The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee: Review

The Unquiet
By Jeannine Garsee
Published July 17th by Bloomsbury Press
Pick up your copy at Amazon, B&N, or your local indie today!
Synopsis borrowed from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Rinn Jacobs has secrets: One, she’s bipolar. Two, she killed her grandmother.

After a suicide attempt, and now her parents' separation, Rinn and her mom move from California to the rural Ohio town where her mother grew up. Back on her medications and hoping to stay well, Rinn settles into her new home, undaunted by the fact that the previous owner hanged herself in Rinn's bedroom. At school, her classmates believe the school pool is haunted by Annaliese, a girl who drowned there. But when a reckless séance goes awry, and terrible things start happening to her new friends—yet not to her—Rinn is determined to find out why she can’t be "touched" by Annaliese...or if Annaliese even exists.

With the help of Nate Brenner, the hunky “farmer boy” she’s rapidly falling for, Rinn devises a dangerous plan to uncover the truth. Soon reality and fantasy meld into one, till Rinn finds it nearly impossible to tell the difference. When a malevolent force threatens the lives of everyone she cares about--not to mention her own--she can't help wondering: who should she really be afraid of?

Annaliese? Or herself?

Darkfallen's thoughts:

This book was simply amazing in the most chilling and twisted way!

Rinn is finally starting to put her life back together after discovering that she is bipolar. Thankfully now that she is on the proper medication things are starting to be more normal. Although overcoming everything that happened before she started taking the meds isn't as easy as she would have hoped. So her and her mother pack up and leave California for the small Ohio town her mother grew up in. While trying to start over Rinn soon discovers even small towns have big secrets. Secrets that could very well turn deadly...

First of all I just have to say that I LOVED this writing style. The way the worlds flow just makes you feel like you are right there in the middle of it all. It's real, it's raw, it's perfect. I loved Rinn from the start. Her personality and the way she was handling the loss of her grandmother and the start of her new life along with being bipolar was done seamlessly. And then of course there was Nate...who could have asked for a better love interest? He was Rinn's yin to her yang. Where Rinn is slightly unstable and a little high strung at times, he was your typical sweet, down to earth, country boy. He didn't care that Rinn was bipolar, or about the things that she did when her illness drove her crazy. He just cared and loved Rinn for who she was no matter the good or the bad.

But enough of my fawning over the love story here. The ghost story was hauntingly perfect. In fact it was done in a way that I would love to see this made into a movie. I think it would be great. It's creepy and gives you the chills. It just might keep you up at night. And then it hits you with a twist at the end that lets you know that this ghost picked it's victims for a reason. Not to mention the cliffhanger in the end that just might make you sleep with the light on.

Overall this book was a perfect mix of teenage angst, swoon worthy moments, and spin tingling chills. Hands down this book was awesome and made me remember why I love this genre so much!

Lymi...





Dead Reckoning - Review and Giveaway

Title: Dead Reckoning
Author(s): Mercedes Lackey
Rosemary Edghill
Published: June 5, 2012
Synopsis from Goodreads

Jett is a girl disguised as a boy, living as a gambler in the old West as she searches for her long-lost brother. Honoria Gibbons is a smart, self-sufficient young woman who also happens to be a fabulous inventor. Both young women travel the prairie alone – until they are brought together by a zombie invasion! As Jett and Honoria investigate, they soon learn that these zombies aren’t rising from the dead of their own accord … but who would want an undead army? And why? This gunslinging, hair-raising, zombie western mashup is perfect for fans of Cowboys vs. Aliens and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.


In quite towns out West the townsfolk have gone missing! Three unlikely strangers team up to figure out the mystery of where everybody went. How did they become ghost towns? Was it a sickness? Or was it zombies!?!

A perfect book for your picky early teen!

Does your youngin' hunger for zombies?

A tad bit too young to have him/her reading books that might make them scream and wind up in bed with you?

Then fear not Mom and Dad because Dead Reckoning is the tween friendly zombie book with this mother's Stamp of Approval.

After reading Dead Reckoning I found it perfectly suited for any 12+ child.

But what about those picky boys? Oh bah!! Don't even get me started on how picky 12 year old boys are.

Well, the story is set around Civil War times out west and there is a smarty pant girl that your son might not dig, but there is also a young Indian tracker, and a girl who is all tomboy and even dresses as a dude.

And did I mention the guns?

That's right!! The Indian and the Tomboy both carry guns!! OH! And they also drink booze!!! Pure awesomenss for junior!!

And on top of guns, booze, and the wild wild west we also have the most important factor of all... ZOMBIES!!!!

While this book isn't the next Hunger Games it does remind me of an older version of The Magic Tree House. I definitely think fans of that series will adore the historical aspect of this book along with all the zombies sprinkled in. It's definitely worth a shot. (pew pew pew)

Want to decide for yourself whether or not you like zombies and cowboys? How about you try to win a great book for your teen? The great people at Bloomsbury would like to offer our U.S. followers a chance to win their very own copy of Dead Reckoning. Simply enter below. Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Paranormal Wastelands would like to thank the fine people at Bloomsbury for this wonderful arc.

The Vanishing Game b y Kate Kae Myers: Review

The Vanishing Game
By Kate Kae Myers
Published February 14th 2011 by Bloomsbury
Pick up your copy at Amazon, B&N, or your local indie today!
Synopsis borrowed from Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Jocelyn follows clues apparently from her dead twin, Jack, in and around Seale House, the terrifying foster home where they once lived. With help from childhood friend Noah she begins to uncover the truth about Jack's death and the company that employed him and Noah.

Jocelyn's twin brother Jack was the only family she had growing up in a world of foster homes-and now he's dead, and she has nothing. Then she gets a cryptic letter from "Jason December"-the code name her brother used to use when they were children at Seale House, a terrifying foster home that they believed had dark powers. Only one other person knows about Jason December: Noah, Jocelyn's childhood crush and their only real friend among the troubled children at Seale House.

But when Jocelyn returns to Seale House and the city where she last saw Noah, she gets more than she bargained for. Turns out the house's powers weren't just a figment of a childish imagination. And someone is following Jocelyn. Is Jack still alive? And if he is, what kind of trouble is he in? The answer is revealed in a shocking twist that turns this story on its head and will send readers straight back to page 1 to read the book in a whole new light.

Darkfallen's thoughts:

Ok it is more of a 4.5 stars really. This book is sooooo good!

We meet Jocey three weeks after her twin brother Jack dies in a car crash. She is doing what any other high school senior would be doing in her shoes. She goes to counseling and she's trying to finish school. She thinks she is doing good until the day before spring break starts she receives a letter from Jason December. But Jason December is a code name for a game that her and Jack used to play when they lived in foster care at Seale House so how is she getting this letter now? Jacks dead...right? Instead of going on a camping trip she goes back to Watertown to look for the only other person that ever played that game with them at Seale House, Noah.

It doesn't take long to realize that Noah didn't send that letter to her house and now there is only one thing left to do...follow the clues and find Jack. But as each Jason December clue unravels the stakes keep getting higher. Will they be able to find Jack? Or are they walking into an early grave?

This book was great! I loved all the suspense and how it kept me guessing. Better yet I loved how every time I thought I had it figured out there would be a twist that proved me wrong. And even better than the creepy suspense surrounding the plot there was the added intrigue and suspense wrapped around the relationship between Jocey and Noah. I loved them together, even in their less than charming moments. There is so much tension between these two that at times it's palatable and you can't get enough.

Then there is a twist at the end that you never could have saw coming no matter how hard you try that will leave you both GASPING and heartbroken. Of course I'm not going to tell you what that is...so I guess you are just going to have to pick up the book and find out for yourself. *winks*

Now why didn't I give it a full 5 stars? Well there were times that I found myself drifting slightly bored in places. But it never lasted long and then the next page would leave you with a huge gasping moment and suck you back in. So I took a half of star away for some of those lulls in the story. Even still this is a great book with an ending that will leave you utterly shocked. You should definitely pick this one up.

Lymi...