Woozles Blog

Jane, by April Lindner

After answering an ad with Discriminating Nannies Inc., the mild Jane Moore unknowingly becomes the guardian of Maddy, the precocious lovechild of rockstar Nico Rathburn. While Jane is initially resistant to the Rathburn’s decadent lifestyle, she cannot help but be charmed by Nico, the brooding bad boy. Just when Jane and Nico begin to come to terms with their mutual feelings, a tragedy from Nico’s past comes back to haunt them in the form of Maddy’s mother.  Does this story sound familiar? It should. April Lindner’s Jane brings Charlotte Bronte’s classic story of Jane Eyre into the twenty-first century. While many adaptations fail to meet the standards of the original, Jane approaches the timeless theme of forbidden love in a fresh and exciting way, without using the original story as a crutch. Jane is perfect for lovers of the classic story of Jane Eyre as well as fans of contemporary romantic fiction.

Also, be sure to check out the new Jane Eyre movie in theatres March 11! It looks juicy.

Stolen, by Lucy Christopher

“You saw me before I saw you. In the airport, that day in August, you had that look in your eyes, as though you wanted something from me, as though you’d wanted it for a long time.”

The first few lines of Stolen are enough to send chills up your spine. The eeriness of the prose deepens as Gemma, the sixteen-year-old protagonist, calmly narrates her abduction from a Bangkok airport. Escorted by her abductor, a gorgeous man named Ty, Gemma is taken far into the Australian outback, where she and Ty seem to be the only people in the world. In this strange, highly intimate environment, Gemma struggles with her conflicting feelings of hatred and attraction toward her enigmatic kidnapper.

Above all, Gemma is plagued by one question—why. Why her? Why does Ty know so much about her past? Most importantly, why is Ty vaguely familiar to her?

Everything being related in Stolen has already happened, as the text consists of Gemma’s letter to Ty, as he awaits trial for his crimes. This allows Gemma to relate the plot in an omniscient, reflective way that is fascinating and tantalizing to the reader. A very unique perspective on Stockholm Syndrome phenomenon.

Glimmerglass, by Jenna Black

After her mother once again shows up at her music recital drunk, Dana Hathaway decides she has been publicly humiliated by her mom for the last time. In her fury, Dana unthinkingly runs away and seeks out her mysterious father in Avalon, the city in which the everyday world and the world of Faerie intersect.

To Dana’s dismay, rather than escaping notoriety in Avalon, her presence in the city has attracted considerable attention. She discovers that she is a Faeriewalker, a rare being who can travel between the two worlds, and bring magic into the human world and technology in Faerie. Suddenly, Dana is thrust into a world of Faerie politics, and Fae men who may be interested in her for more than her tactical significance.

Be sure to check out Shadowspell, the sequel to Glimmerglass. In this second novel, Dana is out of the frying pan and into the fire. The infamously homicidal Erlking has taken an interest in Dana’s Faeriewalker powers. The question is: does the handsome immortal merely want to kill her, or does he have something much more sinister in mind?

White is for Witching, by Helen Oyeyemi

The home of the Silvers on the cliffs of Dover is beginning to manifest the tragedies that have occurred within its walls. Children are trapped in old, broken-down elevators, guests check out without warning, trees bear fruit out of season. What has caused this household to literally fall apart at the seams? Lily, the current matriarch of the Silver house, has died, leaving behind her teenaged twins, Miranda and Eliot. The beautiful but frail Miranda is struggling with her mother’s death and her crippling dependence on her twin brother. She develops pica, a rare eating disorder which causes her to eat inedible objects as if they were nourishing. Miranda tries to conceal her habit from her family, but between her secret staches of chalk and the strange behavior of the house itself, everything begins to unravel. This gothic tale deftly explores the universal themes of love and family inheritances.

The Monstrumologist, by Rick Yancey

The Monstrumologist can be described as a highly entertaining hybrid of Sherlock Holmes and Frankenstein. The recently orphaned Will Henry has been left in the dubious care of Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, the world’s leading authority in the discipline of monstrumology. As a monstrumologist, Dr. Warthrop investigates the behavior of those creatures mainstream society deems  not to be real: monsters. In his time with Dr. Warthrop, Will Henry discovers that monsters are all too real. In particular, the town has been infested by Anthropophagi, vaguely human beings with no heads and massive jaws in the middle of their chests. In this deliciously gruesome start to the series, Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop must obliterate the Anthropophagi before they kill again.

Be sure to check out the second book in the series, The Curse of the Wendigo!

Wicked Girls, by Stephanie Hemphill

This gripping novel tells the story of the Salem Witch Trials from the perspective of the group of ‘Afflicted’ girls who accuse their neighbours of witchcraft. What is so inventive about this exploration of the trials is that the novel is written entirely in verse. While this may discourage some prospective readers—it certainly put me off initially—I promise it’s not boring or unreadable or overwrought. In fact, it’s filled with enough juicy drama to keep you reading late into the night. What amazed me about Wicked Girls is how Stephanie Hemphill managed to make me sympathize and identify with a group of girls who sent nineteen people to their deaths. These girls face the same problems teenagers do today: alienation, peer pressure, gossip and unrequited love. All they want is to be heard, but this understandable need spirals out of their control.

Also check out Stephanie Hemphill’s other award-winning novels:  Things Left Unsaid and Your Own, Sylvia.

- Reviewed by Katherine