Find Him Where You Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons (Death Games book 1)

 

“Four years ago, five kids started a game. Only four survived.

Now, at the end of their senior year of high school, the survivors—Dax, Maddy, Emerson, and Owen—have reunited for one strange and terrible reason: they’ve been summoned by the ghost of Ian, the friend they left for dead.

Together they return to the tunnel where their friendship ended with one goal: find Ian and bring him home. So they restart the deadly game they never finished—an innocent card-matching challenge called Meido. A game without instructions.

As soon as they begin, they're dragged out of their reality and into an eerie hellscape of Japanese underworlds, more horrifying than even the darkest folktales that Owen's grandmother told him. There, they meet Shinigami, an old wise woman who explains the rules:

They have one night to complete seven challenges or all of them, Ian included, will be stuck in this world forever.

Once inseparable, the survivors now can’t stand each other, but the challenges demand they work together, think quickly, and make sacrifices—blood, clothes, secrets, memories, and worse.

And once again, not everyone will make it out of Meido alive.” - taken from Goodreads.

If you can make it to the second half of the book, the story really ramps up and will draw you in. A Jumanji type game that is steeped in Japanese folklore, readers will want to know what really happened to Ian four years ago and what secrets will be uncovered as the game unfolds. I wasn’t expecting how the story ends and will probably pick up the second book to see how this series ends.

Book two, She Waits For You Beyond the Dark, is due out March 11, 2025.

Visit Kristen Simmons’ website

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

 

“When Springville residents—at least the ones still alive—are questioned about what happened on prom night, they all have the same explanation... Maddy did it.

An outcast at her small-town Georgia high school, Madison Washington has always been a teasing target for bullies. And she's dealt with it because she has more pressing problems to manage. Until the morning a surprise rainstorm reveals her most closely kept secret: Maddy is biracial. She has been passing for white her entire life at the behest of her fanatical white father, Thomas Washington.

After a viral bullying video pulls back the curtain on Springville High's racist roots, student leaders come up with a plan to change their image: host the school's first integrated prom as a show of unity. The popular white class president convinces her Black superstar quarterback boyfriend to ask Maddy to be his date, leaving Maddy wondering if it's possible to have a normal life.

But some of her classmates aren't done with her just yet. And what they don't know is that Maddy still has another secret... one that will cost them all their lives.” - taken from Goodreads.

I knew going in that this story loosely follows Stephen King's Carrie but throws in some social justice that is relevant to our current times. Maddy Washington is a girl who's tortured life will pull at your heartstrings. Bullied on a daily basis at school, the situation takes a horrible turn when Maddy's racial identity is uncovered. As tensions rise in small town Springville, Georgia, readers will be eagerly waiting to see what happens on prom night. 

I loved listening to this book with its multiple narrator format.

Visit Tiffany D. Jackson’s website.

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood

 

“Andromeda is a debtera—an exorcist hired to cleanse households of the Evil Eye. When a handsome young heir named Magnus Rochester reaches out to hire her, Andromeda quickly realizes this is a job like no other, with horrifying manifestations at every turn, and that Magnus is hiding far more than she has been trained for. Death is the most likely outcome if she stays, but leaving Magnus to live out his curse alone isn’t an option. Evil may roam the castle’s halls, but so does a burning desire.” - taken from Goodreads.com

Very loosely based on Jane Eyre, this book was a fantastic romp through a household besieged by curses and evil spirits. Andromeda is an unlicensed debtera (exorcist), who was hired by the handsome Magnus Rochester to cleanse his house where others have either fled or failed. Determined to gain Magnus's patronage, it's not long before he steals Andi's heart. Quickly realizing that she is in over her head, she attempts to reach out to her mentor for help before it's too late.

 A fantastic paranormal tale that had me quickly turning the pages. 

Visit Lauren Blackwood’s website.

The Angelfire Trilogy by Courtney Allison Moulton

Book One - Angelfire

Ellie Monroe is a senior at a high school in the suburbs of Detroit. The days leading up to her seventeen birthday are chaotic at best. She suffers from terrifying, reoccurring nightmares that drugs and therapy do not help. Her parents are constantly fighting when her father is at home. Only her best friend Kate understands and lends a sympathetic ear. After school one day, she spots a boy that she hasn’t seen before standing under a tree. He is cute but looks too old for high school. Ellie gets the feeling as if she knows him from somewhere but shakes it off. Then she notices him staring back at her. Ellie blushes and heads to her mother’s car. The next morning, she gets a call from Kate to turn on the morning news. Mr. Meyer, her economics teacher has been found dead that morning behind a bar. His body has been severely mutilated and a long hunting knife with a gut hook was left behind.

School is cancelled for the day and Kate comes over to Ellie’s house. After a nap that ends in another nightmare for Ellie and a movie marathon, the girls decide to meet up with some friends mat the ice cream shop. Not wanting to talk about Mr. Meyer’s murder, Ellie tunes out her friends and scans the people in the shop. She sees the boy from outside the school from the day before. Noticing his appearance, Ellie once again gets the feeling that she that she knows him from somewhere. He notices her staring and he looks back at her. She turns her attention back to her friends. Ellie goes to throw away her trash. When she turns around, the boy is right behind her. He asks her if she remembers him. Disappointment is on his face when she answers only from the day before. He introduces himself as Will. Her friend Landon comes over and tells Will to stop talking to Ellie. She tells Will goodbye and Landon to chill out as they walk away.

At dinner that night, Ellie’s father is home for once. Tuning out the conversation, it isn’t long before Ellie realizes that her parents are arguing over her nightmares and bring up Mr. Meyer’s death. Ellie gets up to head to her room. She spends the evening watching movies. Her parents continue to argue. At midnight, the happy birthday texts begin. She decides to spend her first moments as a seventeen year old by sneaking out of the house and sitting on the front porch. Soon, she decides to go for a walk around the block. She hasn’t gone too far when she hears a low rumble in front of her. There isn’t a sign of a car and thoughts of Mr. Meyer cause her to think that maybe she should have stayed home. Suddenly, Will appears in front of her and she becomes nervous. Only four houses from home, she turns to go but Will stops her. Ellie sees nothing but comments on the smell. Will tells her that she isn’t able to see into the Grim yet. He is talking to someone but Ellie still doesn’t see anything.

Realizing that she knows nothing about him, Ellie heads home. Will tells her to wait. She turns to see Will afraid. He asks her to come to him but Ellie shouts “no!” “Don’t scream. You’ll make him attack.” Panicking, Will grabs Ellie before she can leave/ will is too strong and Ellie can’t escape. He comments that he is ready to quit playing games. He presses his palm to her forehead. There is a blinding white light and her heads feels as if it will explode. A cruel wind batters her but she is supported by Will. The light and wind disappear and Ellie thinks she sees wings. Blinking, there is nothing there. Tired but energized, the haze around her disappears. With clear eyes, she sees Will marvels that she can see through the darkness of the night. Then she sees a large, dog-like monster. Not afraid but calm, Ellie is flooded by strange memories and thoughts that she knows are her own. Will is suddenly familiar and Ellie realizes that she needs to fight but has no weapons. Will kicks the beast back and Ellie holds out her arms to will two khopesh swords out of thin air into her hands. The weapons feel familiar. Beginning to spar with the beast, it grabs the hood of her sweatshirt and yanks her to the ground. Ellie smashes her elbow into its face and it drops her. Will has it by the throat and tells Ellie “now!” before she can think; she has shoved a sword through the beast’s throat, turning it to ash. Ellie passes out.

The next morning, Ellie wakes up exhausted. She is annoyed to have dreamed of Will and her nightmare seemed all too real. She is still in her clothes from the day before except now her sweatshirt is missing. Her mom makes her pancakes for her birthday and promises to take her to buy a car that afternoon. Her father has already left for the day. Ellie asks her mom if she heard anything last night. She apologizes for all of the arguing but Ellie says that she means like a growling dog. Her mother gives Ellie an odd look and asks if she had another nightmare. No, I wasn’t sleeping and her mom tells her to shut her windows. Ellie thinks that she must have been dreaming and that she is now officially crazy.

Later at school, Ellie washes her hands in the bathroom and looks in the mirror. She sees thin black lines spreading from her hair, across her cheek and around her eye. Frantic, she can’t wipe them off. Backing away from the mirror, Ellie closes her eyes. When she opens them, the lines are gone. She composes herself and leaves. In the hallway, she runs into Will. Scaring her, Ellie asks him why he is at school if he doesn’t go there. Then she notices the tattoo covering his arm. It reminds her of the lines on her face just a moment ago. His are beautiful and she can’t stop staring. Will asks her if she is alright. I’m fine, she answers. Will tells her that he needs to talk with her about that night before. She tries to leave but he is adamant that her life depends on it.

Who is Will? Why has he been watching Ellie? Are Ellie’s dreams just nightmares or is she remembering something? What really happened the night of her seventeenth birthday? Does Mr. Meyer’s murder have something to do with Ellie? And just what is happening to Ellie?

Wings of the Wicked – book two

Now that Ellie has discovered the truth about her existence, her world has been turned upside down. More human than in her previous lives, Ellie struggles to maintain a normal teenage life with her duties as the Preliator. Even though both will and Ellie have admitted their feelings for one another, will is keeping his distance and tries to keep their relationship on a business like level. A relationship between the two of them could be seen as improper and even considered dangerous. And Ellie's heart is breaking.

Caden comes to Ellie's school one day to warn her that Bastian has recovered the sarcophagus of Enshi. Caden likes things status quo and doesn't wish for the end of the world. Ellie realizes that Bastian just doesn't want her soul destroyed but for the Second War or the Apocalypse. He is also there to warn her that Bastian is hunting her. He is sending his worse and their order s are to capture Ellie alive. Bastian is looking for the key that will break the Enochian or angelic spell keeping whatever is inside imprisoned.

In a preemptive move, two more angelic reapers, Marcus and Ava, join up with them. Ellie knows Marcus from the past but Ava is a completely new face to her and neither girl gets along with the other. Ellie is a little jealous of Ava because she suspects that there may have been something between her and Will in the past. When  Ava demands that Ellie fight her weapon less to prove her abilities, Ellie lays her hands on Ava's wrists and calls all of her power, Angelfire, forth. Burning her, Ava says that is enough. Why after all of this time is Ellie in possession of a new power? Could it have something to do with the fact it took her forty years to reincarnate? Can Ellie balance both parts of her life; human and Preliator?  Is Ava really demonic instead of angelic as Ellie would like? Has something gone on between her and Will in the past? Why is she still having problems recalling her past? Is Ellie the key to unlock the angelic spell on the sarcophagus? Can she evade Bastion's minions? Why is Caden passing Information along to her and can he be trusted? Can Will get past the restrictions placed on him in regards to his relationship with Ellie or are they doomed to be apart?

Shadows in the Silence– book three

After the cliffhanger in Wings of the Wicked, it all comes down to the final battle. Ellie must find the relics needed to destroy the Enshi and save herself. Who will survive and who will die in the thrilling conclusion of the Angelfire trilogy.

Visit Courtney Allison Moulton's website.

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments book 5)

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't read any of the previous four books in the Mortal Instruments series, Stop! I don't want to ruin one of my favorite series for you. Go back and read them along with the Infernal Devices series as well. For maximum understanding, read Ms. Clare's books in publication order.

When Maryse Lightwood went to the roof to see the remains of Lilith’s ritual to bring Sebastian back to life, what she found is not what she expected. Jace was gone. So was Sebastian. His glass coffin was shattered and blood stains covered the area. The Shadowhunters begin the search for Valentine’s son while Clary collapsed from her loss. Two weeks have passed with no signs of either boy and Clary has undergone extensive testimony before the Clave holding the Mortal Sword. Isabelle has been Clary’s staunchest supporter. When the Clave finds Clary broke no laws in asking the Angel Raziel to save Jace’s life, she is ready to join the search for Jace. Alec stops her by saying the Clave is pulling back on the search for Sebastian to deal with some important wards being down. With no clues to be found and other matters to be dealt with, the Clave is waiting for Sebastian to make the next move.

Clary and her friends decide to take matters into their own hands to find Jace. Using the bell the Seelie Queen sent her, Clary goes to see if she can tell her where Jace is. Never one to just give away information the Queen asks Clary to return a set of faery rings the Shadowhunters have. She agrees knowing exactly where they are. Clary sneaks into the Institute’s library to retrieve the rings while everyone is in a Clave meeting. While on the balcony, Jace and Sebastian suddenly appear out of thin air looking for a book. Clary notices that both boys look well and is concerned when they seem to be getting along. They leave before Clary is spotted.

Everyone is stumped by Jace’s behavior but all agree not to tell the Clave for fear they would kill him. Asleep at Luke’s house, Clary has a dream about the two boys and awakes to find Jace in bed with her. He is there with Sebastian and tells Clary and tells Clary that he wants her to come with them. Before she can give an answer, Jocelyn and Luke discover the three of them. A confrontation ensues and two critical things happen; Sebastian stabs Luke in the chest and Clary realizes the extent of the bond between the boys. The two are now connected; hurt one and you hurt both of them. If the Clave were to kill Sebastian, Jace would also die.
Devastated by the news, Clary will stop at nothing to save Jace, even if it means her own. Going against everyone’s wishes, Clary does the unthinkable and leaves with Jace and Sebastian. Is Jace truly lost to Clary? Can the connection between Sebastian and Jace be severed? Will Luke’s life be saved? What is Sebastian up to and can he be stopped? And what will become of Clary?

Cassandra Clare’s next book, Clockwork Princess, the final installment of the Infernal Devices trilogy is due out March 13, 2013 while the Mortal Instruments series will be completed with the publication of City of Heavenly Fire on March 19, 2014.

Visit Cassandra Clare's website.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

“Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story …”


Theseus Cassio Lowood, aka Cas, is a ghost killer, just like his father before him. Since his father’s death when he was just seven years old, it has been just Cas and his kitchen witch mother, a practicing a Wiccan who reads tarot cards, does aura cleansing over the phone and sells occult supplies online. They move across the country to wherever there is a ghost that needs killing. Their latest move is to Thunder Bay, Ontario and a date with a ghost named Anna Dressed in Blood.

Anna Karlov, aka Anna Dressed in Blood, was brutally murdered in 1958. No one ever discovered who or why. Anna was sixteen at the time and on her way to a school dance. She was nearly decapitated and the white party dress she wore was soaked in blood. She haunts the boarding house her mother ran and rumor has it she has killed 27 known people but no bodies have ever been found.

Ghost killing since the age of fourteen, Cas and his mother go to Thunder Bay based on a tip from Rudy “the Daisy” Bristol, a Goth kid from New Orleans. Cas’ first order of business is to get the attention of his new high school’s Queen Bee, Carmel Jones. By lunch, Cas has Carmel wrapped around his finger and garnered the wrath of her newly former boyfriend, Mike Andover and his gang of cronies. Carmel is Cas’ social and informational pipeline to the background scuttlebutt and teenage gossip he needs in order to find out about Anna before going to do her in. What Cas doesn’t count on is being followed by Thomas Sabin on his way home. Turns out that Thomas is telepathic and knows why Cas is in town. Cas assumes Thomas tipped off Daisy about Anna and he isn’t happy to learn that he has been played.

Cas goes with Carmel to the End of the World party traditionally held the night of the first day of school. He hopes to get her alone to learn more about Anna. Before he can get too much information out of her, they are interrupted by Mike and his gang who begin teasing Cas about his mother. He soon turns their attention back to hearing Anna’s story. To Carmel’s dislike, the two join Mike and his friends on a car trip to Anna’s house. Cas is thrilled to learn where Anna resides but soon finds his life in peril. Knocked out by a jealous Mike, Cas awakes inside Anna’s house. Before he can regain his footing, Anna descends the staircase. She is everything Cas imagined she would be but finds he is unable to escape. Fortunately Anna passes him by to Mike’s misfortune. Watching through the window, Mike soon finds himself in Anna’s clutches and literally torn in half. Cas finds himself being dragged from the house.

Cas wakes up to find that Thomas rescued him and took him back to his grandfather’s antique store. There he meets Morfran Starling Sabin, Thomas’s grandfather and he realizes that he is the one who tipped Daisy off. Cas is a little angry but Morfran soon explains that something is changing with Anna. He too is in tune with the dead but doesn’t elaborate. Anna has become stronger and killing people who she normally wouldn’t be bothered with. Both agree that Anna needs to be stopped but not before Cas does damage control with those who witnessed Mike’s death and learn more about what Anna has evolved into.

The plan is to perform a spell to learn how Anna died and how to stop her. They decided that Thomas will be the witch and Cas, Carmel and Mike’s friend Will round out the remaining four for the spell to work. Can the spell be performed without Anna killing one of them? How did Anna die and who killed her? Why is she bound to the house? What happens when one of the four goes rogue? Who is still killing the townspeople if it’s no longer Anna? Will Cas discover how and what killed his father? And can Cas make a life for himself if he desires?

Join Cas as he goes on a life altering journey as he learns more about himself. Cas’ story will be continued in book 2, Girl of Nightmares.

This book is really quite unlike anything currently being published. The story was refreshing bit of air and I loved that the text was in a blood red color a la Maggie Stiefvater Wolves of Mercy Falls series.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

A novella of the last six days of Bree Tanner's life that gives readers insight to not only what it is like to be a new vampire but the interworkings of what Victoria's plan was for the battle with the Cullen family that takes place in Eclipse.