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(4)
YA
Peyton's dream of playing college soccer is jeopardized when her 'roid-head boyfriend Reed, a mixed-martial-arts fighter, shoves her down the stairs then denies it. With her knee wrecked and Reed stalking her, Peyton leaves DC for small-town Tennessee, where a new relationship awaits--and where mean-girl cheerleaders are annoyingly clichéd. Still, the suspenseful romance targets serious subjects: domestic violence, steroid use, grief.
(3)
YA
X-Files Origins series.
Two companion books reveal separate murder mysteries that left teenage Fox Mulder open to conspiracy theories and Dana Scully a scientifically minded skeptic, while also setting them on paths leading to the FBI. The stories read like episodes of the TV show with tight, quick-moving plots and a few twists and supernatural touches thrown in for good measure. Review covers these X-Files Origins titles: Agent of Chaos and Devil's Advocate.
(4)
YA
After witnessing her boyfriend's murder, privileged Frankie is too traumatized to identify the killer. Frankie can't escape her past after switching from private to public school where she's introduced to illegal drag racing--and to Marco, a sexy, tattooed criminal with a heart of gold. Garcia depicts class differences and car-racing culture aptly, but Marco is a bland love interest for this intense, star-crossed romance.
296 pp.
| Little
| May, 2015
|
TradeISBN 978-0-316-37034-9$19.00
|
EbookISBN 978-0-316-37033-2
(4)
YA
In this follow-up to Dangerous Creatures, Link and his friends set out to rescue Link's girlfriend, Ridley, who's been kidnapped and experimented upon by the evil Silas Ravenwood. Nox, who's also in love with Ridley, does the same. Without much action until the end, this installment does little more than set up the next one, though this won't bother series fans.
387 pp.
| Little
| September, 2014
|
TradeISBN 978-0-316-21022-5$18.00
|
EbookISBN 978-0-316-21023-2
(3)
YA
Legion series.
In Unbreakable, Kennedy, love interest Jared, and their ghost-and-demon-fighting team, the Legion, accidentally released the powerful demon Andras. Now they must locate the final Legion member and the Vessel that will contain and bind Andras again--ASAP, because Andras has possessed Jared. With a tighter focus and a tension-heightening nonlinear structure, this second volume is stronger than its predecessor.
330 pp.
| Little
| May, 2014
|
TradeISBN 978-0-316-37031-8$19.00
(4)
YA
In this Beautiful Creatures series spinoff, Ridley and her sort-of ex-boyfriend Link head to New York City. Ridley gets Link a gig as a drummer in a Caster band in order to settle a debt--then realizes that both of them are in danger. A good-at-heart bad girl, Ridley deserved her own book; an abrupt cliffhanger ending guarantees she'll get more.
309 pp.
| Little
| October, 2013
|
TradeISBN 978-0-316-21017-1$18.00
(4)
YA
Legion series.
After a spirit kills her mother, Kennedy joins the Legion in their search for the scattered pieces of a weapon capable of destroying a demon. Along the way, the teens fight lesser paranormal baddies. Kennedy's love triangle with twins Jared and Lukas is a bit overwrought, but the supernatural scares (including poisoned orphans and electrocuted prisoners) are truly creepy.
451 pp.
| Little
| October, 2012
|
TradeISBN 978-0-316-12353-2$18.99
(4)
YA
Ethan (who died in Beautiful Chaos) wakes up in the Otherworld to find that his demise can be reversed. With help from friends and family both alive and dead, Ethan embarks on an odyssey to return to the world of the living and his beloved Lena. This volume occasionally stalls but brings the atmospheric and original series to a fitting end.
519 pp.
| Little
| October, 2011
|
TradeISBN 978-0-316-12352-5$18.99
(4)
YA
After Lena's Claiming as Light and Dark, the Mortal and Caster worlds are in turmoil. Someone must be sacrificed to make things right, and Ethan, the Wayward, must figure out who. Like its predecessors (Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness), this volume is too long. But it intriguingly blurs the lines between good and evil and culminates in an ambiguous ending that invites discussion.
507 pp.
| Little
| October, 2010
|
TradeISBN 978-0-316-07705-7$17.99
(4)
YA
Lena, grieving the loss of her uncle, Macon, disappears into the mysterious Caster tunnels with a just-as-mysterious supernatural guy. On his (extremely dangerous) quest to rescue her, Ethan learns secrets about his deceased mother, Macon, and himself. Like Beautiful Creatures, the story ends in an exciting Dark vs. Light face-off, but not enough questions are answered to make this volume entirely satisfying.
567 pp.
| Little
| December, 2009
|
TradeISBN 978-0-316-04267-3$17.99
(3)
YA
Nothing ever happens in Ethan's small town of Gatlin, South Carolina, until he meets Lena. Lena, along with her eccentric family, is a Caster (like a witch), and Ethan falls in love with her despite the danger she represents (there's a curse involved). Patient readers are rewarded with a multifaceted Southern gothic saga that culminates in a dramatic good-versus-evil showdown.