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6 YA Horror Series You Could Be Reading

I was over at Dread Central and they had posted a list of 5 horror series you should be reading, and it’s an interesting list. Inspirational, even. So I’m going to thank them for the idea and offer you a list myself of YA series you should read, if you haven’t already. There are so many more, it’s hard to limit it to just a few. Enjoy! If you have other ideas, I’d love to know them!

 

Product Details

Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender (Book 1: Bad Girls Don’t Die, Book 2: From Bad to Cursed, Book 3: As Dead As It).

Creepy ghostly possession is now apparently a “thing” in the horror genre, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, but Katie Alender was way ahead of the trend in this series about a girl whose younger sister is possessed by a malignant ghost.

 

 

The Enemy by Charlie Higson (Book 1: The Enemy, Book 2: The Dead, Book 3: The Fear, Book 4: The Sacrifice, Book 5: The Fallen, Book 6: The Hunted)
A plague hits London, transforming nearly all adults into zombies. Children and teens are on their own, fighting for survival in post-apocalyptic world. Higson, somewhat controversially, claimed to be writing for boys, but he has strong female characters as well. The books in this series are fast paced and action packed, and there’s plenty of gore, but not at the expense of character development.

 

 

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Zom-B by Darren Shan (13 book series).

Darren Shan gets hardcore in Zom–B. B, the protagonist, is not a nice person. B comes from an abusive environment that reeks of racist attitudes, and has not problem passing that on to weaker victims. The first half of the first book sets up B’s background, character, and moral dilemmas, but the second half has all the graphic gore and zombie action fans of zombie novels could desire. There is a surprising twist at the end of the first book that will change your perception of B, and Shan handles it well.
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The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie and Alyssa Sheinmel. (Book 2: The Awakening of Sunshine Girl)

This series is based on a YouTube webisode series, Sunshine Girl, created by Paige McKenzie. After Sunshine Griffith moves from sunny Texas to gloomy Washington, she discovers she is living in a haunted house, inhabited by a malicious spirit. Fast paced, intense, and incredibly creepy.

 

 

 Asylum by Madeleine Roux. (Book 2: Catacomb, Book 3: Sanctum).

 

This is a creepy, photo-illustrated series with a design similar to that of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. It begins by introducing students in a summer college prep program that just happend to take place in a renovated mental asylum. Nothing could go wrong there, right? The photos give the story a disturbing sort of realism. As a digression, Ms. Roux also is an alumna of my own alma mater, although I’ve never met her personally.

 

 

Lockdown: Escape From Furnace by Alexander Gordon Smith. (Book 2: Solitary, Book 3: Death Sentence, Book 4: Fugitives, Book 5: Execution)

 

In a dystopian future where there has been a massive backlash against teen crime, 14-year old Alex, caught committing a burglary, is sentenced to time in the underground prison Furnace. Violent, rife with gang activities, and patrolled by monstrous creatures, Furnace is a terrifying place to try to survive, and Alex decides to make the attempt to escape. Gripping and fast-paced, Smith takes you on a breathless tour of the next thing to hell.

 

Posted on December 13, 2015 by , Reply

Book Review: Little Boy Blu by Cara Brookins

Little Boy Blu by Cara Brookins

The Wild Rose Press, Inc., 2014

ISBN: 978-1628306903

Available: Paperback, Kindle

 

Novels set in Appalachia will always hold a certain mystique: there’s a certain air about the location found only in a few places in America. In Little Boy Blu, readers will find themselves immersed in a dense atmosphere comprised of heavy forests, mountains, moonshine stills, and a culture that entices, amazes, and often frightens those outside of this geographic microcosm. This is what makes Cara Brookins’ tale so tantalizing.

Brookins is the author of the very successful Timeshifters series, and has now penned what just might become a staple in the genre. Based on true stories of the “blue” people of Kentucky, Little Boy Blu centers around a family living far away from the mainstream, deep within the woods, where time and civilization often fail to penetrate. Blu Tracey was born with an anomaly—he’s the only one in his family who does not sport the blue-tinged skin. This characteristic gives them a disturbing bond and also places a target on their souls.

Blu’s mother sold out her family for a reality show, but her pseudo-fame didn’t quite pan out the way she had planned. Her own story is chronicled alongside Blu’s during a journey where he discovers that someone is trying to kill him. But is the killer from the world outside their own, or from someplace much closer?

 Many threads weave together into a story as profound as the mountain song that echoes through the hills and flows down the rivers and streams which bisect Blu’s world. Little Boy Blu is Southern Gothic crossbred with a tight thriller. It sings with Brookins’ stylish writing, smoother than the ‘shine found in those hills, but just as potent. Her characters are the backbone of the story,   and will entice just before punching the reader in the heart with twists and turns that work on so many levels. Tough to categorize but very easy to love, I recommend giving this fine novel a shot. Recommended for age 15 and up.

Contains: N/A

Reviewed by David Simms

Posted on August 22, 2015 by , Reply

Book Review: Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

St. Martin’s Griffin, 2010

ISBN-13: 978-0312573805

Available: Paperback, Audible, Audio CD, Kindle edition

Anyone feeling nostalgic for the glory days of high school will drop that nostalgia right in the trash bin within pages of beginning Some Girls Are. Our protagonist, Regina, is the best friend of the high school Mean Queen, Anna, and as the only sober person at a party she decides to do her duty as the designated driver and take Anna, who has passed out, home, over the vehement objections of Anna’s boyfriend, Donnie. who then attempts to rape Regina. Regina flees the party, ending up at her “friend” Kara’s. Kara convinces Regina to stay quiet, but uses the information to convince Anna that Regina slept with Donnie. Anna’s revenge is to knock Regina from the top of the high school pecking order to the very bottom. Anna orders her friends and hangers-on to persecute Regina, and Kara makes it her personal mission to destroy Regina in every way, even establishing an online social media page dedicated to hating her. While some of the attacks are over-the-top, and it’s rather alarming that not a single adult picks up on what’s going on, Summers still managed to make me a witness to the events and emotions that carry the story.

You would think the attacks on her would make Regina a sympathetic character, but she’s not. As Anna’s right hand she’s been there and done this to other kids at Anna’s bidding, including Liz, who attempted suicide, and Michael, now labeled “most likely to become a school shooter”. And it’s clear that Regina knew exactly what she was doing, if not its complete impact: she felt guilty, but she wasn’t a blind participant. She knows herself well enough that she doesn’t expect others to like or forgive her, and fights back viciously against her former friends whenever she has the opportunity. The way the teens in this book treat each other is often brutal and callous, and there is plenty of schadenfreude, selfishness, cowardice, and anger to go around. But there’s also a tiny ray of hope as Regina and Michael begin to build a tentative connection. The entire thing has the feel of The Chocolate War, if Jerry Renault had fought back, or found even a momentary kindness.

Regina has a strong voice and even though she is not a particularly sympathetic character, I grew to respect her and hope for her continued positive development. It’s not necessary to like her to be appalled by her treatment. I felt that Summers did a good job of presenting the multiple faces and feelings of important characters like Michael, Kara, and Liz, although I would have liked to know a little more about Regina’s previous relationship with Liz. While Anna and her other friends were pretty flat, the characters Summers did choose to develop were definitely three-dimensional.

Some Girls Are was recently challenged in South Carolina, and I can see why a parent would be uncomfortable with this book. Sexual assault, bullying, drug use, and suicide are difficult to read about or talk about, and no parent wants to believe this could be happening in their own child’s school. This is a gripping and horrifying read, especially because the monsters are human rather than supernatural, and it rings true. If this is the kind of thing kids today are facing in high school, a book like Some Girls Are, at least for mature readers, definitely has a place.  Recommended for ages 15 and up.

Contains: bullying, sexual assault, underage drinking, drug use, attempted suicide, language.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on August 3, 2015 by , Reply
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