Ghost hunter Ross Wakeman ends up in the small town of Comtosook, Vermont when a piece of land waiting to be developed starts showing signs that it may be haunted. Staying with his sister, Shelby and her terminally ill son Ethan, Ross settles into life there–until he not only finds the ghost, but falls in love.
As Ross is trying to uncover the the mystery of the haunting, police chief Eli Roche opens a seventy-year-old murder case that is connected to the hauntings, and still unresolved.
Far away in Baltimore, a young geneticist named Meredith Oliver encounters her own troubles when her young daughter Lucy starts showing signs that she may be delusional–or terrorized by ghosts, and her aging grandmother, Ruby falls ill.
In her typical style, all of these character’s stories weave together though chance and fate to form a strong narrative and an engaging plot. Part mystery, part ghost story, part romance, part Native American history and part historical study of Eugenics, Second Glance has elements that should entice a wide variety of readers. This audiobook is masterfully narrated, and the speaker’s voice is engaging–definitely an excellent selection for the car.
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August 24th, 2006
10:32 am
by Jaemi
Book Review, Harry Potter Read-Alikes, Series, Staff Favorites
friendship, greek mythology, juvenile fiction, monsters, olympians, percy jackson, voyages, ya fiction
Percy Jackson has finally done the impossible–he made it through the school year. If he can just get through the last day. When he gets to gym class, and realizes there is something very wrong with the members of the opposing team, he knows he’s in trouble. When they begin to grow in size, and throw balls of fire, he’s sure he’s sunk. And if not for his friend Tyson’s bulk and immunity to fire, he would have been. But somehow, with Tyson’s help, and the sudden appearance of Annabeth, he manages to escape. Leaving the school on fire, Percy heads towards camp, where things are even worse.
Camp is under attack, its borders weakened. The tree which normally strengthens their protection has been poisoned and is dying. The more times passes, the more the danger grows. Chiron the Centaur has been dismissed, and the replacement Activities Director is a bad seed. Percy feels he has to do something. When he shares his recent dreams with Annabeth, they think they’ve found a way to save them all. But Tantalus will have none of it, and offers the quest instead to Clarisse, who has no love of Percy or his friends.
Hope seems lost, but when Percy sneaks out to the ocean to clear his head, he finds some very unexpected help awaiting him. Annabeth and Tyson manage to arrive just in time for the three of them to take off on their unapproved quest, and just miss being eating by the patrol harpies.
Along the way there are many mishaps, and of course a few surprises. And while Percy and his friends do manage to save their camp, the outcome, as has to be expected with the evil Kronos involved, is not what any of them expected.
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Rating: 
Matt Cruse was born for Airship life–quite literally. When his father is killed in an accident, the idea of remaining at home is insufferable to him, and he takes a job aboard the very same ship his father used to frequent. The Aurora. To Matt, the ship is home.
In the air he feels most alive, most comfortable, most himself. At night he dreams of his father, by day he dreams of becoming a captain someday.
Through some rather interesting twists of events, Matt becomes a hero for rescuing a hot air balloon, but the situation leaves him glum, as he feels he disappointed the balloon’s occupant on his deathbed. A year later, he finds himself face to face with the man’s grandaughter, and the mystery starts anew.
Kate has brought along her grandfather’s journal, which she shares with Matt. Inside are detailed drawings of the creatures the man had been speaking of when he died. Matt can scarcely believe his eyes, but it does seem likely that the things actually exist. Though their route won’t take them very close to where the animals were spotted, Matt promises to tell Kate when they come close, so she can try to spot them and prove her grandfather right.
Instead, they ship suffers a run in with pirates; an episode which leaves them battered and broken, lucky to find land to tie-down the ship and make repairs. Aside from the cook, who is overjoyed at the culinary options offered by thei new paradise, not many seem too enchanted with their island. Except for Matt and Kate, who know where they must be.
Many adventures and much trouble ensue.
A fast-paced read, lots of fun. Like me, you’re likely to be off to the sequel when you’re through.
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After the untimely death of his mother, Timothy London must move from the city to a small New England fishing village to live with his father. His new home, a town called Shadow Rock, is rumored to have a terrible curse upon it, and to be haunted.
When a bully’s prank goes awry, Timothy learns that this rumor is entirely too true.
Timothy encounters a ghost of a young boy–albeit a friendly one–though unlike Casper, this ghost has a dark past. This boy was murdered.
Timothy and his friends set out to solve the ghost’s mystery, and to unlock the secrets of Shadow Rock.
Shadow Rock is like Casper-meets Scooby Doo-meets Goosebumps. A full-tilt rollercoaster ride of a mystery, this well-written and illustrated graphic novel will enthrall young readers.
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Rating:
When Cal came to NYC from Texas, he was looking forward to starting college. He never suspected, after wandering into a bar, that his life would take a turn into permanent change. He certainly didn’t intend to start turning any girl he kissed into a “vampire.” But, it happened, and now he spends his time being educated by the Night Watch, hunting down his short list of girlfriends, trying to right the wrongs.
When he finally finds Sarah, his first and only real girlfriend, it hits him hardest. Who she was, what she became, the fact that she remembers his name… She seems different. But no one wants to listen to him.
All his converts caught, Cal turns his attentions back to trying to find his progenitor: a girl he can only recall by first name and face. When fate leads him to her, or to where she once was, Cal begins to question what he’s been learning, and what he’s being told. Things are amiss in the world of Peeps, and Cal intends to get to the bottom of it.
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Rating: 
Picking up where we left off in Magyk, Septimus is reunited with his family, and apprenticed to the ExtraOrindary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand. Princess Jenna is now living in the castle, with a guard of ghosts. Simon, angry at not being chose apprentice himself, has been missing for a year, during which time, it turns out, he’s been up to no good.
Having decided his family was against him, Simon took up with DomDaniel and learned the Dark Arts. With him, he plots to overthrow the ExtraOrdinary Wizard. But his kidnap attempt goes awry when Jenna escapes and steals his horse. Meanwhile, Septimus and brother Nicko set off to find her–luckily, their paths converge at the Port.
After an even luckier escape from their room in a witch coven’s house, the lot sets off for the marshes,to see their aunt. Simon catches up with them here, and unending trouble ensues. The depths of Simon’s darkness will soon be uncovered, as Jenna fights to save life as she knows it, and Septimus fights to save his mentor from destruction. Will they succeed?
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Rating:
Craig Gilner has found himself in an awkward place. After achieving his main goal of getting into Executive Pre-Professional High School, he no longer knows what to do with himself. School isn’t what he expected, his friends seem to populate a different world than he does, and nothing seems to interest him. Concluding he’s depressed, he begins a winding road to recovery, at first hopping from therapist to therapist, before finally happening upon one he likes.
Still, things seem unmanageable. At wits end, Craig eventually starts contemplating a flying leap off the Brooklyn Bridge. Luckily, he calls a suicide hotline instead. Living just a few blocks down from a Hospital, he follows the advice of the counselor on the line and walks down to the ER.
Through good intentions and a minor mis-comphrehension, Craig checks himself in, and becomes a Psychiatric Hospital Patient. He’s disinclined to stay, but they promptly show him the admittance sheet he had his mother sign only minutes before, and he settles down to make the best of it.
Along the way he learns quite a bit about himself, other people, and his so-called friends. He forms relationships, falls back into art, which he lost somewhere along the road of growing up. It takes him some time to realize it, even though it’s right in front of his face, but eventually he comes to understand that a large part of the issue is he hasn’t been on the road he really wanted.
While the subject is certainly not to be taken lightly, it is indeed, as it says, kind of a funny story.
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August 16th, 2006
2:08 pm
by Jaemi
Book Review, Harry Potter Read-Alikes, Series, Staff Favorites
camps, fathers and sons, friendship, greek mythology, hades, olympians, percy jackson, poseidon, ya fiction, zeus
Rating:
Percy Jackson hasn’t had the easiest time of it. No father, evil step-father, loving mother who he’s always parted from, new school every year… Then his math teacher turns into an evil monster, who he kills when his Latin teacher throws him a pen that morphs into a sword, and he really knows something’s different about him.
There’s not a lot more to say, without giving away most of the plot, but let’s just say that the peaceful trip to shore Percy and his mother plan turns anything but, and the ensuing adventure of trying to reach Half-Blood Hill is just the beginning.
Fantasy or adventure fan? You’re sure to fall in love with this series!
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Lucy has spent her whole life in the System. Losing her parents at an early age took its toll, and an angry girl can wreack much havoc…especially upon herself. So when she winds up at Kindle Home, what the kids in the system consider the last chance before the dire move to Rabbit Island, from which most don’t return, she figures her time is short.
When she starts off at her new school by inadvertently pissing off a couple of the local rich kids, then follows it up by getting into a fist fight with one of them, she knows she’s on thin ice. But Leon, who is unlike any other Group Home Counselor she’s met, won’t give up on her, and won’t let her give up on herself.
When her punishment for fighting brings about an unexpected friendship between herself and the boy she punched, she really starts to rethink her outlook. But just when she starts to find a reason to hold on, someone else starts trying to get Kindle Home shut down. Can she save her home, her friends, and her new life? Or will her stay at the Last Chance Texaco be what she expected all along?
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