Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Published: September 2008

Summary: The Publisher - Simon and Shuster Children's Publishing

Obtained: Audio through library and Overdrive

Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared.

Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.

Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was.

When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends, her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over. Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her. This is Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting when I started listening to this book. I certainly wasn't expecting to be completely blown away by the story. It is both one of the best and one of the worst books I have ever read (listened to). What I mean is, that Alice's story is so raw, so emotional, that it affects you in ways you wouldn't have believed possible. Ms Scott manages to take you into the mind of Alice so completely that you suffer with her, and you just want it to be over. The audio book is short - slightly less than 3 hours, but that didn't make it any less compelling. I honestly didn't want to turn it off, while at the same time had to turn it off to give my brain time to process the horror. Then I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue - I did continue of course, because it was impossible not to. I had to get to the end. This isn't a 'nice' story, but it is one of the most powerful you'll ever read.

Manifest by Artist Arthur

Hi all, curlypow here. This is my first review from a yet-to-be published ARC, and it was so much fun knowing that I could read this book ahead of time and tell you all about it.

Manifest by Artist Arthur

Pub Date: 08/01/2010
e-ARC courtesy of Harlequin and Net Galley

Krystal is a typical teen. Mad at her parents for getting divorced, mad at her mom for getting remarried, mad at her stepfather for trying too hard, and mad at her dad for not being around when she needs him. Then there's the fact that her mom moved her from her home and relocated to Lincoln, in the back end of nowhere. Could things get any worse? Well perhaps the fact that she is seeing, and hearing, ghosts might count.

Ricky is one of those ghosts she's talking to and he wants Krystal to find out who killed him - but where should she start? Krystal becomes friends with Sasha and Jake, two other misfits at her highschool and together they try to help find Ricky's murderer. Of course for Krystal, the fact that she's crushing on a dead guy doesn't help matters!

I have to be honest that when I started reading this I wasn't too sure about it, and I found Krystal a little annoying, but before long I was hooked. Krystal, Sasha and Jake were believable without being too over-the-top and Krystal's transition from moody to accepting was well handled. There is a good lesson in here, for both teens and adults. The mystery behind Ricky's death was somewhat startling, but I don't want say too much about it or I'll give away the story. It's an interesting and awkward subject and would make this story a great addition to our ISU list, in the social issues category. I ended up really enjoying the story. It looks as though this may turn into a series and I will look forward to reading more about these characters.