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Verday, Jessica
5 Reviews
(3)
YA
In 1826, seventeen-year-old Annabel Lee travels from Siam to Philadelphia to live with her estranged scientist father. A series of nearby murders, rumors of her father's gruesome experiments, and his strange lab assistants--charming Allan Poe and his menacing "cousin" Edgar--pose connected mysteries which curious Annabel investigates. Themes and quotes from Poe's work are smoothly integrated into this eerie Jekyll-and-Hyde-type gothic tale.
Reviewer: Katie Bircher
(4)
YA
Cyn fled Sleepy Hollow after apparently killing her boyfriend during a blackout, and his revenge-seeking brother Declan has tracked Cyn down. Meanwhile, Revenant Avian recognizes that Cyn is an "Echo," someone possessed by the dead. Avian and Cyn's mutual-dislike-turned-romance feels forced, and readers will need a strong recall of Verday's Hollow trilogy to make full sense of this companion's mythology; still, the premise is intriguing.
Reviewer: Katie Bircher
(4)
YA
Abbey (The Hollow, The Haunted), destined to become a Shade like her ghostly soulmate Caspian, desperately tries to delay her death. A group of Revenants protects her, but rogue Revenant Vincent just wants to use Abbey. Scenes of Abbey and Caspian enjoying the one day a year he becomes corporeal are a bit long and indulgent, but romance fans won't mind.
Reviewer: Katie Bircher
(4)
YA
Months after the events of The Hollow, Abbey is convinced that her relationship with ghost Caspian was a delusion. Just as the two are reunited, revenants arrive to kill Abbey and bind her spirit to Caspian's for eternity. As in the previous installment, spunky Abbey makes a compelling heroine; the Legend of Sleepy Hollow connection is somewhat better developed here.
Reviewer: Katie Bircher
(4)
YA
Having vanished near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Abbey's best friend Kristen is presumed dead. Desperate for clues, Abbey reads Kristen's diary and uncovers her secret life. Abbey also accrues some secrets of her own: a mysterious boyfriend, late-night visits to the cemetery, two elderly friends. This supernatural romance falters with a stretched connection to Washington Irving's classic tale, but Abbey herself is compellingly real.
Reviewer: Katie Bircher
5 reviews
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