Review: The Name of the Star

Title: The Name of the Star
Author: Maureen Johnson
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Mystery
Publisher: Putnam
Publication date: September 20th, 2011

Rory Deveaux arrives in London expecting to spend a magical year at boarding school. Instead she discovers that, the night before her arrival, the first in a series of Jack the Ripper copycat murders has occurred. The news takes over the city. Soon everyone is involved in "Rippermania"--even, somehow, Rory Deveaux.

When I heard that Maureen Johnson was deviating from her usual type of book (funny contemporary novel) and doing a mystery with GHOSTS IN IT, I was a little nervous. It's hard to be hilarious when a Jack the Ripper copycat is chopping people up. And her hilariousness is one of the things I love about MJ.

So I went into this book with reservations. They disappeared somewhere around the second paragraph.

We've come to expect funny observations, realistic interpersonal relationships, and loveable characters from Johnson, and this book has all three. It also has undertones of creepiness and lots of hidden London lore.

I didn't find myself connecting with Rory, the main character, in the way I've connected with some of Johnson's other narrators, but that's partly because she's so entertaining to just stand back and watch. She comes from small-town Louisiana and has been dropped into an exclusive London boarding school. There's potential for a lot of humor there, and Johnson delivers.

Review by Mayfair

Title: Fury
Author: Elizabeth Miles
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Fiction
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication date: August 30th, 2011
Reviewed by: Mayfair

In the town of Ascension, Em is falling for her best friends boyfriend. She knows it's bad but she can't help it. When her best friend Gabby leaves town Em makes her move. Chase is having problems. His social life is going downhill and he's made a bad mistake. A mistake that's haunting him, a mistake that no one would have guessed he would do. Three beautiful, mysterious sisters have come to Ascension to choose who will pay. Em and Chase have been chosen.

Author Elizabeth Miles has done a fine job for her first novel. She delves in deep to the characters so that you get a real feel of what they're going through. On a different note, I feel as though the title gives away too much of the book and that it ruins some of the surprise.

Other books like Fury:

Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Review of Born Wicked

Title: Born Wicked
Author: Jessica Spotswood
Genre: Young Adult Historical/Paranormal
Publisher: Putnam Books for Young Readers
Publication date: February 7th, 2012

It has taken me a long time to put my thoughts about this book into words. I'm not sure why. Probably because it wasn't what I was expecting.

BORN WICKED is about three sisters who are witches. They keep their powers secret, though, because the Brotherhood arrests anyone suspected of witchcraft. Cate is the oldest sister, and considers it her duty to protect her family from suspicion. When her father decides to hire a governess for the girls, concealing their powers becomes a lot more difficult.

I'm not a big fan of "witch books" and other paranormal fiction, but I liked this. I think part of the reason I liked it is that the setting has a real Victorian feel to it, which is something I DO love to read. The relationships between the sisters are very believable, too. I'm curious to see where the next book takes the Cahill witches.