Review: Darwin's Children by Natasha Larry

Title: Darwin's Children

Series: Darwin's Children #1

Author: Natasha Larry

Genre: YA, paranormal

Publication date: May 2011

Published by: Penumbra Publishing

Source: Review copy received from author (Thanks!)

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Synopsis:

Life can get pretty complicated for any seventeen-year-old girl, but for a home-schooled telepathic black girl trying to survive in a prestigious private school in small-town Jonesborough, Tennessee, it can be maddening especially when her telepathic father keeps eavesdropping on her thoughts!

Jaycie Lerner's family isn't the usual mom-dad-kid setup. Jaycie's mom is MIA, but Allison, her personal live-in trainer, is more than a mom, with her own special abilities, like being able to lift cars and run incredibly fast. And Jaycie's godfather John is more than persuasive, he can literally convince anyone to do anything.

As far as the rest of the world's concerned, Jaycie's on the outside looking in. The townsfolk love Jaycie's pediatrician father, but she doesn't fit in with normal kids, and she doesn't really want to. Most of her free time is spent training to keep her telekinetic and telepathic powers under control. But there's one thing she can't control, and that's her feelings, especially when her best friend Matt is nearby. If only he knew what she was truly capable of...

Everything seems to be status quo for Jaycie until she receives a cryptic message from a stranger and meets a very unusual girl new to Jonesborough. Then all hell breaks loose!

My rating: ★★★★☆
Jacie and her quite unusual family are special in the sense that they each have a supernatural ability. Jacie and her father are both telepaths and have telekinesis; Jacie’ mother figure and live-in personal trainer, Allison, is super strong and fast; and her godfather John has the power of persuasion. Jacie may seem like a unique girl, and she is, but she is also just like any other teenager…especially when it comes to her BFF Matt, who she has developed deep feelings for. Jacie not only worries about her evolving relationship with Matt, but also what he’ll think when he finds out about the things she can do. However, these are the least of her worries. After a stranger gives Jacie a very obscure message, she befriends a girl (Haylee) who may be more than she appears to be. With the help of Jacie and her family, Haylee learns things about herself that are frightening.

Review: The Moon and the Tide (Marina's Tales #2) by Derrolyn Anderson

Title: The Moon and the Tide

Series: Marina's Tales #2

Previous book in this series: Between the Land and the Sea

Author: Derrolyn Anderson

Genre: YA, paranormal

Publication date: April 2011

Published by: Derrolyn Anderson

Source: Review copy received from the author (Thank You!)

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Synopsis:

Just when things seem to be all figured out, Marina discovers that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than she ever imagined. When she learned the truth about her past she thought the drama was over, but she couldn't have been more wrong.

Shocked to discover her whole life has been a lie, Marina is confronted with more than one kind of betrayal, taking solace in a dangerous new habit. After a terrible accident exposes her secret, a dangerous enemy arrives on the scene. Marina's bravery is put to the test once again, forcing her to use all of her new-found skills to protect her family.

Can good triumph over evil?

Will true love win out over jealousy?

My rating: ★★★★☆
It hasn’t been long since Marina found out that her mother was a mermaid…making her half-human, half-mermaid. If it wasn’t for Ethan, the love of her life, Marina would be lost at sea, running (or swimming, in this case) wild among the mermaids. Marina may have declined their offer to become an immortal mermaid permanently, but the lure of the sea is as tempting as ever. But that is the least of her problems when tragedy strikes. After a terrible accident the exposes mermaids, Marina is being pursued by unknown forces that put Marina and the rest of the mermaids in danger.

Review: Between the Land and the Sea (Marina's Tales #1) by Derrolyn Anderson

Title: Between the Land and the Sea

Series: Marina's Tales #1

Author: Derrolyn Anderson

Genre: YA, paranormal

Publication date: Aprill 2011

Published by: Derrolyn Anderson

Source: Review copy received from the author (Thank You!)

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Synopsis:

Something extraordinary is lurking in the deep ocean waters off the coast of Aptos, California. Just a few weeks after moving to the beach town, sixteen year old Marina has nearly drowned twice, enchanted the hottest guy in high school, and discovered a supernatural creature. If she can only manage to survive her dangerous encounters with unpredictable mermaids, she might just be able to uncover the mystery of her past and learn how to appease the mysterious forces that seem to want something from her... and maybe even find true love along the way.

My rating: ★★★★☆
Marina is sent to live from San Francisco to Aptos with her aunt after her father leaves to work on a project in Afghanistan. Marina, however, does not expect for her life to be turned upside down. Upon arriving she starts her senior year at the local high school, where she meets Ethan. And before she knows it, Marina is falling for Ethan…hard. Also, while on the beach, she discovers the existence of mermaids, mermaids who may be the cause of her nightly nightmares that could possibly become the death of her. Not only that, but Marina soon discovers that her past is intertwined with that of the mermaids. The truth will alter Marina’s reality forever.

Review: Boys that Bite (Blood Coven Vampire #1) by Mari Mancusi

Title: Boys that Bite

Series: Blood Coven Vampire #1

Author: Mari Mancusi

Genre: YA, paranormal

Publication date: April 2006

Published by: Berkley Trade

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis:

Two sisters—as different as the sun and the rain. For one, getting into the Blood Coven is to die for. But for the other, getting out could be lethal...

When Sunny McDonald gets dragged to Club Fang by her twin sister Rayne, she doesn't expect to find anything besides a bunch of Goth kids playing at being vampires. But when some guy mistakes Sunny for her dark-side-loving sister and bites her on the neck, she finds out that his fangs are real—and deadly.

Now, Sunny has less than a week to figure out how to reverse the bite, or else she's going to end up as the perpetually undead. And not only will she be a vampire, she'll also be bonded to Magnus—the bloodsucker who bit her—forever. And forever is a really long time...

My rating: ★★★★★
Identical twins Sunny and Rayne McDonald couldn’t be more different: while Rayne would give her life (literally) to join the vampires in the Blood Coven, Sunny wants out…NOW! It all started with a bad case of mistaken identity. Rayne persuades Sunny to come with her to a nightclub known as Club Fang (very appropriate). Here, a vampire (Magnus) bites the wrong twin, beginning the process of vampirism. From here, Sunny has less than a week to reverse the process, and the only one who is able to help her with this is none other than Magnus, the very vampire that bit her!

Review: First Frost (Mythos Academy #0.5) by Jennifer Estep

Title: First Frost

Series: Mythos Academy #0.5

Author: Jennifer Estep

Genre: YA, urban fantasy

Publication date: July 2011

Published by: Kensington, K-Teen

Source: Own e-book

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Synopsis:

I am Gwen Frost, and I have a Gypsy gift. It's called psychometry - that's a fancy way of saying that I see images in my head and get flashes of other people's memories off almost everything I touch, even guys.

My gift makes me kind of nosy. Okay, okay, maybe a lot nosy--to the point of obsession sometimes. I want to know everything about everyone around me. But even I don't want to know the secrets my friend Paige is hiding or the terrible loss that will send me to a new school - Mythos Academy, where the teachers aren't preparing us for the SATs, but to battle Reapers of Chaos. Now I have no friends and no idea how my gift fits in with all these warrior whiz kids. The only thing I do know is that my life is never, ever going to be the same...

My rating: ★★★★☆
Gwen Frost has a supernatural ability called psychometry, which basically means that when she touches and object she can see images, the memories of other people who constantly came in contact with the object and had some sort of meaning for them. In this novella we see how Gwen helps out a girl (Paige) by simply touching her hairbrush, how and why Gwen’s mother dies, and when Metis comes to take her to her new school: Mythos Academy.

Review: One Hundred Candles (Past Midnight #2) by Mara Purnhagen

Title: One Hundred Candles

Series: Past Midnight #2

Previous books in this series: Past Midnight (#1) | Raising the Dead (#1.5)

Author: Mara Purnhagen

Genre: YA, paranormal, mystery, horror

Publication date: Feb. 2011

Published by: HarlequinTeen

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis:

It's taken a long time for me to feel like a normal teenager. But now that I'm settled in a new school, where people know me as more than Charlotte Silver of the infamous Silver family paranormal investigators, it feels like everything is falling into place. And what better way to be normal than to go on a date with a popular football star like Harris Abbott? After all, it's not as if Noah is anything more than a friend….

But my new life takes a disturbing turn when Harris brings me to a party and we play a game called One Hundred Candles. It seems like harmless, ghostly fun. Until spirits unleashed by the game start showing up at school. Now my friends and family are in very real danger, and the door that I've opened into another realm may yield deadly consequences.

My rating: ★★★★★
It all started with a harmless game called one hundred candles. Harris, a popular football player from school, brings Charlotte to a party where the few guests present are playing this game. Everyone must contribute by telling real horror stories that happened to them or someone they know…100 scary stories that correspond to 100 lit candles. Charlotte, reluctantly, joins the game.

Review: The Sleepwalkers by J. Gabriel Gates

Title: The Sleepwalkers

Author: J. Gabriel Gates

Genre: YA, mystery, horror

Publication date: October 4, 2011

Published by: HCI Teens

Source: the publishers via Netgalley

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Synopsis:

A chilling and masterfully crafted teen horror novel guaranteed to keep the pages turning, the mind reeling, and the lamp on any reader's bedside table on long after midnight.

Privileged and popular Caleb Mason is celebrating his high school graduation when he receives a mysterious, disturbing letter from his long-lost childhood playmate, Christine. Caleb and his jokester friend Bean decide to travel to his tiny hometown of Hudsonville, Florida, to find her. Upon arrival, they discover the town has taken a horrifying turn for the worse. Caleb's childhood home is abandoned and his father has disappeared. Children are going missing. The old insane asylum has reopened, and Christine is locked inside. Her mother, a witch, is consumed with madness, and Christine's long-dead twin sister whispers clues to Caleb through the static of an a.m. radio. The terrifying prophesies of the spirits are coming to pass. Sixteen clocks are ticking; sixty-six murdered souls will bring about the end of the world. As Caleb peels back layer after layer of mystery, he uncovers a truth more horrible than anything he had imagined, a truth that could only be uttered by the lips of the dead.

My rating: ★★★★☆

During his graduation party, Caleb (AKA “Billy”) receives a very cryptic letter from his childhood friend Christine, whom he has not talked to or seen in many years. Caleb and his best friend Bean decide to go to the small town where Caleb grew up, but once they arrive, Caleb finds out that the old abandoned asylum has been reopened and that way too many people in the small town have gone missing…including Caleb’s father. Even worse, no one seems to be doing anything about it!