Realistic characters make good use of a gothic setting that will attract anyone with a taste for the edge.
Can Alice ever unravel her relationship with her twin sister, Cellie?
Alice and Cellie Monroe are connected by blood, tragedy, and secrets. But this connection is of little use to them in the Oregon State Mental Health Hospital on Savage Isle. Alice is familiar with Savage Isle. She and Cellie were here before, after an ill-fated trip to the beach that ended in violence. But this time it's different. This time, Cellie is locked in the heavily guarded D ward, while Alice is in with the general population, where she makes friends with a boy named Chase. Alice and Cellie are charged with setting the fire that killed their closest friend, but it was Cellie who set the fire, and Alice knows it's only a matter of time before Cellie makes another move. The only way to be safe, Alice decides, is to kill Cellie first. Jean weaves Alice's past into her present through journal entries, which track Alice's journey from orphan to foster kid to resident and provide relief from the tension of the mental hospital. Cellie's romantic relationships are another sweet counterbalance. The suspense does not quite earn the eventual resolution, which is quick and neatly packaged. The bulk of the book, though, rings authentic.
Realistic characters make good use of a gothic setting that will attract anyone with a taste for the edge. (Thriller. 12-16)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-48200-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
A solid, affecting coming-of-age tale. (Fiction. 12-16)
A girl struggles to understand the lasting effects of her father’s murder on her family.
Growing up in Ontario, social misfit Jenna has hated Travis Bingham all her life. Travis shot and killed her father when she was a baby. She blames him for her mother’s mental illness and her family’s poverty. When she learns that Travis has been released from prison, her friends urge her to confront him. Breaking with her longtime friends over the issue, Jenna finds herself befriended by a popular girl, who drags Jenna to the mall and uses her shopping sense to get Jenna a whole new wardrobe and haircut, jolting Jenna into a new perspective on herself. She begins to uncover unsettling clues about her family’s past. When Jenna finally does meet Travis and gets him to talk about the past, an entirely new history opens up, calling into question many of her former beliefs. Wennick keeps her prose flowing nicely, and her characters come across as real people with strengths and flaws. Jenna’s confusion and her determination to sort out her understanding of both herself and her history come through clearly and sympathetically.
A solid, affecting coming-of-age tale. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4598-0083-0
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013
Baron produces a novel that feels based on adult assumptions regarding teens’ use of Facebook; it will likely appeal only to...
A ghost-story wannabe for the digital age.
Jason Moreland likes alternative bands and ’80s movies, so perhaps it’s not surprising that the girls at his high school just aren’t into him. But when he gets a message back from Lacey Gray, a random Facebook friend, he discovers the girl of his dreams online. When a casual Internet search turns up memorial pages and obituaries, Jason worries Lacey might be too cool for him—literally. Jason decides to investigate Lacey’s life and death, using the messages Lacey is apparently sending from beyond the grave. Baron’s near-manic mentions of social media and technology quickly become tiresome and only serve to jar the narrative flow away from the breakneck action pace. Jason has very little personality—a bland protagonist indistinguishable from the generic Everyteen semihero. Given the numerous incidents of social media hacking in the real world, it stretches credulity that Jason accepts a paranormal explanation instead of suspecting a hijack attempt. The pages are populated by unsympathetic characters who feel as shallow as the promoted posts on a newsfeed.
Baron produces a novel that feels based on adult assumptions regarding teens’ use of Facebook; it will likely appeal only to the disconnected adult gift-giver with no sense of teen reading taste. (Horror. 12-16)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-42357-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Point Horror
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
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