Wanderlust by Karen McQuestion (Book Review)

Wanderlust is an amazing sequel to Edgewood. Mallory, Russ, Jameson and Nadia travel to Peru under the protection of the Praetorian Guard to search for David Hofstetter who has been presumed dead for sixteen years. Although they know the search is going to be a challenge and quite possibly dangerous, they are ready to face whatever obstacles The Associates might put in their way to prevent them from succeeding. However, what will they do when they aren't so sure the Praetorian Guard truly has their best interests at heart?

Several questions from Edgewood were answered while creating more questions about what's going to happen next with these four kids dealing with much more than they should at barely sixteen years old. There was a perfect balance of supernatural and real-life emotions which allowed me to connect even more with these characters. This sequel is much more than The Associates vs. the Praetorian Guard. For the first time I got to see a little bit of Jameson's vulnerability and Mallory's manipulations. Nadia's insecurities and Russ's compassion are still evident but on a much deeper level than in Edgewood and I was incredibly pleased with the way they connected in this book.

While these four are on this mission to find David who might not even be alive, they are simultaneously deciding if they want to commit themselves to the Praetorian Guard. Some realize pretty quickly that they might not be able to say no even if they wanted to.

I devoured this book in a day. It's one of my favorite thing about Karen McQuestion's writing...you don't realize you've been reading for hours until the sun starts to set and are shocked when you look at the clock. I liked Wanderlust even more than Edgewood and I didn't know if that was even possible! I can't wait for the next book in the Edgewood series!

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.