Nancy Werlin

In 16th-century France, 15-year-old Sylvie lives in a small village. Sylvie wants to be a healer like her mother and grandmother. She has a special gift: when she touches someone, she can see their thoughts. Before her death, her grandmother told Sylvie that she would have to find a teacher before she could use her gift for healing, but after her grandmother's death, she tries to take away some of her mother's grief and ends up making a terrible mistake. Sylvie leaves her village in search of a teacher -- but how will she find someone she can trust, in a world where many might label her a witch?

This is a pleasant enough story, aimed more toward a tween or middle-grade audience than Werlin's other books. I found the writing a bit stiff and stilted, and I'm not sure whether that has to do with writing for a younger audience, or if she was trying to evoke something about the historical setting, but it's not what I expected from Werlin. I'd recommend it to readers who really love books set in the middle ages, like The Midwife's Apprentice and The Inquisitor's Tale.… (altro)

Loved by myself and my students.

FROM AMAZON: Inspired by the classic folk ballad “Scarborough Fair,” this is a wonderfully riveting novel of suspense, romance, and fantasy. Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that she is the latest recipient of a generations-old family curse that requires her to complete three seemingly impossible tasks or risk falling into madness and passing the curse on to the next generation. Unlike her ancestors, though, Lucy has family, friends, and other modern resources to help her out. But will it be enough to conquer this age-old evil?

FROM PUBLISHERS: When seventeen-year-old Lucy discovers her family is under an ancient curse by an evil Elfin Knight, she realizes that to break the curse she must perform three impossible tasks before her daughter is born in order to save them both.… (altro)

Do yourself a favor and DON'T read the synopsis.

4.5 Stars. So interesting and twisty-- took a while for me to get used to Saralinda's voice in her chapters, but once I did, I was HOOKED. I'm adding it to my YA Mystery recommendation list.

When I first started this book I wasn't sure-- I mean, it's over 400 pages and getting used to the voice the characters narrate in didn't come natural. BUT-- I flew through this book. Once I got used to the way Saralinda thinks inside her head, it was smooth sailing.

So, Saralinda-- she's our main character. The one you root for. But the girl doesn't like commas. Her sentences just run and run and run, and sometimes it was hard for me to figure out what the heck she was getting at. She definitely blabbers-- a lot. It took some getting used to, but once I did, I was fine, and she grew on me.

Next we have Caleb. He narrates the other half of the book and does it in second person, so it also takes getting used to because of the change. Caleb was interesting because he didn't trust himself, therefor, I didn't trust him-- and you have to have untrustworthy people in a mystery!!

I think the reason I clicked with this book so much was that I didn't read the synopsis very closely, so I didn't know where the story was headed. I don't know why they decided to tell the first big twist in the summary, and I think had I known that twist, I wouldn't have been so intrigued. You see, the first big twist was what made this book interesting. And not knowing it was coming was what hooked me.

There is a little bit of a drop-off in the middle of the book-- but then it picks right back up-- and there is a little bit of teenage romance that I didn't think was necessary (I mean, do we need everyone to have a romantic interest??), but I still super recommend this book to mystery-lovers out there, because the mystery was twisty and fun to unravel!!

OVERALL: After I got used to the narration, I was INTO this book. I'm a slow reader and I finished this FAST. I totally recommend it-- but don't read the Goodreads or jacket summary (it's sort of spoilery). Just know it's about 5 kids who are being targeted for an unknown reason.

My Blog:

… (altro)

After being aquitted of his girlfriends murder, David is moving to Cambridge to live with his estranged Aunt, Uncle, and 10 yr old cousin Lily. How did his girlfriend die? He acts pretty guilty...
He moves into the 3rd floor apartment where his other cousin, Kathy, died and he realizes that all is not well in this family. Julia and Vic don't speak to each other and when they do they use Lily as a pawn. And then there's Lily... odd, odd Lily. David can tell there's something really wrong with her, but her parents are in denial. She starts breaking into his apartment to constantly to pull pranks/destroy things, and it pushes David over the edge...
Will Vic and Julia ever see that Lily needs help? What really happened to Kathy? What really happened to Emily (the girlfriend)?

My first Audiobook!!! Yay me!!

Anyway...
I found this book addicting even though I knew where the plot was going. The only reaosn I gave it 3 stars is I found some of the details to be unbelievable.

Like: 1. Do you really expect me to believe that he killed a girl with one punch? I mean I guess it's humanly possible, but unlikely.
2. The Kathy thing was a little better but still... someone is going to take a giant sip of ammonia and not know...even with a cold I'm not sold on it.
3. All of sudden 3/4th of the way through the book, David and Lily are connected telepathically??? Wait, what? Yes they talk to each other through the ceiling...yeah I'm not buying that...
4. Ghosts? I don't know about that either...
5. I dont get how David made the leap from basically thinking she's a psychopath to instant forgiveness... what he did and what she did were 2 completely different things. Yes in the end 2 ppl died, but an accidental death or even an involuntary manslaughter is not the same as a murder, and Lily's was at least 2nd degree. I dont get where he's all "my Lily" all of a sudden...

I liked the way it made me feel about David, he was a very well developed character. Also I loved the supermarket card swaps, that was super-cute. The Epilogue made me smile, so at least it ended on a good note :)… (altro)