Katie Alender - From Bad to Cursed

This was a refreshing change from the usual attempts at paranormal by teen authors. No smooth sailing where the heroine always wins. The whole book is a roller-coaster ride of scariness. Even at the end I wasn't sure who had won, or if anyone had won - I was too anxious over the final horror! Ghosts! Is there anything that terrifies us more?

Alender writes a brilliant novel. This is her second in the Bad Girls Don't Die series. I had a lot of fun reading it and wondering and imagining and checking under my bed before I went to sleep. I'm really looking forward to reading the third book in the series.

If you like thrillingly scary novels, without the silly shock factor or re-used plots, this is the series to read. I thought book one was scary, but book two definitely wins the fright award. There's nothing scarier than not knowing you're kind-of-possessed.

Suzanne Harper - The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney (2007)

Harper has based her book in Lilydale, New York, USA - a spiritualist community founded in 1879. It's occupied by mediums and healers and a gate pass needs to be purchased to enter. The community is open all year round and runs workshops on spiritualism. In many ways it seems like a little nation of its own with rules and regulations that maintain the spiritualist way of life.

Into this world was born the character Sparrow Delaney, seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and believed to be the most powerful medium her family has had - only she doesn't want to be. Sparrow has spent her life hiding her abilities from her family, pretending she's as psychic as a rock and ignoring the ghosts who come to her to have their messages passed on. She's even gone so far as to enrol in a high school outside Lilydale, away from all the hocus pocus in her attempt to live an ordinary life. But the ghosts just won't leave her alone and when she makes a friend who is in deep pain from the death of his brother Sparrow has to decide whether to help or continue to turn her back on her abilities and make her own path in the world.

The book is interesting, mostly because I'd never heard of Lilydale before. I found the writing a little flat, even for a teen novel. It gets a slightly disjointed towards the end of the book and rushes into the ending, almost like the author was running from something - probably an angry ghost or a grumpy orc. Seriously, it's an okay book with an interesting premise. But, I thought it could have been developed better and ended more sincerely, with a bit more compassion for its subject matter. Teen's though, in this era of paranormal novel obsession, will enjoy it.

http://www.lilydaleassembly.com/ The Link to the Lilydale Community.

Jim Butcher - Changes (2010)

This is Jim butcher's 12th novel in his Dresden Files series. I love the books and I love the short-lived television series based on the character, Harry Copperfield Dresden. His father was a Stage Magician, hence the name Harry Copperfield - nothing to do with Harry Potter at all. And you needed to know that because Dresden is a wizard, just not the fluffy high school kind. Dresden is a cross between an old-style private detective (think Sam Spade) and the mythical Merlin. He hunts the things that hunt everyday people and he'll protect them against demons, fae, vampires, werewolves and other wizards - for a fee or just because he should.

Butcher is a strong writer, he's had to be to keep the series going for 12 books. I don't think the recent books are as good as the first 6, but they're still a fun ride into darkness with a knight in shining armour by your side. I like the dry sense of humour he brings out in Dresden. The character is life-worn and thinks he's seen it all, but it doesn't stop him from doing the right thing, even though he'd rather turn his back on the things that go bad, instead he fights against them and leads others into the fray. It's a good read. He's the classic hero, even though he doesn't want to be. He's the perfect leader, even though he'd rather be anywhere but where the drama is. I enjoy the character a lot. He reminds me a little of Indiana Jones with a dash of a John Wayne cowboy thrown in. He's the hero on the white horse, trying to right the wrongs because there's no-one else who will.

C.E. Murphy - Demon Hunts (2010)

Cate Murphy is one of my favourite author's. This is book 5 in her Walker Papers series.
The stories revolve around Joanne Walker, a Seattle police detective and reluctant, but powerful, shaman. Walker finds herself battling the forces of evil in the Seattle area as she attempts to do her job as a cop and protect people. Not that she goes looking for bad things, mostly they find her and she'd rather they left her alone. But her shamanic abilities are strong, if untrained, and it's like a beacon for things that go bump in the night.

The books are well-written. Murphy is big on detail and she never loses the aim of the story. There's no unnecessary detours or characters that appear for a few chapters and then suddenly disappear without explanation. It's hard to keep a series going and keep it interesting, especially when you need to come up with a new 'baddie' in every book, but Murphy succeeds.