If you loved Maggie Siefvater’s Scorpio Races, I think you’ll love The Wicked Deep (Simon Pulse, 2018) by Shea Ernshaw. Both books are eerie.
Two centuries ago, in the small town of Sparrow, three teen girls were drowned in the harbor for being witches. Each June since, they return and take possession of teen girls’ bodies. The locals call it the Swan season after the dead girls. And each season at least three boys will be drowned for revenge. Sometimes it is local boys and sometimes tourists.
Our main character is seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot who lives on Lumiere Island with her grief-stricken mother. A boy comes to town looking for work and Penny gets involved with him. Can she save him from the three sisters?
This books has unexpected twists and turns, flashbacks to the past, and keeps one turning the pages. I highly recommend it.
This is author Shea Ernshaw’s debut and it quickly became a NY Times Best Seller. Netflix won the screen rights to the book–I hope they make the movie! Though I might not be able to watch it alone…
Read Shea’s bio here. I’m looking forward to her next book. Read this tweet about it.
Tag: YA bestseller
All the Bright Places
All the Bright Places (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015) by Jennifer Niven is a difficult story to put down whether you are in Finch’s viewpoint or Violet’s. Is today a good day to die? Theodore Finch asks himself. Then he realizes he’s not alone on the ledge of the school’s six-story bell tower. He saves Violet Markey from falling and lets her save face by taking credit for saving him, the Freak. These two become partners in a school project, then more.
It’s an emotional story of relationship between two unlikely teens. I don’t want to say more and ruin the story for anyone. Let’s just say it’s a very good read. (My concern for younger students reading this is that the sex appears to be unprotected.)
The cover seems over simple, but so fits the story.
The book is going to be made into a movie and I bet will be popular like John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. Read more on the author’s website.
Jennifer Niven has also written historical and nonfiction books as well as YA–she’s got quite the range. See details here. I’m definitely going to check out her Velva Jean books.
I enjoyed the About Jennifer page and think you will too.