Andye Reads

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater Series: Raven Cycle (Book 3) Hardcover: 400 pages Publisher: Scholastic Press; 1st edition (October 21, 2014) Language: English Buy the book: Amazon Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs. The trick with found things, though, is how easily they can be lost. Friends can betray. Mothers can disappear Visions can mislead. Certainties can unravel. In a starred review, The Bulletin called The Dream Thieves, the previous book in The Raven Cycle, "a complex web of magical intrigue and heart-stopping action." Now, with Blue Lily, Lily Blue, the web becomes even more complex, snaring readers at every turn. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater was--and typically so--a weavingly creative addition to the Raven Boy...

Wake the Hollow by Gaby Triana Age Range: 12 and up Grade Level: 7 - 12 Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Entangled: Teen (August 2, 2016) Buy the book: Amazon Forget the dead, Mica. It’s real, live people you should fear. Tragedy has brought Micaela Burgos back to her hometown of Sleepy Hollow. It’s been six years since she chose to live with her father in Miami instead of her eccentric mother. And now her mother is dead. This town will suck you in and not let go. Sleepy Hollow may be famous for its fabled headless horseman, but the town is real. So are its prejudices and hatred, targeting Mica’s family as outsiders. But ghostly voices carry on the wind, whispering that her mother’s death was based on hate…not an accident at all. With the help of two very different guys—who pull at her heart in very different ways—Micaela must awaken the hidden secret of Sleepy Hollow…before she meets her mother’s fate. Find the answers. Unless, of course, the answers find you first. This book is...

 Review by Sara SANCTUARY by Jennifer McKissack Age Range: 12 and up Grade Level: 7 and up Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Scholastic Press (September 29, 2015) Language: English Amazon | Goodreads A haunting and luminous Gothic YA novel about reckoning with the ghosts of one's dark past. After the untimely death of her aunt Laura, Cecilia Cross is forced to return to Sanctuary, a rambling, old French-Gothic mansion that crowns a remote island off the coast of Maine. Cecilia is both drawn to and repulsed by Sanctuary. The scent of the ocean intoxicates her, but she's also haunted by the ghosts of her past -- of her father who died at Sanctuary five years ago, and of her mother who was committed soon after. The memories leave Cecilia feeling shaken, desperate to run away and forget her terrible family history. But then a mysterious guest arrives at Sanctuary: Eli Bauer, a professor sent to examine Sanctuary's library. Cecilia is intrigued by this strange young man w...

Review by Paola SHUTTER by Courtney Alameda Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (February 3, 2015) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat -- a girl　who　sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual: the corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. With　an　analog SLR camera as her best weapon, Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film. She's aided by her crew: Oliver, a techno-whiz and the boy who developed her camera's technology; Jude, who can predict death; and Ryder, the boy Micheline has known and loved forever. When a routine ghost hunt goes awry, Micheline and the boys are infected with a curse known as a soulchain.　As the ghostly chains spread through their bodies, Micheline learns that if she doesn't exorcis...

Review by Andye Yep. I'm one of those people who read A Vision of Fire because I loved the X-Files.   So there. I listened to the audiobook , which was read by Gillian Anderson herself, so that was kind of awesome. She did a great job with all the voices and characters and accents. The only thing was that her narration was a little . . . sleepy? (That's the second time this week I've described a reader like that.) But I really enjoyed it, plus it just made me picture her as the lead character. WHICH I'M TOTALLY OK WITH. (Listen to a sample here ) The book itself was a little bizarre . I liked it, but I didn't love it. It was just too far out there and random, in my opinion. That didn't keep me from listening to it every chance I got, though, so something had to be done well. Summary: Renowned child psychologist Caitlin O’Hara is a single mom trying to juggle her job, her son, and a lackluster dating life. Her world is suddenly upturned when...

Kennedy Waters lives in a world where vengeance spirits kill, ghosts keep secrets, and a demon walks among us-a demon  she  accidentally set free. Now Kennedy and the other Legion members-Alara, Priest, Lukas, and Jared-have to hunt him down. As they learn more about the history of the Legion and the Illuminati, Kennedy realizes that the greatest mystery of all does not belong to any secret order, but to her own family. With the clock ticking and the life of someone she loves hanging in the balance, Kennedy has to ask the question she fears most: what is it about her past that has left her  Unmarked ? "A rare sequel that surpasses the original."--Ransom Riggs,  New York Times  bestselling author of  Hollow City At a Glance: I was so excited when Little Brown (Thank you so much, Faey Bi!) sent me this, that I screamed in excitement. I've been waiting and waiting for this sequel, but let me tell you, it was worth the wait. And I totally agree with R...

"Review My Books" review by Angela   MY LAST KISS by Bethany Neal Age Range: 12 - 18 years Grade Level: 7 and up Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (June 10, 2014)  Goodreads | Amazon What if your last kiss was with the wrong boy? Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss--the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died--is a blur. Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn't a suicide as everyone assumes. She can't remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she's worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend. If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she'll ever love...

Reviewed by Elisa THE DARK WORLD Dark World #1 by Cara Lynn Shultz Series: A Dark World Novel (Book 1) Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Harlequin Teen (May 27, 2014) Goodreads Amazon Paige Kelly is used to weird—in fact, she probably corners the market on weird, considering that her best friend, Dottie, has been dead since the 1950s. But when a fire demon attacks Paige in detention, she has to admit that things have gotten out of her league. Luckily, the cute new boy in school, Logan Bradley, is a practiced demonslayer—and he isn't fazed by Paige's propensity to chat with the dead. Suddenly, Paige is smack in the middle of a centuries-old battle between warlocks and demons, learning to fight with a magic sword so that she can defend herself. And if she makes one wrong move, she'll be pulled into the Dark World, an alternate version of our world that's overrun by demons—and she might never make it home. I’m pretty sure Andye might have a different opinion ...

Reviewed by Andye SEA OF SHADOWS Age of Legends #1 by Kelley Armstrong File Size: 773 KB Print Length: 417 pages Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0751547816 Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (April 8, 2014) Mark on Goodreads Buy on Amazon Kelley Armstrong, #1 New York Times bestselling author, takes an exciting new direction with this big, breathtaking blend of fantasy, romance, horror, and pulse-pounding action, perfect for fans of Graceling and Game of Thrones. Twin sisters Moria and Ashyn were marked at birth to become the Keeper and the Seeker of Edgewood, beginning with their sixteenth birthday. Trained in fighting and in the secret rites of the spirits, they lead an annual trip into the Forest of the Dead. There, the veil between the living world and the beyond is thinnest, and the girls pay respect to the spirits who have passed. But this year, their trip goes dreadfully wrong. With all the heart-stopping romance and action that have made her a #1 New York Tim...

Age Range: 10 and up Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (May 7, 2013) Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they’ve been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her.  But they are in middle school now. Zach’s father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she’s been having dreams about the Queen—and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.  Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen’s ghost to rest. But nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now tha...

School Spirits *Book 1 of a series that may not be a series..... Hex Hall spin-off by Rachel Hawkins Age Range: 12 and up Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Disney-Hyperion (May 14, 2013) Mark on Goodreads Buy on Amazon Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy's older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break. Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it's not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it's strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush. Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt? At a G...

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters Age Range: 12 and up Hardcover: 400 pages Publisher: Amulet Books (April 2, 2013) Buy on Amazon Mark on Goodreads In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her? Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time. Preface: I just want to preface this review by sayin...

Hardcover: 400 pages Publisher: HarperTeen (March 5, 2013) Language: English ISBN-10: 0061961205 ISBN-13: 978-0061961205 Buy the book: Amazon When Nadia's family moves to Captive's Sound, she instantly realizes there's more to the place than meets the eye. Descended from witches, Nadia can sense that a spell has been cast over the tiny Rhode Island town—a sickness infecting everyone and everything in it. The magic at work is darker and more powerful than anything she's come across and has sunk its claws most deeply into Mateo . . . her rescuer, her friend, and the guy she yearns to get closer to even as he pushes her away. Mateo has lived in Captive's Sound his entire life, shadowed by small-town gossip and his family's tormented past. Every generation, the local legends say, one member of the family goes mad, claiming to know the future before descending into insanity. When the strange dreams Mateo has been having of rescuing a beautiful girl f...