Trailer Tuesday: In The Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters



From the publisher: In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?

Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.

LibrariYAn Says: This sounds creepily good.  A little historical fiction + a little paranormal = me likey.  I'm envisioning kind of the same mood as Libba Bray's Diviners, though that remains to be seen.  I'm especially intrigued by the part about there being "haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs."  What can I say?  I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff (see: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children). Thanks to BFYA, I have a copy of this one waiting for me to dive in.  Perhaps this evening!



P.S. I disappeared for a week and a half, but I'm back. Sorry for the lack of head's up. It was spring break and I just couldn't bring myself to do much other than watch Downton Abbey and read.  And go to Austin, which was amazing.  Now it's back to the grind...

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Trailer Tuesday: Boundless by Cynthia Hand

Boundless by Cynthia Hand



Paranormal romance, anyone?

Just last week I introduced a seventh grader to Cynthia Hand's Unearthly.  She devoured it and took the second book, Hallowed, home with her for MLK weekend.  And what perfect timing, because the third book in the trilogy releases today!



The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Trailer Tuesday: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Aw yeah!  It's time for a little Southern Gothic Paranormal Romance!  Enter: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's Beautiful Creatures.



I'm pretty sure that I received an ARC of this title from ALA or BEA several years ago.  And I loved it.    The setting is all dark and moody and mysterious.  And any time that the setting is a character in itself (like Manhattan in The Diviners), you can be pretty sure I'm going to yammer on about how I couldn't put the book down and loved it so much.  Such is the case with this one.

Ooooh!  And now it's being made into a movie!  If you haven't read it yet, you'll probably want to make sure you do before February 13th.



The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Review: The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Diviners by Libba Bray



1920s Manhattan: Prohibition! Bootleggers! Speakeasies! Flappers!  Throw in a serious of grisly occult-based murders and you've got yourself one heckuva paranormal thriller.  Booted from her parents' home in Ohio after an unfortunate incident at a party, 17-year-old Evie has come to New York to stay with her uncle, the curator of the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition and the Occult (aka "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies").  When the murders start, the police call upon Uncle Will to lend his expertise to the investigation.  Evie tags along and inadvertently finds her power to "read" objects activating as she handles the victim's shoe buckle.  All of Manhattan is riveted by the killings and Evie finds herself in the thick of it, working to solve the case and prevent the next murder.  Little does she know, there are several other teens throughout the city - people she knows - with similar powers.  

The Diviners clocks in at just under 600 pages, and it is pos-i-tute-ly worth every single one of them.  I'm not sure whether to call it an atmospheric romp through the 1920s with a paranormal element or a paranormal thriller set against the backdrop the 1920s.  Can it be equally both? The mood is definitely historical.  From the language to the music to the fashion, there is no historical detail left unmentioned or undeveloped.  You can't help but be transported to the 1920s  The sights, sounds, even smells of Manhattan pervade your senses.  But then there's the religious cult, the Brethren, which is so intricately described that I'd swear it was a real thing.  And then there's the "Diviners" themselves.  While a lot of mystery remains as to the origins and extent of their various abilities (certain to be cleared up in future novels), each of the characters has been fully developed from their public personalities to the ghosts in their closets. And how!

My only complaint is that there are sooooo many threads left dangling.  I knew it was the first in a series when I picked it up, but I hoped there would be greater resolution.  With so many secondary characters, I should have known Libba Bray would only give us a "just enough" of what we needed to begin to understand pieces of them and become fully invested in their stories, only to be left empty-handed and eager to read the next installment.  The Diviners doesn't stand alone, but it definitely has we waiting breathlessly for the sequel.  Gah!  And I don't even know when it's scheduled to release.  Not for at least a year, I'm sure. Gah!

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.