORS by Megan Miranda

5 Stars is not enough for THE ONLY SURVIVORS! It's not uncommon for reviewers to state: "This book carried me away." I'm sure I've said it myself. THE ONLY SURVIVORS literally took me out of my everyday life. Family members spoke to me: I remained unaware. Repeatedly I stepped outside to see if the "Storm" had yet arrived. [Read the novel]. I flipped between Appalachian East Tennessee and North Carolina's Outer Banks. Every. single. page. seemed to bring yet another new revelation. What an expansive Imagination!

Much love and thanks to the Instagram reviewer who provided me with the correct Scientific term:
"Thalassaphobia"--to replace what I had always called "Hydrophobia" [a condition suffered by Animals and Humans infected by Rabies: not the same!]

Much gratitude also to Author Megan Miranda, who inspired me to devour every single novel she writes!!
Release April 11 2023

Review: MISSING CLARISSA by Ripley Jones

I read MISSING CLARISSA immediately after reading TELL ME WHAT REALLY HAPPENED (due to Instagram-Synchronicity), and now I think this is the way the two books ought to be read, not a duology but sort of two different perspectives on similar situations and individuals. The eponymous long-vanished Clarissa is an earlier-era version in many ways of the elusive Maylee in TELL ME WHAT REALLY HAPPENED (a good two decades earlier, nearly an entire generation, with the immense changes the 21st century's first two decades have wrung). Then too, there's strong and sensitive LGBT rep here, and also there's inclusion of perspectives of marginalized societies and individuals. Without spoilering, there's also a thread which has very much in common, I believe, with the novel MY DARK VANESSA.

MISSING CLARISSA is a YA Horror/Thriller/Psychological Thriller that amazingly becomes deeper and more engrossing as the novel progresses, to the point where I became fearful not only for Clarissa, back in 1999, but for the intrepid contemporary co-protagonists, two sixteen-year-old high school junior girls, in a small insular Pacific Northwest community, uncovering ugly secrets and entrenched corruption. Remember, if the secrets are deep enough, somebody's going to be willing to kill to protect those secrets...and themselves.

Release March 7 2023