The Finding
I have recently had the pleasure of discovering a wonderful Canadian writer. I know, I know, but you read right. A CANADIAN writer, believe me, it was unplanned.
Kelley Armstong should thank Doubleday Publishing, because the cover and jacket both won me over. I had no idea that the author, Armstrong, was even Canadian. I would have stomped all over it like a flaming bag of poo had I known. See my post called "A big poo-poo on most Canadian art forms" for insight into my aversion of Canadiana.
I read two novels in a series of hers that kept me hooked from beginning to end.
Book one was The Summoning. The story begins with a chilling scene where a little girl is sent to the basement by a cruel babysitter to search for something. The little girl finds terror as she sees a dead body hanging from the ceiling. We jump forward to the present and the MC--Chloe--is a teenager now. I like Chloe, for she has aspirations for her future and is not a wuss, unlike some heroines in certain books. As she struggles to fit in to her new school and deal with her distant father she encounters a dead body at school that speaks to her, but no one else can see him. He is burnt, chard, and gruesome. She is terrorized out of her mind and is taken away to an institute called Lyle House. She is told she is hallucinating and that she is scitsofrenic. If she behaves and takes the pills they are giving her she will get better and go home. Chloe wants to get better, she wants to go home, but the visions are becoming worse. Chloe and the reader become so confused about weather or not she is actually crazy, it is interesting to say the least. The other teenagers at the institute are just as confusing at times, and seem even dangerous. The truth is revealed, Chloe is a necromancer, she can see dead people and they come for her because they know she sees them. It also seems that there is more to this institute than meets the eye, and that the teenagers that don't get better, get gone--and Chloe comes to suspect--dead. This book was a good page turner that wasn't as predictable as most YA novels. It had some pretty creep moments too. Giggidy! Giggidy!! The Jacket reads: After years of frequent moves following her mother's death, Chloe Saunders's life is finally settling down. She is attending art school, pursuing her dreams of becoming a director, making friends, meeting boys. Her biggest concern is that she's not developing as fast as her friends are. But when puberty does hit, it brings more than hormone surges. Chloe starts seeing ghosts-everywhere, demanding her attention. After she suffers a breakdown, her devoted aunt Lauren gets her into a highly recommended group home.
The second book was The Awakening. This book felt a little lost at times for me, it didn't really seem to have as much direction as the first book but it was another good read. Chloe and some of her friends are on the run for their lives after escaping the institute. The string of betrayal and horror continues in this installment and has me wondering where the love interests of the MC's truly lie. I doubt they will be were most people expect. Ding! Ding!! The jacket reads: If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl - someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I'm as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment - not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a group of people who call themselves The Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters, I'm a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control: I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever.
I'm running for my life with three of my supernatural friends - a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch - and we have to find someone who can help us gain our freedom back before The Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.
Book three, the finale, is called The Reckoning. It comes out on April 6th and here's what the jacket says: Only two weeks ago, life was all too predictable. But that was before I saw my first ghost. Now along with my supernatural friends Tori, Derek, and Simon, I'm on the run from the Edison Group, which genetically altered us as part of their sinister experiment. We're hiding in a safe house that might not be as safe as it seems. We'll be gone soon anyway, back to rescue those we'd left behind and take out the Edison Group . . . or so we hope.
I can't wait to see how the story will end!
Kelley Armstong should thank Doubleday Publishing, because the cover and jacket both won me over. I had no idea that the author, Armstrong, was even Canadian. I would have stomped all over it like a flaming bag of poo had I known. See my post called "A big poo-poo on most Canadian art forms" for insight into my aversion of Canadiana.
I read two novels in a series of hers that kept me hooked from beginning to end.
Book one was The Summoning. The story begins with a chilling scene where a little girl is sent to the basement by a cruel babysitter to search for something. The little girl finds terror as she sees a dead body hanging from the ceiling. We jump forward to the present and the MC--Chloe--is a teenager now. I like Chloe, for she has aspirations for her future and is not a wuss, unlike some heroines in certain books. As she struggles to fit in to her new school and deal with her distant father she encounters a dead body at school that speaks to her, but no one else can see him. He is burnt, chard, and gruesome. She is terrorized out of her mind and is taken away to an institute called Lyle House. She is told she is hallucinating and that she is scitsofrenic. If she behaves and takes the pills they are giving her she will get better and go home. Chloe wants to get better, she wants to go home, but the visions are becoming worse. Chloe and the reader become so confused about weather or not she is actually crazy, it is interesting to say the least. The other teenagers at the institute are just as confusing at times, and seem even dangerous. The truth is revealed, Chloe is a necromancer, she can see dead people and they come for her because they know she sees them. It also seems that there is more to this institute than meets the eye, and that the teenagers that don't get better, get gone--and Chloe comes to suspect--dead. This book was a good page turner that wasn't as predictable as most YA novels. It had some pretty creep moments too. Giggidy! Giggidy!! The Jacket reads: After years of frequent moves following her mother's death, Chloe Saunders's life is finally settling down. She is attending art school, pursuing her dreams of becoming a director, making friends, meeting boys. Her biggest concern is that she's not developing as fast as her friends are. But when puberty does hit, it brings more than hormone surges. Chloe starts seeing ghosts-everywhere, demanding her attention. After she suffers a breakdown, her devoted aunt Lauren gets her into a highly recommended group home. At first, Lyle House seems a pretty okay place, except for Chloe's small problem of fearing she might be facing a lifetime of mental illness. But as she gradually gets to know the other kids at the home-charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek, obnoxious Tori, and Rae, who has a "thing" for fire-Chloe begins to realize that there is something that binds them all together, and it isn't your usual "problem kid" behaviour. And together they discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home either…
The second book was The Awakening. This book felt a little lost at times for me, it didn't really seem to have as much direction as the first book but it was another good read. Chloe and some of her friends are on the run for their lives after escaping the institute. The string of betrayal and horror continues in this installment and has me wondering where the love interests of the MC's truly lie. I doubt they will be were most people expect. Ding! Ding!! The jacket reads: If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl - someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I'm as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment - not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a group of people who call themselves The Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters, I'm a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control: I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever. I'm running for my life with three of my supernatural friends - a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch - and we have to find someone who can help us gain our freedom back before The Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.
Book three, the finale, is called The Reckoning. It comes out on April 6th and here's what the jacket says: Only two weeks ago, life was all too predictable. But that was before I saw my first ghost. Now along with my supernatural friends Tori, Derek, and Simon, I'm on the run from the Edison Group, which genetically altered us as part of their sinister experiment. We're hiding in a safe house that might not be as safe as it seems. We'll be gone soon anyway, back to rescue those we'd left behind and take out the Edison Group . . . or so we hope.I can't wait to see how the story will end!
If you're looking for a good and distracting read pick up this series and let me know what you think. The discount stickers you see on the pictures are courtesy of http://www.chaptersindigo.ca/ order on line and you get a great deal.
Stella out!
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