The Diviners by Libba Bray

I have been scared by a book before but never have I had a nightmare from one.  It happened within the first 100 pages of this almost 600 pager but by then I was hooked and continued on.  Evie O’Neill has a gift, although presently she only uses it to impress people at parties.  When she gets caught up in a “rumor” using her gift, she is sent off to live with her Uncle Will, curator to The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, in New York City.  It’s 1926 and New York is filled with speakeasies and flapper girls, and Evie doesn’t really see this as quite the punishment her parents believe it to be.  The moment she steps off that train her life takes a far different path than what she had expected.  Soon after her arrival, a young woman’s body is discovered beneath the Brooklyn Bridge with mysterious brandings.  Evie’s Uncle is called to the scene to help decipher the occult symbols and Evie discovers that her party trick gift can be far more useful.  She is determined to help track down the killer before more dead bodies surface.  The story follows many others with certain gifts and by the end Bray has set the stage for far more things to come. 

Seth Casteel's Underwater Dogs

Who doesn’t love lively, up-close photographs of adorable faced dogs? Casteel takes it several steps further by photographing dogs from an uncharted and unexpected perspective: underwater.  Dogs are baited with colorful tennis balls to dive into pools headfirst and their snouts are then snapped from beneath the surface.  Underwater Dogs is a serious mood booster.  I can’t wait to chuck my dog into a pool. 

Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Popular Chelsea Knot loves to gossip.  She can never keep a secret for very long.  But when she tells a secret that almost gets a classmate killed and two others sent to jail she takes a vow of silence to avoid hurting anyone else.  Returning to school after the New Year’s holiday, Chelsea is met with zero friends and an onslaught of bullying to fight against.  She continues to stand by her silence even when it would be far easier to fight back with words.  It’s important to Chelsea to now think before she speaks and so chooses to write to communicate.  This coming-of-age, page-turner provided so many lessons but never felt preachy, it simply told Chelsea’s story as a high school student grappling with bullying and learning to stand up for herself. 

Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys

There is nothing I can write to do this book justice.  Not only that, I am also at a loss for words having just finished a book I fell so completely into.  It was tense, intricate, suspenseful, mythical, and incredibly haunting.  Excuse my lack of a proper review.  You’ll just have to trust me on this one. 

The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe

In 1915 Boston, Sybil Allston sits in a darkened room with several strangers awaiting a potential spiritual presence.  Sybil has been visiting Mrs. Dee’s séance’s for years, after her mother and younger sister drowned while aboard the Titanic.  With a scrying glass, Sybil believes she has her own ability to see, and starts her practice, albeit under the influence.  Meanwhile her brother, Harlan, is expelled from Harvard, subsequently attacked and put into the hospital. He refuses to discuss the situation and Sybil, thinking these two events are tied, gets involved and tries to solve Harlan’s problems.  Also to get involved: Benton Derby, a Harvard professor and past love interest who left Sybil to spinsterhood, re-enters Sybil’s life as he tries to help the Allston family.  The patriarch, Lan Allston, has a distant yet strong presence throughout the novel leaving the reader wondering why he himself doesn’t get more involved in his children’s lives.  With several different perspectives, time frames, and historical settings, Howe writes a rich and complex novel. 

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

It’s been 40 years since the dragons and humans signed their treaty and have managed to live civilly amongst each other since.  Seraphina, as half human and half dragon, an anomaly, must not draw attention to herself in the kingdom of Goredd but finds the task difficult when, as a mesmerizing musician, she becomes Goredd’s music assistant.  Seraphina hides her silver scales under layers of clothing and remains as much in the background as possible.  As the anniversary of the treaty approaches, tensions run high with an abundance of dragons transforming into their saarantrai, human form, to be allowed into the kingdom.  When Prince Rufus is murdered and found with his head bitten off, a dragon-style killing, the people of Goredd speculate how long the treaty will hold.   Although she must do so secretly, Seraphina becomes the link between the humans and the dragons.