Play Nice

Finished September 16

Play Nice by Rachel Harrison

This creepy horror novel is narrated by Clio, the youngest of three daughters, with Leda being the eldest and Daphne the middle daughter. Clio is in her late twenties and works as a stylist and fashion influencer in New York City. Her parents divorced when she was young and her mother bought a house that is the origin of the creepiness in the novel. 

Her mother Alexandra believed that there was something living in the house that was evil, and her actions surrounding this belief caused her to lose custody of the three girls. Following that Alexandra moved in with a new partner in the city, and wrote a book about the house and its evil presence and how she experienced that. The girls agree to not read the book, and Clio hasn't until she finds a portion of it in the house, with annotations by her mom addressed to her. 

Alexandra died of a heart attack when visiting the house, and Clio is the only one to go to the funeral. Her older sisters have more traumatic memories of their time in the house, so Clio volunteers to fix and update the house to prepare it for sale, with the idea of using this redecoration/renovation as content for her socials. She also hopes that it will make the home get more money when it sells. She is a natural when it comes to design and an eye for what looks good, and she really puts labour into the job. 

But whether it is the stories from her mother's book, the noises she isn't used to in the house, or whether there really is something paranormal going on, Clio begins to be affected by the situation, particularly when staying at the house as she works on it. 

This is a compelling read, with a strong, independent woman at the centre who approaches the situation with logic and practicality. She does accept help, and hires specialists, aware that she doesn't know how to do what needs to be done herself. Her relationships aren't deep except with her family, partly due to her independent attitude. I liked her and appreciated how she could step back and analyse what happened at different points to seek out different reasons for things. 

This is great suspense, psychological suspense with some physical elements to add creepiness to the horror. A book that is hard to put down. 

Awaken

Finished September 9

Awaken by Skye Malone

This novel is the first in a series of paranormal teen romance books. The main character is Chloe Kowalski, a girl in her senior year of high school who has grown up in Kansas, but has always longed for the Pacific Ocean. Her parents are very strict in many respects, but more so when it comes to water. She's not allowed to even go to a swimming pool or a lake, and has never taken swimming lessons. Their only explanation is that water is dangerous and carries diseases. When her best friend Bailey invites her to her father's beach house with Bailey's older (cute) stepbrothers, Noah and Maddox, she is eager to go, but again her parents refuse. So Chloe climbs out her window and goes anyway. 

She finds the ocean compelling, and feels a tingle when she puts her feet into it. A merman named Zeke is nearby and notice the strange reaction as well. But he isn't the only one.

After a scary boating experience, Chloe's parents arrive to fetch her home, but she still is drawn back, looking for an opportunity to run away. 

When girls similar in appearance to Skye begin to go missing, the whole oceanside community is scared of what's going on, and Chloe finds herself questioning her reality, her situation, and who might want to kill her just for existing. 

Crystal Magic

Finished May 31

Crystal Magic by Madeline Freeman

This teen novel is the first in a series set in a small town called Clearwater. Kristyl Barnette has been living with unusual occurrences that she doesn't understand. When she feels strong emotions, things around break or explode or move. She also sees images and scenes around people she knows. When she first shared these with friends, she found herself ostracized and now is just regarded as weird. 

When a tragedy in her life causes her paternal aunt to come get her and move her back to the house her aunt and father grew up in, in the small town of Clearwater, Michigan, she finds herself with a fresh start. 

She finds new friends quickly, but also makes an enemy, a girl called Crystal who is rumored to be a witch. She finds herself a target of bullying from Crystal's group of friends, but her own friend group is one that stands firm with her, and she finds herself developing feelings for one boy. When a situation at school results in one of her occurrences, she finds herself wondering about her own magical abilities. 

Her aunt tries to help, but Kristyl finds herself drawn to Crystal's group and a need to understand the truth. 

This novel ends with an interesting situation that definitely leads into the next book in the series. This is a teen read set in our reality, with a strong paranormal element and outcomes that are unexpected. 

Soulless

Finished October 28

Soulless by Gail Carriger, illustrated by Jensine Eckwall

This lighthearted crime novel takes place in the early part of the Victorian era, in an alternate paranormal version of our world. It is the first in a series. England has recognized that vampires, ghosts, and werewolves exist, and thus they no longer have to hide anymore. Most of these paranormal beings live in hives (vampires) or dens (werewolves), but the occasional loner lives as a rove. There is a government organization, the Bureau of Unnatural Registry (BUR) that keeps watch on them and ensures that they abide by the laws and that they have registered with the government. In this world, these beings owe their supernatural abilities to an abundance of soul., an excess that refused to die. 

The main character of this series, Miss Alexia Tarabotti, is otherwise gifted. She has no soul at all, thus the title of this first book. When she comes into contact with a person with supernatural abilities, those abilities disappear, and the are entirely normal human beings. Some feel threatened by creatures such as her, some enjoy the occasional touch. Persons without a soul, called preternatural, are rare, and females even more so. 

Alexia is a member of the upper classes, and lives with her mother, her stepfather, and two stepsisters. Alexia's father was Italian, which is not that welcomed in society, and neither are the olive skin and dark hair she also inherited from him. Her family and most of society are not aware of her soullessness, but those with supernatural abilities are. So when, at a party at someone's home, Alexia is alone and is attacked by a vampire, she is surprised, but so is he. This is definitely not acceptable behaviour, as any such interaction must be consensual by law. He doesn't know what to make of her, when his supernatural features disappear when they come into contact. In the course of the struggle, Alexia inadvertently kills him, and finds herself under scrutiny by the head of BUR, Lord Conall Maccon, previously of Scotland, and a werewolf. 

As BUR begins to investigate the sudden appearance of new vampires and werewolves, and the sudden disappearance of roving ones, Alexia finds a suitor from America who shows some interest in her and is delighted with her intelligence and ability to speak comfortably on scientific topics. He has come to speak at a new scientific institute which has gone up in the heart of London. 

Alexia also finds herself in an uncertain courting dance with Lord Maccon, which is confusing to both of them. She confides in both her closest female friend, Miss Ivy Hisselpenny, and her closest male friend, the flamboyant rove vampire, Lord Akeldama. Both of them are helpful in their own ways. 

The drawings interspersed throughout the book are delightful and detailed. The story has humour, a deeper layer of social commentary, as well as good characters and dialogue. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. 

The Invited

Finished July 1

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

This novel set in a rural area near a small town in Vermont, has a couple, Helen and Nate, who have quit their jobs, bought a property, and are building their own house there. Helen was a history teacher and she is fascinated by the history of their property, particularly a previous owner, Hattie Breckenridge, who lived there many decades earlier. Hattie was suspected of witchcraft and was hanged by the townspeople. 

As Helen looks for historical artifacts that connect Hattie and her descendants to the home she and Nate are building, she begins to see things, and gets drawn to certain places and things. 

Nate, meanwhile, becomes obsessed with an unusual animal that he has seen in the marshes near their home, spending time tracking and trying to capture images of it. 

A teenage girl who lives nearby is mourning the loss of her mother, who disappeared recently. Olive's father is struggling with the unexplained disappearance of his wife and seems focused on remaking their home to draw her back. Olive herself is drawn to Helen and Nate, the stories of Hattie, and the mysterious activities of her mother before she disappeared. 

This story has a lot going on, that gradually comes together around the story of Hattie and her descendants. 

Hunger

Finished June 26

Hunger by Michael Grant

This is the second book in the Gone series for teens. I read the first one years ago, and own the third and fourth, so finally tackled the second so I could read these. This is a series that definitely builds on itself and needs to be read in order. This book is much darker than the first as food is becoming a real issue. Those in town have created a structure, and have organized a way to distribute food, but they know that they need to plan for other ways to provide food than what they have now. When they find crops in nearby agricultural areas, a new threat emerges. There is also a need to find a way to motivate everyone to work for their keep in some way so the onus doesn't end up on just a few. 

There is also a developing divide in town between regular kids and those who have developed special powers. Some of these powers are odd and the purpose of them is still being determined. Some of the regular kids are beginning to resent those with powers, particularly because many of them have taken on leadership roles. Some of those in leadership, like Sam, are feeling the stress of their responsibilities and are showing that stress.

The kids who have grouped at the former private boarding school are also developing a plot to regain power from those in town and their dark sides are a real threat to everyone.

The bigger threat we begin to see is the growing dark power of a mysterious underground presence who is focused only on its own needs, but has psychological powers that reach into the minds of anyone it has encountered or anyone who gets physically close to it. 

This is a dark novel, that seems even darker by the end, when the community has less resources than before, and more threats from both external and internal forces. 

Heart of Ice

Finished May 23

Heart of Ice by Alys Clare

This is the ninth book in the series set around Hawkenlye Abbey, but the first one that I've read. An interesting inclusion at the beginning of the novel is a map of Mediterranean trade routes which also includes arrows to the far east along the Silk Road, to to Congo basin, and up the coast to England.

The time is February 1194, and the book begins with people journeying from further away. Along with the people travels a disease and the book details its transmission from person to person. Thus we see the significance of the map right away. From here the story stays in England, and we see how the disease has taken hold of a small number of people near the Abbey, which is known for its healing spring and the nuns and monks who look after the ill that are drawn there. 

Besides those at the abbey itself, we see some of the local people. From the abbess Helewise and the local knight, Sir Josse d'Acquin to the local sheriff, Gervase de Gifford, down to the servant and laboring class, many people have a role to play here.

There is also an interesting element of the paranormal through both a piece of jewelry, and a local woman who has been recognized as having certain skills, many of them associated with healing, and we see her take a journey of learning amongst her people, the ancient Celts, and return to her home with greater knowledge and power, just in time to find her skills useful in the current health crisis.

I really enjoyed this book, both the intellectual investigations of the various characters as they look for the source of the disease to try to mitigate its spread, and the clues they follow regarding the young man killed for a reason they aren't aware of. We see how the story links to larger regional issues, with struggles for leadership in England and France. A very interesting and engrossing read. 

The Book of Cold Cases

Finished May 22

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

This book is centered on a young woman who was a victim of a crime in her childhood, and who now writes a true crime blog in her spare time. Shea Collins works as a receptionist in a medical office and has a trust issue due to her past experience. It is 2017, and Shea has lately been interested in a cold case from forty years ago. She lives and works near the area of the crimes, and finds herself visiting places connected with the case. 

The 1977 crime consisted of two killings of men. Both were shot at close range with the same gun. A wealthy young woman, Beth Greer, was seen leaving one of the crime scenes and was tried for the murders, but acquitted. When Shea runs into Beth by chance, she impulsively asks her for an interview and to her surprise, Beth agrees. 

This connection opens other doors and leads Shea to new sources of information on the crime. She learns a lot about Beth's family and her reclusive life, and she finds herself noticing things  at the mansion that Beth lives in that have no rational explanation, and make her very uneasy. 

One of Shea's fans is a local private investigator and ex-cop, Michael De Vos, and she has often bounced ideas off of him. She's never met him, but she has a connection with him, and this case strengthens that connection. 

She also has her married sister Esther, who lives nearby, and who worries about her. And there is the unexpected appearance of a stray cat, who Shea more or less adopts and who helps her make a breakthrough in some of the issues she has from her own experiences.

I found Shea a very interesting character, a woman who wants to overcome her issues, but doesn't really know how to. She's so used to putting up barriers in her life, that she finds it difficult to remove them. The cold case, and the mysterious Beth bring a level of the paranormal to the book, that makes it creepy in moments that leave you holding your breath. 

A great read. 

Our Animal Hearts

Finished May 12

Our Animal Hearts by Dania Tomlinson

This historical fiction novel is set in British Columbia's Okanagan area before, during, and after World War I. The narrator is Iris Sparks, who is twelve as the book opens. She lives with her parents, a Welsh mother Llewelyna, English father Noah, and younger brother Jacob. Her father travels often as he is still managing his family's coal mines in Britain. Her father's family looks down on her mother and when her paternal grandmother visits, she criticizes their manners and clothes and tries to instill upper class attitudes into them. But Iris is more of a free spirit. She is tutored by an older Indigenous man named Henry, a friend of her mother's who has an extensive library and vast cultural knowledge. Henry teaches her not only Milton and Spinoza, but also how to call animals and find edibles in the woods. He tells her Indigenous legends including one of a lake monster, Naitaka. 

As the book opens, Iris's mother receives a present from her husband of a peacock egg. When it hatches, she names the bird Saint Francis and it becomes a pet, going with her almost everywhere she goes and she spent much of her time in her fenced garden, treating it like a room that she felt at home in, and where others were sometimes permitted access. Shortly after this, Iris witnesses her mother's first seizure, something she is asked to hide from the rest of the family. 

Llewelyna is a woman who believes in the paranormal, fairy tales from her childhood in Wales, and the existence of a monster in the lake nearby. Henry also believes in the ghosts of his ancestors, and talks of them to Iris, so she isn't surprised to start seeing them either.  Iris also makes friends with the daughter of a Japanese man her father hires to manage their orchards, Azami. Azami is also adjusting to her life as an immigrant. While her family has adopted Christianity, she tries to keep some customs from their culture. 

As Iris grows up, Jacob is sent away to boarding school in England, Llewelyna's seizures grow more frequent, and Iris finds herself caught between worlds. Then World War I begins and the men and older boys leave to fight. 

Iris's world offers challenges in understanding, in love, in friendship, and in the things she must do to continue to thrive. This is a story of change, of the issues of otherness, and of what constitutes home. A fascinating read. 

Practical Magic

Finished May 16

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

This tale takes us through the lives of two sisters from their childhood through their late thirties. Gillian and Sally Owens were orphaned as children and came to live with their aunts, women that lived in a house built by an earlier generation of Owens woman, Maria. The house had certain strange things about it, and around it, and the aunts were known by the townsfolk, particularly the women, to have certain abilities around herbs and tonics, particularly when it came to love. The visits from the town women generally came at twilight, when it was easier to go unnoticed in the shadows. 

Sally and Gillian were sent to their attic bedroom when visitors came, but they almost always snuck down the back stairs and listened and watched. Sally was more practically minded and she cooked for the household, even at a young age, but the two girls knew things most girls didn't.

Both longed for a more normal life, where they had friends and weren't shunned and feared. Gillian ran away at the first chance she had as a young woman, and never stopped running. Sally stayed for a time, and started her own family with two daughters, Antonia and Kylie, but when tragedy strikes Sally slips into grief and then heads out to start a life elsewhere. 

Sally ends up on Long Island and finds a job as a secretary in a school, and makes a more normal life, bringing up her daughters with guidelines and expectations, and hosting birthday parties and checking homework. 

As Antonia becomes a teenager, she becomes more rebellious, dressing in black and tormenting her sister, but nothing out of the realm of normal. But then Gillian returns to their lives, and she brings a big problem with her. Sally helps her, and the two women hope for the best, but things aren't right, and as Kylie also hits her teenage years shortly after Gillian arrives, and shares a room with her aunt, she finds that she can see things about people and about feelings that give her insight, but also burden her. As things come to a head, and Gillian's past threatens to catch up with her, the aunts are called upon to help, and the family finds that some things will bind them together forever.

I liked the four main characters, the two sets of sisters, and as we got to know the aunts a bit at the end, they grew more interesting as well. I read this book quickly, drawn in by the plot and caring about what happened to them, and whether the evil that had come into their lives would be more than they could overcome. 

The Deadly Hours

Finished February 21

The Deadly Hours: An Anthology by Susanna Kearsley, C.S. Harris, Anna Lee Huber, and Christine Trent

This linked set of novellas has in common a pocket watch, one cursed from its origin in gold stolen from a church in Cartagena.

We first encounter the watch in 1733 along the Spanish coast when a fierce storm forces several ships to take shelter in a small coastal town. At the local inn, there are several players in international affairs. One has been sent to kill someone and others are on a mission to protect the same man. This first tale is by Susanna Kearsley and features her character Mary MacPherson along with her Jacobite husband Hugh. The watch is owned by Valcour, a pirate who took part in the acts in Cartagena. 

The second tale is set in the 1830s in Edinburgh and is told by Anna Lee Huber. It features her character Lady Darby and the watch seems to be linked with a number of deaths in the city, and is brought to Lady Darby's attention by a man who reappears several times in her life, the criminal leader Bonnie Brock Kincaid. She and her husband Gage track the rumours about the watch to try to save the city from the threat.

The third tale is set in London in the 1870s and is told by Christine Trent. This tale features her character the Victorian undertaker Violet Harper and her American photographer husband Samuel. Violet has been hired by a recently distinguished peer to gather his deceased relatives from wherever they are currently interred and bring them together in a new tomb. In one of the graves she opens, she finds a curious object, and it seems to bring trouble to the rich neighbourhood of her client.

The fourth and last tale is told by C.S. Harris and takes place in 1944 in a small town near Dover. The local leader of the Home Guard, and watch collector is found dead under suspicious circumstances and only one item seems to be missing from his home. When more victims are found, suspicion ranges to several foreigners living locally. The main characters here are a female historian and an MI5 agent.

I enjoyed the strong female characters in this book, and it was my first introduction to the characters in the stories. I also liked how the authors worked together to link the story of the watch over time. 

The Rogue Wave

Finished December 12

The Rogue Wave by Paul Nicholas Mason

This short novel mixes mystery and the paranormal in a battle of good and evil. The main character here is Matthew Harding runs a detective agency in Toronto where he handles cases with a metaphysical dimension. A young man, Andrew, comes to him regarding the recent disappearance of his fiancee Hannah. The two were on a tour boat in Nova Scotia when a sudden and huge wave swamped the boat, taking several people, including Hannah overboard. Some people were rescued, some bodies were found, and Hannah remained missing. An acquaintance of Andrew's has recently sent him a picture taken at a wedding in Mexico where a woman who looks very like Hannah is sitting with a man that she looks to be scared of. Andrew is sure that something else is going on, and Matthew takes the case. 

This is when the paranormal starts raising his head. Matthew has a near miss with a vehicle hit and run accident on the street near his office and receives a disturbing text message following that. Throughout the case a combination of threats, accidents and disturbing messages continues to follow him. When he goes in person to Nova Scotia, he finds that there were other weird happenings around the boat incident, and he goes on to Mexico to follow the lead of the photograph. 

Besides the disturbing incidents and the threatening messages, Matthew also encounters some other more benevolent people, who offer help and advice. 

I liked the paranormal or metaphysical side in this struggle between good and evil. and would have liked this book to be longer, going into more detail around some of the characters, like Hannah, and their feelings during this time, and Andrew and his paintings. I'd also like to know more about what happened to some of the people he encountered, like the translator in Mexico. 

This is definitely a unique type of mystery read that may appeal to a different audience than just mystery readers. 

Led Astray

Finished September 24
Led Astray: The Best of Kelley Armstrong by Kelley Armstrong

This collection of stories covers a lot of the worlds that Armstrong has created in her novels, with characters of a wide variety of paranormal types.
Stories include those set around Cainsville, Darkest Powers, Age of Legends, and Otherworld. Two of the stories are original to this collection, but others have appeared in a variety of other collections, and that information is given near the beginning of the book.
Some stories have a touch of humour to them, which I enjoyed as well. Others were very dark, almost horror.
Kelley Armstrong is an author I've been meaning to read for quite a while, so it was nice to start with a collection like this to give me a taste of her writing that is wider that one novel and one world. I can certainly see why she is so popular.
Another thing I like about her writing are the strong female characters. They aren't adjuncts to men, but lead characters who often set the direction for the story themselves.

CeeGee's Gift

Finished June 2
CeeGee's Gift by Joy H. Selak

Celia Gene (CeeGee) Williamson is twelve years old and a bit of a loner. She lives in the Magdalena islands on the coast of Texas, in a small close-knit community. She's been suppressing a part of herself for years, believing it to be the cause of discord within her family and not helpful to the people it relates.
CeeGee calls it a Knowing, where she knows something that will happen to someone before it actually happens. Up to this point, it has been harm and death that she has foreseen, but now the sensation has come despite her best efforts, and it may be a good thing.
CeeGee confides in a neighbour, Mr. Tindale, a widower that is near the end of his own life. And Mr. Tindale helps her understand that everyone has a gift of some type, and this is hers and he helps her see how even those past ones that she feels bad about weren't all bad.
As she learns more about her gift and how to communicate the knowledge she gains to those she gains it about in a sensitive way, she also grows as a person, and finds friendship and reconnects more meaningfully with her family.

Other Worlds

Finished February 16
Other Worlds by Barbara Michaels

I usually like Barbara Michaels fiction as they have a touch of both mystery and paranormal. This one is a little different. The setup is a fire-side meeting between a number of famous men: Harry Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle, the psychoanalyst Nandor Fodor, and others. Most of those attending have met similarly before and shared stories of unusual and mysterious situations, then give their own ideas on the truth behind them. This particular meeting has two stories.
One happened in small town Tennessee, where a family is first threatened by noises, which grow to more physical manifestations, threats of death, and a reappearance decades later.
The other is in small town Connecticut, where a recently remarried woman finds that her new husband's interest in the paranormal seems to threaten her children, and bring her unpleasant notoriety.
Each of the men has their own take on the situations, with some agreement but it is a woman author who tells the last story and whose intellect is a match for the mens'.

One Foot in the Grave

Finished May 4
One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost, read by Tavia Gilbert

This is the second novel in the Night Huntress series, but the first I've read. Cat Crawfield is a young woman who is half-vampire, half-human. Her mother hates and fears vampires and Cat found out her nature when she was sixteen. She is now in her early twenties and is a special agent for the FBI, leading a team who goes after rogue members of the undead. As the book starts, Cat learns that she has been targeted for assassination, and is facing great danger. When someone from her past reappears in her life, she must decide whether he offers a real future and protection or more danger than she can live with.
The voice of Cat here comes across as young, loyal to her men, yet a tad on the over-confident side. She doesn't just do her job, she engages in trash talk while doing so. She lets her emotions rule her actions sometimes, leading her into more difficult situations.
This is a book of fantasy and eroticism, with graphic sex scenes, and crude language. It is an action novel with a strong dose of paranormal.

Clockwork Princess

Finished December 15
Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

This is the third book and final book in her The Infernal Devices series. It continues the story of Tessa Gray as she and the London Institute Shadowhunters continue to fight against Mortmain (aka the Magister) as he tries to take revenge for what was done to his adoptive parents. Tessa and Charlotte separately learn the truth about Tessa's parentage and thus her real nature.
This also continues the story of Cecily, Will's younger sister, as she also discovers her calling as a Shadowhunter. The Lightwood brothers, Gideon and Gabriel, appear more fully, and we see their characters develop. We see more of both Charlotte and Henry as well.
There is much here that feeds into the other modern-day series about Shadowhunters, and we see how things began, and how history led to modern-day situations.
At the heart of this book is Tessa and her love for peace, for Jem, and for Will. Jem and Will have a bond as parabatai that is stronger than many family relationships, and it sustains them through much pain.
There is also a lesser theme about women's abilities that appears, certainly as part of the time it was set in, but beyond as well.
It is hard to write about this book without giving too much away, but I was pleased with the way things worked out here.

Clockwork Prince

Finished October 13
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

This is the second book in the Infernal Devices series, set in the late 1800s in London, England. Tessa Gray has found a home at the headquarters of the London Shadowhunters, but that home is in jeopardy. Charlotte's place as the head of the London group has been challenged, and a deadline has been given for significant progress on the hunt for the mysterious man known as the Magister. Tessa still is searching for her own origins, and looking for a connection to the people she now lives with. She wants to help Charlotte, but will her efforts work in the ways that she intends.
Also in the mix here is the warlock Magnus Bane, a man who has become involved despite himself. He seems to have a soft spot for Will and curiosity about Tessa that leads him to help when he can. As Charlotte calls in other favors from Downworlders, the group also begins to wonder whether someone in their inner circle is betraying them, and what the motives would be for that.
A novel with romance, danger, and growing knowledge of the self for many of the young characters, this has many elements that will appeal to teen readers.
The historical setting and paranormal genre will also bring many readers in. It continues the story begun in Clockwork Angel in a natural way, and introduces new characters as well as adding depth to existing ones.

Clockwork Angel

Finished October 11
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

This is the first volume in the Infernal Devices series, a prequel to the Mortal Instruments series. It is set in the late 1870s in London, England. Tessa Gray arrives in Hampstead looking to join her brother Nathaniel after the death of her aunt who raised the two after their parents died when Tessa was only a toddler. She is met by two elderly ladies who have a letter from her brother entrusting her to their care, but soon finds herself a captive, forced to do things she had no idea she was capable of.
When she finds that she is soon due to meet an even deadlier captor, she finds the courage to fight back, and just in time as others also working against the same dark forces discover her and want to both help her and use her powers for a different aim.
This is a story of good versus evil, of those who seem to be no threat to others deeper in evil than they appear, and those who appear the epitome of evil not as dangerous as they would have others think.
Tessa is an American girl who finds herself in a city she doesn't know, unsure of who to trust and finding herself able to do things she never dreamed were possible. As she tries to unite with her missing brother, she also wants to defeat those who tried to use her abilities for their own ends. Tessa is just emerging into adulthood and not immune to the young males she now comes into contact with. There is lots going on here, and plenty to keep you turning the pages.

The Romanov Cross

Finished March 7
The Romanov Cross by Robert Masello

This tale takes place on a small Alaskan island, St. Peter's Island, near the mainland village of Port Orlov. The island is rocky and treacherous and most people have avoided it since the small community of Russians who lived there died of the Spanish Flu in 1918.
But when a fishing craft drifts too near, and the lone survivor comes back with a carved wooden lid of a coffin, questions are raised.
Dr. Frank Slater is an epidemiologist who, in making a call in Afghanistan to try to save the life of a young girl, countermands orders and is dishonourably discharged from the army. But his sentence is stayed as he is tasked to put together a team to investigate the situation on St. Peter's Island and ensure there is no possibility of contagion from the graves there.
Slater uses Port Orlov as a staging base for his work, and the mayor there, a native woman, becomes involved after noting that the island is native territory. The small team encounters strange things there, and finds that they aren't the only ones present on the island, and the intruders may be risking more than they thought in trying to find a treasure they imagine to exist.
The story of what happened on the island has a long trail back, a trail that leads to the Russian royal family, to the always mysterious fate of the youngest daughter Anastasia, and to the legacy of the monk known as Rasputin.
This is a tale of greed, love, death, and tragedy, a tale with a long history, and a touch of the paranormal. A great read.