44 by Jools Sinclair: Book Review

Amazon Description:

Last year after falling through the ice, seventeen-year-old Abby Craig woke up from death.

But she woke into a world she barely recognizes. She can't see colors, memories have been erased, and her friends all hate her. And then there's Jesse, who she loves, but who refuses to forgive her the one mistake she made long ago.

Just when she thinks it can't get any worse, the visions begin. In them, she sees a faceless serial killer roaming the streets. While the police believe that there have been a lot of accidents in town lately, Abby knows differently. And she soon realizes that it's up to her to find him.

But to stop him, she'll have to confront more than just the killer. She'll have to face something else that was lost in those dark waters. The truth.

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My Review:

I quite enjoyed 44. The characters and plot are well developed and intriguing. I was pleasantly surprised at how fast-paced this mysterious and ominous book was to read.

The plot focuses around the faceless killer in Abby Craig's night-time visions and her close relationship with her best friend Jesse. While I found the killer storyline interesting, in my opinion, it was much too obvious who the murderer was.  There were one or two twists and turns that allowed me to look beyond the fact that I knew who the killer was before getting halfway through the book.

There are currently 7 books in the 44 series the author is working on book 8 and seems to be releasing them fairly quickly. All of the books are around 200 pages. I would like to finish the series that I'm assuming (based on the name) will be 44 books, but I will wait until all of the books are released because these are quick-reads and I think I would be impatient waiting for the next installment.

Overall, I thought 44 was an excellent start to the series and I rate it 4 stars. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a paranormal series with a lot of action. This first book is free so definitely give it a try!

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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.