Reader Girls Blog

Spectral by Shannon Duffy Genre: YA paranormal Format: eBook Pages: 334 Publisher:  Tribute Books (April 10, 2012) ISBN: 9780983741879 ISBN: 9781476293585 Blurb: Convinced she’s a part of the witness protection program, sixteen-year-old Jewel Rose is shuffled around the globe with her family like a pack of traveling gypsies. After arriving at lucky home twenty-seven, she stumbles upon a mysterious boy with magical powers claiming to be her guardian . . . and warning of imminent danger. Despite the obvious sparks between them, Jewel discovers a relationship is forbidden, and the more she learns about dark, brooding Roman, she begins to question who she can even believe — the family who raised her, or the supposed sworn protector who claims they’ve been lying to her all along. As she struggles to uncover who her family has really been running from, she is forced to hide her birthmark that reveals who she is. With new realities surfacing, unexplained powers appe...

Title: Thorn  Author: Intisar Khanani Genre: YA Fantasy Format: paperback, 239 pages, and ebook Blurb: Princess Alyrra’s strength lies in silence. Scorned by her family, she avoids the court, spending her time with servants. When her marriage is unexpectedly arranged with the prince of a powerful neighboring kingdom, Alyrra feels trapped. As the court celebrates her match, dark rumors spread about the unexplained deaths of the women of her new family. Alyrra begins her journey with mounting trepidation. Betrayed while traveling, she seizes an opportunity to start a life away from court. Walking away from a prince whom she doesn’t know should have been easy. But from the moment she sets eyes on him, Alyrra realizes that her freedom could cost him his life. Without any magical defense of her own, she is plunged into a lethal game of sorcery and deceit. Now Alyrra must decide whom she can trust and what she’s willing to fight for—before her silence proves fatal. An excer...

Reading level: Ages 13 and up Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Balzer + Bray (October 25, 2011) ISBN-13: 978-0061802423 Blurb: A dark, gothic tale of romance… and murder.The latest book in the grippingly dark series, The Poison Diaries.Our heroine, Jessamine, has lost her faith in the men she loved, and her innocence as well. She turns to the dark side and plots to kill her father, using his own poisons, before becoming an assassin, a poisoner for hire. Can she recover from her heartache and reunite with her true love, Weed? Find out in this thrilling story where poisons, darkness and horror are a part of everyday life, and love is the only cure. My thoughts: I really enjoyed the intriguing world of alchemy Maryrose Wood created in  The Poison Diaries ( our review ) . In the first book teen Jessamine watches over her herbalist father, taking care of him and learning his craft. But not all of it. He omits the poison portion of his teachings--secretive research he's been condu...

Spartacus the Gladiator by Ben Kane Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Category: Historical Fiction Available in Print and eBook, 480 pages Long the stuff of legends, Spartacus is known to most modern readers through the classic Kubrick film version of Howard Fast’s novel. Now bestselling historical novelist Ben Kane returns to the source material and presents a lively and compelling new vision of the man who was Spartacus—Roman army auxiliary, slave, gladiator and ultimately the leader of an army of slaves who nearly brought Rome to its knees. Ben Kane’s brilliant novel begins in the Thracian village to which Spartacus has returned after escaping from life as an auxiliary in the Roman army. Jealous of his attachment to Ariadne, a Dionysian priestess, the Thracian king betrays Spartacus to the Romans who take him, along with Ariadne, into captivity and to the school of gladiators at Capua. Against the background of the unbelievable brutality of gladiatorial life, Spartacus and Crixus ...

Reading level: Ages 12 and up Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Original edition (March 27, 2012) ISBN-10: 0312614802 ISBN-13: 978-0312614805 Jana Oliver's third spellbinding Demon Trappers novel - following The Demon Trapper's Daughter and Soul Thief - brings all new thrills, as Riley Blackthorne takes on demons, love... and the future of the human race. The days are growing darker for 17-year-old demon trapper Riley Blackthorne. With her father’s reanimated body back safely, Beck barely speaking to her because of a certain hunky Fallen angel, and a freshly-made deal with Lucifer, she has enough on her hands to last a normal teenage lifetime. Though she bargained with Heaven to save his life, her ex-boyfriend Simon has told the Vatican’s Demon Hunters that she’s working with Hell. So now she’s in hiding, at the top of everyone’s most-wanted list. But it’s becoming clear that this is bigger than Riley, and rapidly getting out of control: something...

Reading level: Ages 12 and up Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (August 30, 2011) ISBN-10: 0312614799 ISBN-13: 978-0312614799 Blurb: Riley Blackthorne is beginning to learn that there are worse things than death by demon. And love is just one of them… Seventeen-year-old Riley has about had it up to here. After the devastating battle at the Tabernacle, trappers are dead and injured, her boyfriend Simon is gravely injured, and now her beloved late father’s been illegally poached from his grave by a very powerful necromancer. As if that’s not enough, there's Ori, one sizzling hot freelance demon hunter who’s made himself Riley’s unofficial body guard, and Beck, a super over-protective “friend” who acts more like a grouchy granddad. With all the hassles, Riley’s almost ready to leave Atlanta altogether. But as Atlanta’s demon count increases, the Vatican finally sends its own Demon Hunters to take care of the city’s “little” problem, and pandemonium breaks...

This is Jana Oliver holding our newly signed copies of the first three books in her The Demon Trappers series. Yes, it is Jana Oliver Day at Reader Girls. We've read and loved the first three books in her YA paranormal series, The Demon Trappers (short story Retro Demonology , The Demon Trapper's Daughter , Soul Thief , and Forgiven ) and we recently listed the fourth and final title, Foretold , as our Waiting on Wednesday pick (read it here ). Our mom was fortunate to sit in on Jana's YA workshop, "Success in the YA Market," at the Unicorn Writers Conference last April (click here to read Laurie's complete post) and had our books signed and chatted with the author. Today we will celebrate a writer we really admire by running our reviews, this post, and we're also having a contest for our extra autographed copy of The Demon Trapper's Daughter our mom had signed especially for us to give away. About the author: Jana Oliver is an American autho...