Tag Archives: YA

An Interview with Kate Policani: Author of “Don’t Judge a Book by its Magic”

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Even though Kate Policani wasn’t born in Seattle, Washington, she’s a native at heart. She should have been born here, but some bizarre mistake started her out in the Midwest. That error was rectified, though, and she’s spent more than twenty years in the rainy, gloomy, chilly land where she belongs, loving every minute of it. The long dark days and unwelcoming weather make for the perfect environment to stay inside and write.
A mom of three and therefore a coffee addict, she writes her books over a hot mocha in the rainy season (Fall-Winter-Spring) and an iced mocha during the six weeks of summer. That is, she writes when she isn’t shuttling her progeny to school or youth group or playdates. In a pinch, she writes while she waits to pick the kids up from school, and sometimes even in the middle of the night when the ideas wake her.
Kate has found her footing with her writing and is no longer interested in just writing a few books. The list of ideas is long, so she’ll be cranking out the Sci-fi and Fantasy (and maybe some others) for the long haul.


Today, I am pleased to sit down and talk with Kate Policani, the vibrant and talented author of “Don’t Judge a Book by its Magic.” Please welcome her to Readful Things Blog:) You can find Kate’s blog at: http://katepolicani.com/

The book trailer: http://youtu.be/Ih7yjpv-_bQ
  Tell us all a bit about your background and how you got started writing.

I have always written as an outlet, ever since I could write. I escape the stress of life and calm myself by exploring story. I also drew, painted, sewed, and other forms of expression. As my family grew, I had less and less time for the messier arts, but writing still happened. Before 2009, I never considered publishing anything. I was busy with kids and life, but I still wrote. One afternoon my dear aunt pointed out to me that I should finish something and think about publishing. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me. I chose and finished my first book, The Disenchanted Pet, right away.

It was with that aunt that I co-wrote the Amputeddy series. This series is very special to me because she has since passed away due to cancer. The Amputeddy books have been my only children’s books so far.

Did you spend much time considering what age group you would write for before you began your book?

I just write. It’s very organic for me. I write what I enjoy. Right now, I prefer writing about the time of a person’s life after High School, so most of my writing focuses on that era. Usually this determines the age group of my readers. My aim is to appeal to all sorts of people, so I try to make my work fun and entertaining for anyone who wants to read, but contain some depth too.

Can you see yourself writing any other genres/styles in the future?

Absolutely. I love to experiment with my writing. I have just finished a YA Science Fiction Novelette, which is with my Beta readers right now. If something that interests me fits better in other genres or age groups, I will write it. I guess I have the indie mentality where I feel free to write what I like.

 What has been the most difficult part of the writing/publishing experience thus far?

The hardest thing has definitely been promotion. There are so many books out there and it is hard to pull oneself out of the sea so readers can see the book. A lot of tactics don’t work at all. So much time can be wasted promoting in the wrong way or on the wrong platform. It’s easy to spend way too much money promoting in ways that don’t get sales. I’m a positive thinker and persistent too so I keep at it. I really want to make my writing career into something and I’m really excited about doing it my own way.

What message do you hope that your books convey if any?

I want my books to counteract the misinformation in society while reinforcing the truth (as I see it) and good things. I write a lot about problems that I struggle with and ideals that challenge me. I like to shake myself up. If I can get myself worked up over my own story, I figure I can pass that feeling on to my readers.

If you could claim any literary work in the world as your own, what would it be and why?

I would really only want to claim my own. Writing is an expression of the individual and I really wouldn’t want to be anyone but me. I also really love to read and appreciate others’ talents. I see reading someone’s book as a privileged peek inside their head. If you gave me and another writer a synopsis of the same story and told us to write the book, we’d both come up with a very different result. That is one of the beauties of literature.

There have been a lot of books about teens/kids with magical powers, how did you make your characters stand out from the crowd?

I put a lot of Seattle into this book. I really love this city and I think that Seattle flavor helps the book gain a different perspective. I also used a lot of actual science (possibly terribly misinterpreted) that I learned through my husband’s adoration of physics. The main difference between Colleen’s experience in The Convergence and other books is that her new experiences challenge her belief in her world and her morality. She has to reconcile her new abilities with her beliefs about them.

Can you tell us a bit about what else you are working on?

A science fiction novelette called Horarium is with my beta readers and will be an editing certification project for my good friend Nadia Riell. I will release it at the beginning of the summer. I’m debating whether or not I will make it free, or if I will put it on Kindle Select right away and see how that goes.

I am currently writing the second book for The Convergence series, Sorcery Loves Company. I hope to finish the story by the end of the summer.

A second book in the ShaZha World is also in the works, to be finished after Sorcery Loves Company. I have probably a hundred other ideas on my hard drive and 5 in the hopper for future development. I’m good with the ideas, it’s finishing them that is my big challenge.

Where can we find you (links etc)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kate.policani

My Examiner column: http://www.examiner.com/writing-179-in-seattle/katherine-policani

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5250693.Kate_Policani

Library Thing: http://www.librarything.com/profile/katepolicani

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/katherine-policani/a/4a1/23

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatePolicani

Any final thoughts?

I would love to invite everyone to my other website, http://discoverauthors.wordpress.com . It is a great place to find all kinds of books direct from the authors. We feature a free book listing and giveaways too. The site is a free collaborative book tour for authors, where we all share our books in a quick and easy format. I’m always looking for more great authors to feature.

Here are some Places where you can find Kate’s work:

Buy on Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/3910971

Buy for Kindle

Buy on Smashwords

Buy at Barnes & Noble

Buy on Kobo

You can see my review of Kate’s book HERE

Pretty Dark Nothing by Heather L. Reid

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It’s been twenty three days since Quinn has slept for more than minutes at a time. Demons have invaded her dreams, stalking her, and whispering of her death. The lack of sleep and crippling fear are ruining her life. Energy drinks and caffeine pills don’t make a dent. When Quinn dozes off in the school hallway, Aaron, an amnesiac with a psychic ability, accidentally enters her nightmare. The demons are determined to keep them apart, and Aaron from discovering the secret locked away in his memory. Together, they could banish the darkness back to the underworld for good. That is, unless the demons kill them first.–Description from Goodreads

Paperback, 321 pages
Expected publication: April 23rd 2013 by Month9Books
ISBN
0985327812 (ISBN13: 9780985327811)
edition language
English
original title
Pretty Dark Nothing
url
My thoughts:
From the first page, “Pretty Dark Nothing” grabbed my attention and refused to let go. This book is well written and interesting and just grows more mysterious as the pages go by. The reader is fed bits of background on the characters little by little as the story progresses and I felt this helped keep the mystery going in a way that made me eager to keep reading.

Quinn is an interesting character that has a lot of confusion and strange events plaguing her life. Through her journey, the reader is able to see multiple parts of this story. Aaron is another strong and vital character and he makes up the other part of the book that Quinn does not. This book would be suitable for older teens. There is some swearing and sex, but nothing that is intensely graphic or inappropriate.

By about halfway through the novel the paranormal aspect consumes much of the writing space, and I was impressed with the author’s take on this subject. Rather than taking the familiar beaten path, she chose to make her own way using unique paranormal happenings to colour and give life to her writing. There are moments in this book where the activity is so frightening that you almost want to turn your head away from reading and wait for your heart to return to a normal rhythm. There are certainly no dull spots in this book.

There were a few unexpected twists along the way. I actually found the relationship between Quinn and Aaron to be a bit frustrating at times, but if the author intended to go for high school drama that resembles reality, in that respect she did a great job. Nobody in this book knows what they want or how to hang on to it. The indecisiveness of the characters annoyed me a little, but also one must keep in mind that I am not a teen and have a different perspective on things as an adult than a younger reader might.

There are a couple of characters that you will no doubt love to hate. Heather Reid did a super job of making her characters have depth and their own individual quirks and personalities. If you are looking for something to read and like books where the characters make you want to hug them and strangle them at the same time, this is a great choice. I personally enjoy detesting a character. If a book can make me feel something, then it has done the job I asked of it.

The not so good for me was the way it ended. Not sure if this is going to be part of a series (hope so.) If it is, then I could understand why it ended the way it did. Don’t get me wrong, I like a story where everything doesn’t turn up roses at the end. But this one had a huge revelation that was somewhat of a stunner and then it was over. Just like that. Done. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Overall this was an engaging read that kept me wanting to come back for more. If you like paranormal YA this is certainly a book that I would recommend, even in spite of the abrupt ending.

This review is based on a digital ARC from the publisher.

The Night I walked Off Boot Hill by the lovely Briana Vedsted

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I am happy to post my review of Briana Vedsted’s “The Night I Walked Off Boot Hill.” Briana is a young author and fellow wordpresser with an immense talent for writing. I am hoping to see more from her in the near future. You can go say hello to Briana over at:

Kindle Edition, 42 pages
Published February 5th 2013 by Briana Vedsted Books
ISBN13
B00BC1H1XA
edition language
English
My thoughts on this book:
I found this book to be unique and completely original. You don’t see too many YA westerns and this worked out pretty well. I have never been a huge fan of the first person narrative, but in this case I actually thought it was a good choice. The author managed to describe the other characters adequately through the main character’s eyes.

When you meet Barabdos Tom, you aren’t really certain who(or even what) he is. How old is he? Is he a ghost or a man? It was these questions that pulled me into the story searching for an answer. What kept me reading was the author’s writing style. She has such a way of wording things that even when you are in a slower scene where not much is happening, the writing itself is good enough to keep you entertained.

I thought the wording she used was appropriate for the time period this book was set in and the character’s speech was perfect. Jim was my favorite character. I liked the way he was innocent and sweet and was happy just to spend time with Tom and have someone to look up to.

for the most part the pacing in this story was great. It isn’t a long book, but a lot happens in a short while and the author manages to tell a complete story in the space she allotted herself. The only area of this book that I felt could have used any improvement was the window of time it took for two of the characters to fall in love. They literally met, fell in love and were engaged within the course of what seemed to be just a few hours. Even for a novel intended for young adults I thought that might have been a bit of a stretch.

Overall this was lively, entertaining and just a lot of fun to read and relax with. there is nothing in this book that you wouldn’t want your young teen or preteen to read, and I would recommend it to all fans of westerns and romance. Sweet and charming.

 

The Curse Box by E.E. Richardson

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14439057

Paperback
Published May 1st 2012 by Barrington Stoke
ISBN
1842999079 (ISBN13: 9781842999073)
edition language
English
My thoughts:
It took me a little while to decide how I felt about this book. First of all I must preface this review by saying that I am impressed that this book was specifically designed for kids aged 13+ that have dyslexia. I knew going in that this is going to be a relatively short read, so that fact will not have bearing on my review.

What made me unsure about this book was that there was very little character development in the main character. I wasn’t sure of the age or what the character looked like, and that made visualizing and relating to the character a little bit more difficult.

Otherwise, this book is well-written and entertaining. The monsters in the book seem age-appropriate for the younger end of the YA audience. There are a few swear words in this story that caught me off guard, it isn’t that it’s anything terrible, just unexpected in a book intended for this age group.

I was impressed by how much action the author managed to squeeze into such a short book. I could see how kids would find this interesting and captivating. I probably would have enjoyed this when I was 13 as well.

I would recommend this book to kids age 13 to 16. It may be a bit less fulfilling for age groups older then that.

This review is based on a digital ARC from the publisher.

the Ghost, the Rat and Me by Robyn Gioia

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“Things aren’t the same when your best friend dies in a car accident. But when your best friend, Temple, comes back as a ghost to help you solve a case, life definitely becomes better. You’ll love him. He’s a funny, opinionated, cool nerd who doesn’t quite have the hang of being a ghost. When I, Campbell (Bell) Olson, decided to run for eighth-grade president, I didn’t expect my opponent to be Will Tuffy, the most obnoxious boy at school. I especially didn’t expect the race to start with a dead rat on my doorstep! That was the easy part. From there, things got worse and my case went from being a mystery, to a dangerous trail of clues. This is my tale of the ghost, the rat, and me.?” Campbell Olson. –Description from Goodreads

ebook, 110 pages
Published November 20th 2012 by Winking Owl Publications
ISBN13
9781596579781
edition language
English
My thoughts :
The Ghost, The Rat and Me is a middle grade fiction book that has a paranormal twist. While the book, in and of itself, is not terribly frightening, I thought it was entertaining enough to hold the attention of of a young teen.

Temple is a very well thought out and well described character. I like the way the author described his devotion to Bell. There are plenty of funny moments throughout the book that made me smile and a couple that outright made me laugh. There were a few parts in the book that I couldn’t see even a young teenager believing, but for the most part this was pretty fun. There is also a bit of sweet romance.

This book is very age-appropriate for the 11 to 14 age group. There is nothing in it that you wouldn’t want your child to read. Bell was an interesting character, although there were times when she acted very naive. The story contains a bit of mystery a few thrills and is an easy enough and short enough read that it can be accomplished in a single sitting.

The author made Temple a fun hero. He was nerdy and geeky (like me) and I think teens would have an easy time relating to his awkwardness. Although he was pretty suave in life, as a Ghost he has a lot to learn. He was just all around a really well planned addition to this story.

Overall, I think this is the type of juvenile fiction that I would be happy to have my own children read, and I would recommend it to the above listed age group.

This review is based on a digital ARC from the publisher.

The Flame in the Mist by Kit Grindstaff

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Set in an imagined past, this dark fantasy-adventure is for fans of Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. Features  Jemma, a fiery-headed heroine held captive in Agromond Castle, yet destined to save mist-shrouded Anglavia.

Fiery-headed Jemma Agromond is not who she thinks she is, and when the secrets and lies behind her life at mist-shrouded Agromond Castle begin to unravel, she finds herself in a chilling race for her life. Ghosts and misfits, a stone and crystals, a mysterious book, an ancient prophecy—all these reveal the truth about Jemma’s past and a destiny far greater and more dangerous than she could have imagined in her wildest fantasies. With her telepathic golden rats, Noodle and Pie, and her trusted friend, Digby, Jemma navigates increasingly dark forces, as helpers both seen and unseen, gather. But in the end, it is her own powers that she must bring to light, for only she has the key to defeating the evil ones and fulfilling the prophecy that will bring back the sun and restore peace in Anglavia.–Description from Goodreads

Hardcover, 464 pages
Expected publication: April 9th 2013 by Delacorte Press
ISBN
0385742908 (ISBN13: 9780385742900)
edition language
English
You can find this book Here
My thoughts:
Okay–someone has to be telling untruths here…there is no way that this is a debut novel. This is too good to be a first book!”The Flame in the Mist” by author Kit Grindstaff is an incredible fantasy with all the elements you want in a fantasy read. Jemma is the perfect heroine to lead the way in this absorbing and well-written tale. She is strong and funny, smart and sassy–the epitome of what the young fantasy heroine should be.

I fell in love with her two rats, Noodle and Pie. Telepathic rats? Awesome. Fantasy needed that kind of creativity to redeem it.

This novel has a bit of a dark theme, but it is handled so well that it would be perfectly appropriate for the younger end of the YA market as well as the older. I’m 31 and I smiled all the way through it! One of the things that I found engaging about this book, is that the evil is relentless. The presence of the dark forces at work in this novel are always there, lingering just below the surface. This built up suspense and made for a wonderful pace to this story.

Along with a lot of creative and original descriptions, excellent character names and some fantasy appropriate humor, the dialogue in this novel is superior to that of many other authors in this genre. I love fantasy because it takes you away from reality and transports you to somewhere else. This book does just that. It enabled me to leave my worries behind and just have a really good time.

Honestly, this is the kind of fantasy that made me want to read fantasy in the first place. Loved it and can’t wait to see what is next!

This review is based on a digital ARC from the publisher.

The Night Ones Legacy By Gwen Bristol

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When Lily breaks the most serious law in her village, she unwittingly unleashes an army of Night Ones, fierce creatures who are rumored to eat children.

But as she struggles to make things right, she realizes that not every story she’s been told is true…

In order to save her people, Lily must find a stolen treasure, uncover the truth, and restore a lost emperor to his throne—and she has to do it before time runs out and thousands of innocent lives are lost…

THE NIGHT ONES LEGACY is a middle-grade fantasy in which the heroine foils a plot to commit genocide on a suppressed minority race, discovers who she is and ultimately regains the family she thought she had lost forever.–Description from Amazon.com

  • File Size: 287 KB
  • Print Length: 357 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1461137357
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English

You can find this book HERE

You can go and visit Gwen and find out more HERE

My thoughts on this novel:

“A momentary break in the clouds let a single ray of sunshine fall heavily to the ground.” –and so begins Gwen Bristol’s “The Night Ones Legacy.” This is a truly refreshing YA novel. I was immediately drawn in to this book by the beautiful descriptions the author uses to tell about the land of her characters.

The heroine of the story, a twelve year old girl, is a fascinating character. She wants to do what is best for herself and her family, and yet the author does an amazing job of making sure the reader understands her age. She comes across as precocious and curious and later in the story, highly intelligent and determined. I really liked her spirit. As this book progresses, the plot thickens and the reader is taken on a journey through the oppression of the people, and the evil that the main character must counteract in order to save all that she holds dear.

The author has also written really good dialogue. The ways of the people are apparent just through their speech alone. I liked the emotion and reactions of the characters throughout the novel.

Although this book is marketed for the YA audience, I think it has a broader appeal. I enjoyed this very much and I don’t think that just the younger end of the crowd will find a reason to appreciate this book. Any age group could enjoy this solid and well crafted writing. This is the first book by Gwen Bristol that I have read, and I think she is an author to watch.

My one complaint about this book is the cover. I think this is a stellar read with a lot of punch, and yet the cover doesn’t really show the flair that the contents have. Although it is an interesting cover, I don’t feel that it lives up to the powerful book it houses.

Concealed by Sang Kromah

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Concealed (Concealed, #1)

Some believe that at birth, we’re each born with some sort of guardian angel attached to us, watching from afar, but never seen by the human eye. But they’re wrong. Truth is it’s not that simple. There are certain people, special people, born of this world and of the other, who need that extra protection…that extra guidance. They go their entire lives, unaware of the other world, and unaware of the existence of their own personal watcher that watches from afar. But what happens when fate takes a turn for the worst, and The One who needs the aid of a watcher more than anyone before her can’t be found to be protected?

Bijou Fitzroy is strange. With the chaotic and unwanted gift of being an empath, she has spent her entire life as a sheltered recluse, being homeschooled by her secretive overprotective grandmother, who never stays long enough in one location for Bijou to ever settle and make friends. Not only does she lack social skills, but her physical appearance is so ethereal that it beckons onlookers to look away before she has the chance to make eye contact. Oh, and things get even weirder. Besides the occasional tendency to see strange things that no one else seems to notice, sixteen-year-old Bijou has been plagued by semi-prophetic nightmares of strange creatures her entire life; yet she yearns for sleep, because it’s the only place she gets to see him…well sort of. No matter what Bijou dreams of, the faceless boy is always there like some sort of harbinger of danger, always watching, always waiting. And even though his coming always pre-empts chaos, she’s fallen in love with this boy without a face.

When Bijou and her grandmother move to Eldersburg and she starts to attend the local high school, she meets Sebastian Sinjin, a strange boy, who forces Bijou to question the world around her, and the grandmother she thought she knew. Bijou’s world begins to crumble as the creatures from her nightmares begin to take shape in her reality, the faceless boy becomes real, and town locals begin to disappear as she finds herself at the center of a war she never knew was being fought. Bijou has to stand alone and be the savior everyone expects her to be.–Description from Goodreads

Paperback, 383 pages
Published October 15th 2011 by The Little Things Publushing, LLC.
ISBN
0983853509 (ISBN13: 9780983853503)
edition language
English
original title
Concealed (Concealed, #1)
series
characters
setting
Sykesville, Maryland (United States)
I know there are a quite a few readers who are not thrilled with first person narrative, but let me tell you, that in this case it works brilliantly.This book starts out with a bang and has a pretty even and exciting pace throughout. I was at first very skeptical, this being a first novel, that the author would be able to pull off what the book lays claim to. Would this be a completely original novel that I had never seen before? The answer is a resounding yes.

I was impressed for a couple of main reasons. First of all, the characters are well planned and don’t seem to be simple repeats of other popular characters from previous books or movies.

Secondly, and in my opinion more importantly, although this is a YA type novel, the romance is mature and has the kind of development that you want to see between the characters. Not everyone is blushing and winking and ugghhh…you know, that stuff that YA romances tend to feature. The characters are intelligent enough to make decisions and stand by them, and that is important to me as a reader.

The element of mystery in this book does not soon relent and it actually took me until the very end to figure everything out. Concealed was the perfect title for this novel.

There were some spots where I felt the passages were a bit wordy and could have been simplified, but overall I was happy with this book from a new author who is clearly very talented.

I would recommend this book to anyone, adult or teen. I thought it was an enjoyable read that I think others would like.

This review is based on a digital review copy.

 

This post is rather a special one as it is my 100th post!

The Gathering Darkness by Lisa Collicutt

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The Gathering Darkness by Lisa CollicuttThey say “third time’s the charm”, and for sixteen-year-old Brooke Day, they had better be right. She’s been here before, twice in fact, and an evil demon-witch wants her dead a third time.

When Brooke is forced to leave Boston for the small town of Deadwich, she thinks her life is over. Before long, her new friends start acting strange—downright evil. But worse than that, nightmares she’s had her whole life become reality.

Enter Marcus Knight; popular, hot, and the only person Brooke can trust. Not to mention, they’ve shared the same nightmares.

With the discovery of an ancient Celtic amulet, Brooke and Marcus unravel the secrets of her past, which reveals the key to her future.

As the equinox approaches:

Darkness and light merge for the first time in a century.

Soul-mates reunite.

Magic awakens–Description from Goodreads

Paperback, 320 pages
Published September 22nd 2012 by Curiosity Quills Press (first published September 21st 2012)
ISBN
1620070936 (ISBN13: 9781620070932)
edition language
English

You can find out more information here:

My review of The Gathering Darkness:
The Gathering Darkness by Lisa Collicutt is one of the best YA paranormal romances I have read so far.

The author has a unique way of dealing with witchcraft in this story and I am pleased to report that it didn’t feel like a repeat of other books that deal with the same subject.

I liked the main character, Brook. She was intelligent and I thought the fact that she expressed fear instead of coming off as an untouchable character, gave her the depth I needed to see in order to care what happened to her throughout the rest of the story.

The way the author chose to give her main female lead choices in male companionship added just the right element of uncertainty to make it more interesting. Rather than the expected teenage melodrama, I felt the romance in this book was much more mature and well crafted than one usually sees in a teen novel.

Ravenwyck Inn was described wonderfully and I really got a sense that the place was creepy and not somewhere you would want to be caught alone in. I love it when a book has such good imagery that it sends a small shiver up your spine. I liked the fictional town Deadwich (great name) and could really see how a girl that age would have struggled to adjust to her new surroundings.

The only thing I would have changed about this book, is that I would have liked to have seen a little more history on the main character. She obviously has a past, but it is barely touched upon.

Overall, I found this to be an engaging and exciting read with plenty of unexpected elements throughout. If you are looking for a very well written and at times intense YA novel, this book is the one to pick up.

This review is based on a digital ARC from the publisher.

 

Dr. Frankenstein’s Daughters by Suzanne Weyn

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Dr. Frenkenstein's Daughters

A new generation is creating a monster….

When Doctor Victor Frankenstein died, he left behind a legacy of horror…as well as two unacknowledged, beautiful twin daughters. Now these girls are seventeen, and they’ve come to Frankenstein’s castle to claim it as their inheritance.

Giselle and Ingrid are twins, but they couldn’t be more different. Giselle is a glamorous social climber who plans on turning Frankenstein’s castle into a center of high society. Ingrid, meanwhile, is quiet and studious, drawn to the mysterious notebooks her father left behind…and the experiments he went mad trying to perfect.

As Giselle prepares for lavish parties and Ingrid finds herself falling for the sullen, wounded naval officer next door, a sinister force begins to take hold in the castle. Nobody’s safe as Frankenstein’s legacy leads to a twisted, macabre journey of romance and horror.–Description from Amazon.com

 

  • Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Scholastic Press (January 1, 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0545425336
  • ISBN-13: 978-0545425339

You can find this book here: http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Frankensteins-Daughters-Suzanne-Weyn/dp/0545425336/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1359663348&sr=8-2

My Review of Dr. Frankenstein’s Daughters

When the Identical twin daughters of the infamous Victor Frankenstein inherit the family castle, they never expect for life to change as drastically as it does. With horror, suspense and romance all in the same story, this is one to read for a real adventure.

Somehow I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did. I was not only surprised by the accuracy of the references the author made to the original work, but also delighted with her ability to tell a compelling story based on said work.

The twin girls that are the main protagonists are as different as night and day. One of them is concerned with fashion and her appearance and how society views her, while the other is intelligent, simple and rather introspective. These differences made this an interesting book. Rather than only seeing things through the eyes of one character, the reader gets the opportunity to view the story through both of the main character’s points of view.

This book had enough suspense to keep me reading, wondering what would happen next. For a young adult book, I thought the love story was actually pretty complex and the characters had a lot of depth. The author, Suzanne Weyn, used descriptive language that provided me with vibrant imagery.

The dialogue was very well written and believable, sounding appropriate for the historical period of the setting.

I would certainly recommend this book to others. I think early teens and younger adults would easily become lost in this intelligently written and entertaining novel.

This review is based on a digital ARC from the publisher.