A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

  (The current list) 

I am quickly becoming a fan of T. Kingfisher. While most of her books have some sort of fantasy element, her books fun the gambit from high fantasy to magical realism. This short novel is a delightful modern attempt at a Southern Gothic.

Sam is an archeoentomologist whose dig was shut down when they found human remains. Sam studies bugs, so definitely not her jam. So while she waits for the dig to reopen, she decides to visit her mother in North Carolina. Partly because she misses her mom, partly because her apartment is already subletted out, and partly because her brother thinks something isn't quite right with mom. 

From the minute Sam arrives it is clear that things have changed. There's a vulture watching the house from its perch on the mail box. Mom has repainted all the walls to match Sam's grandmother's taste. Mom seems unusually nervous. She's not even swearing.  However it's easy to ignore such minor, nebulous things and focus on box wine and murder mystery shows. 

What's harder to ignore are the strange things happening to Sam while she's in the house. Sam needs to find the truth but its like the house itself is fighting her.

It's not a perfect book, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I only wish that it had been a little longer. 

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows

 ok, for all that I said I was going to abide by the random numbering I've run into two situations that have made me shift a little. First, after finishing a 550 page sci-fi tome, I realized that the next book was a second 500+ page sci-fi tome beginning a different series. It felt too same-y and too big so I skipped it for My Plain Jane. I just didn't think I'd be able to give the new series a fair reading with my head full of The Expanse. Second, when I was renewing my library books I realized that I had a book checked out with no renews. It's currently slated for book 10 in the month but I think I'll bump it up to get it read. I also realized that all my TBR books are slated for the end of the list which isn't going to work, I'm going to need to think about bumping them up as well. Oh well, it's all part of a learning process.

I had high hopes for My Plain Jane which is technically the second book of "The Lady Jaines" series. The first book has been made into a series that is viewable on prime and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the source material. The books themselves, however, are actually stand alone stories. There is only one minor call back to the first book in My Plain Jane.  All of these novels are alternate histories or stories for well known figures of history and literature. This one is an alternate telling of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. 

Actually, calling it an alternate version isn't entirely accurate. The premise of this is that both Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte are young woman in the same miserable boarding school. In theory, the novel we all know as Jane Eyre is the product of Charlotte's fictionalized experiences in this novel. In the world of the novel, Jane Eyre has an unusual ability to see and communicate with ghosts which is something she's hidden her entire life. When she takes a job with Mr. Rochester she gets dragged into a larger conspiracy concerning England's supernatural underworld. 

It sounds a bit ridiculous on the surface of it. However, it was actually pretty impressive  the way the authors managed to blend details of the original work with events in this new story. The snarky tone added a fair bit of levity and it was fun spotting allusions to various works. I'm fairly well read and, while I spotted a large number allusions, I'm sure there are many that I missed. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and managed to blast through the 450 page novels in just a little over 24 hours.

I highly recommend the read, however it would really help to be familiar with the original work.

Cassidy Blake Series by Victoria Schwab

 Part of the reason for my renewed interest in reading YA is that I've had a lot of requests lately for genres that I just didn't have a lot of ideas for. The two big ones causing difficulty are horror and mystery. For many of my kids, I have no problem handing them a non-YA if it's in their interest area, but I don't feel as comfortable doing that with either Horror or Mystery.  It's probably already obvious, but both those genres tend to have disturbing or graphic scenes. (There can also be a surprising amount of sex.) Classic authors are a little safer than contemporary ones, but getting a kid to read something described as classic has its own pitfalls. 

In any case, I'm delighted when I find something good that meets my needs. I've been a fan of V.E. Schwab for a while, but this is my first foray into her YA material. I just finished the Cassidy Blake series and I really hope that she's planning to write more (although I suspect she's done with this one.) Cassidy is a 12 year old who had a nearly tragic accident the year before the beginning of the series. She fell into an icy river and temporarily died. She was saved by a ghost named Jacob who is now tangled up with her and is, in effect, haunting her. Additionally, she can now cross the veil and interact with ghosts.

Cassidy's parents are co-authors of a series of books about ghosts. Their books get optioned for a television series, so Cassidy gets to go on a whirlwind tour of the most haunted cities in the world. Of course, this turns into a problem since A-it turns out that Cassidy is supposed to be doing something with the ghosts and B-not all ghosts are friendly.

City of Ghosts - set in Edinburgh. Cassidy meets a fellow veil-walker and encounters a murderous ghost. In this volume Cassidy transitions from a miserable pre-teen to a young woman with a purpose. It's a solid self-discovery story with a seriously creepy opponent.

Tunnel of Bones - set in Paris. After the events of the previous book, Cassidy has to work to regain the trust of her parents while dealing with a violent poltergeist she accidently attracted. None of the methods she learned in the previous book seem to be working. In this volume, Cassidy solidifies her abilities and gains confidence.

Bridge of Souls - set in New Orleans. Maybe the end of the series...maybe not. This one's all about relationships. Cassidy must work to save both Jacob (her ghost) and Lara (the other veil-walker from the first book) after she attracts the attention of an Emissary of Death. 

Overall, it's an excellent series with a lot of good character growth for Cassidy. I'm really pleased to add them to my classroom library.