BIG BAD ME

Sisters go searching for their missing mom and wind up in a small Canadian town where paranormal danger lurks.

Evie is 15 when she learns she doesn’t actually have an extremely rare form of diabetes. Her adoptive mom and sister, Kate, used that story as a cover to give her medication to suppress her paranormal side: She’s actually a werewolf, just like her biological parents. When the sisters stop hearing from their mom during her travels, they head to Brightside, her last known whereabouts. Soon, they learn that in Brightside many people have gone missing or been murdered, and werewolves aren’t the only supernatural beings out there. Evie’s and Kate’s conversational and quippy first-person narratives alternate in short chapters, often ending with cliffhangers. The characters are funny and charming, but there isn’t a whole lot of depth or growth; the story is more focused on the exciting action and mystery than the characters’ interiority. Still, both sisters get cute romance subplots (Evie’s is featured more prominently), and their sisterly bond is endearing. The worldbuilding is simple but effective, and the writing style skews more toward the younger range of YA, but there’s also a maturity to the story that is firmly intended for teens. Several pop-culture references, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Frozen, give nods to the book’s inspirations. Characters are cued White; Kate is bisexual.

Straightforward supernatural fun.