Edgewood by Karen McQuestion

Edgewood, the first book in the Edgewood Series by Karen McQuestion, features 15 year old Russ Becker who has a very hard time falling asleep.  He often goes for a walk around town late at night and it's during one of those walks that he witnesses a series of fast moving lights in the sky that fall to the ground in a spiral of blue and gold embers.

Shortly after this phenomenon, Russ realizes that he has supernatural powers and discovers he's not the only one who's been affected by the lights. Nadia, Mallory and Jameson have a little more information about what has happened to them but Russ is hesitant to believe any of it until certain events make it impossible to deny.

I want to preface my review of Edgewood with the fact that I read a lot of YA fiction and fantasy so I tend to be critical of this genre. It takes a lot to please me but Edgewood has more than met that challenge.  The way the book is written, you are discovering things along with Russ and are just as wary of the people who come into Russ's life as he is. All of the characters are intriguing and I couldn't help but want to know more about all of them including Jameson, who's not the most welcoming to Russ.

The dialogue and internal streams of consciousness felt extremely natural for a 15 year old boy.  There was never a time that I thought Russ's character was too adult for his age, even when faced with enormous obstacles. His sense of humor is fantastic and not over the top for the context of the story.

Although Edgewood is considered a YA paranormal fiction, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good read with strong character development and action sequences.  Even if you tend to stay away from any book labeled "paranormal" I think you will enjoy Edgewood. I read Edgewood in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down. Even more exciting is that my 10 year old daughter also read this book and loved it just as much as I did.

I rate Edgewood 5 out of 5 stars and I am eagerly awaiting the second book in the series, Wanderlust, which Karen McQuestion is anticipating a February release.