Tag: Stand Alone

The Secret Grave

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The Secret Grave by Lois Ruby
Genres: Contemporary, Ghosts
Intended Age Group: Middle Grade
Publisher: Scholastic
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-0-545-93250-9
Rating: 3/5
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Description from the Book

Nightshade can be deadly.

Hannah and Scooter’s sprawling, ramshackle house is named for the lethal plant that grows in the dark woods behind it. Hannah knows she’s not supposed to explore the forest or nearby Moonlight Lake. But she’s feeling lonely and desperate for an adventure. It’s there in the woods that Hannah meets Cady, a mysterious girl who promises everything Hannah’s been missing. Only Cady has a secret:

Cady Wants Hannah all to herself.

Soon Cady is copying Hannah’s style so they can be more alike. She lies to Hannah’s friends, insults Scooter, and begs Hannah to break her parents’ rules and sneak out for a midnight swim. Hannah wants to believe Cady’s just a little insecure. But when she discovers a cemetery beyond the lake with an eerily familiar headstone, she must decide whether to trust her new friend or dig for answers that may lead her to a watery grave.

Personal & Info

I picked this up cheap with a few other spooky middle grade books. It looks like a stand alone, but some places list it as number three in a series called, “Hauntings.” I will be reading it as a stand alone. If it seems like I get lost or confused by something for not reading the other books, I will say so.

Characters

Hannah Flynn is the main character. She’s the twelve year old middle child in a large family, as follows below.

Gracie is the youngest sister at two years old.

Franny, or Frences, is the older sister, and apparently grumbles a lot. She’s seventeen.

Scooter, actual name Scott Thomas, is one year younger than Hannah, and her favorite member of the family. He has chronic asthma.

Trick, also known as Patrick, is fourteen. He is obsessed with baseball.

Mr. and Mrs. Joe and Sally Flynn, I suspect they are crazy for having five kids, but they seem happy.

Luisa and Sara are Hannah’s best friends. They seem like they are friends with each other first, and Hanna second.

Cady is the girl Hannah meets in the woods. She’s rather mean and demanding.

Story & Thoughts

This book has a similar premise as Wait Till Helen Comes. Both books center on a large property where there’s an unknown area containing a tragic mystery. Both also contain ghosts only intent on communicating with the family member of the same age as the ghost.

I wouldn’t consider this one horror, though. It’s more of a chill almost normal story. Aside from one near drowning, it’s more of a story about friendship than about ghosts. Cady doesn’t seem like a nice person, but at least nobody in this book is as insufferable as Heather is in WTHC.

The plot, aside from the ghost related part, is actually relatable. Hannah’s friends will be gone for a large chunk of the summer, so she’ll be bored and lonely until they get back. This particular type of vulnerability makes her want a new friend, and rather easy to influence.

I think this story is well written. Plot devices and story telling methods are easy to pick out for young readers. Like how Nana Fiona explains banshees to Hanna, for example. There is a good call back to that later on. I think this example is called foreshadowing.

I do have one gripe with the story. Why didn’t Hanna grab her music box and take it home? That didn’t make any sense to me. She was right there, and she had the opportunity.

Wait Till Helen Comes

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Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn
Genres: Ghosts, Horror
Intended Age Group: Middle Grade
Publisher: Sandpiper/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-0-547-02864-4
Rating: 3.5/5
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Description from the Book

Twelve-year-old Molly and her ten-year-old brother, Michael, have never liked their younger stepsister, Heather. Ever since their parents got married, she’s made Molly and Michael’s life miserable. Now their parents have moved them all to the country to live in a house that used to be a church, with a cemetery in the backyard. If that’s not bad enough, Heather starts talking to a ghost named Helen and warning Molly and Michael that Helen is coming for them. Molly feels certain Heather is in some kind of danger, but every time she tries to help, Heather twists things around to get her into trouble. It seems as if things can’t get any worse.
But they do – when Helen comes.

Personal & Info

I found this, and a few other short spooky stories cheap. It’s October, so I figure it’s a good time to read them. I actually bought this twice by mistake, because I forgot I grabbed it already, and the store had a second copy. Not a big deal, they were about a dollar a piece.

Characters

Molly is the main character. Everyone seems to invalidate her all the time.

Michael, Molly’s brother, seems to only care about science and logic.

Heather is the step-sister. She’s seven, and her mother died in a fire when she was three.

Dave is the step-dad, and apparently believes everything Heather says.

Jean is the mom. She seems more reasonable than Dave.

Story & Thoughts

This is a good book, but I will not be keeping it for my collection. Heather ruins the whole thing for me. She is so insufferable, no amount of warm hearted happy endings in the world can make up for it.

Throughout the entire book, Heather is a bratty nuisance. She lies ALL the time. Her dad is wrapped around her finger and believes anything she says. Jean gives her way too much leeway, but at least she believes Molly and Michael sometimes. Overall, the parenting in this book is horrendous. I think most of the problems could be avoided if the parents put in more time and effort.

It does have some good going for it. It has some traditional ghost story aspects. There’s a detective segment where the kids go to the library to learn about the ghost, and they talk to a few people about strange occurrences. The story itself is enjoyable if you can tolerate Heather as an insufferable character.

There’s a map at the front of the book that shows the property. I wasn’t expecting that, but it’s kind of nice to have. However, I noticed the map shows four bedrooms. If the parents share a room, that leaves three for the kids, so why do the girls need to share? That doesn’t make sense to me.

The Haunting

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The Haunting by Lindsey Duga
Genres: Ghosts, Horror
Intended Age Group: Middle Grade
Publisher: Scholastic
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-338-50651-8
Rating: 3.5/5
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Description from the Book

Emily’s dreams are finally coming true: The kind and wealthy Thorntons want to adopt her and whisk her away to a new life at Blackthorn Manor

At first, life is wonderful. But as Emily explores the grand estate, strange things start happening all around her. It’s almost as if someone-or something-wants her gone.

Now it’s up to Emily to untangle a dark family secret hiding in her new home-before the life of her dreams becomes a real nightmare!

Personal & Info

I’m looking to expand my collection of children’s books. I found this and a few other short spooky stories super cheap. It’s October, so I figure it’s a good time to read them.

Characters

Emily, the main character is a twelve year old orphan. Her prospects for the future are grim as she looks forward to going to a work house when she’s old enough.

Archie is Emily’s dog. She raised him since he was a small puppy.

Mr. and Mrs. Thornton are the nice couple who adopt Emily.

Miss Greer is the cook and housekeeper of the Thornton home, which is called Blackthorn.

Kat is a not so nice friend of Emily’s. She reminds her much of a mean girl at the orphanage.

Story & Thoughts

The story starts off grim. Emily is an orphan at an orphanage. She has no hopes of being adopted because she’s older and nobody considers her pretty. Supposedly everyone wants the little blond blue-eyed girls.

As the synopsis says, she finally gets adopted. She hit the jackpot. It’s possibly her last chance at being adopted, and the family is nice, and well off. They even let her keep her dog friend.

Things are strange right off the bat upon arriving at her new home. Emily sees creepy things she’s not sure are actually there. The house, while massive and beautiful, is unkempt.

The story progresses day to day with strange occurrences giving the reader time to speculate. It’s easy to figure it out before Emily. The title and book description practically spell it out for you, as well as some things that people let slip early on. I was only off on one detail, but all my other guesses were spot on.

I never know what to expect when I read horror, because I don’t read the genre often. This one has common haunting tropes. It’s relatively mellow with slice of life and creepy bits thrown in for the first three quarters. it doesn’t want to reveal anything too quickly. There’s a punch in the “feels” in the conclusion that I was not expecting. I anticipated the plot, but not the emotional value of the portrayal.

Honestly, I’m surprised I like it as much as I do. It’s a simple, but effective, short, ghost story. This author apparently writes a small variety of spooky stories. I wouldn’t go out of my way to get more, but if I see them around I’ll probably grab them.

Yagi the Bookshop Goat

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Yagi the Bookshop Goat by Fumi Furukawa
Genres: BL, Fantasy
Intended Age Group: 18+
Publisher: Tokyopop
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4278-6889-3
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

Yagi is a rare sort of goat – one who loves reading books just as much as eating them! With his special talent to taste feelings contained upon paper, he’s always dreamed of becoming a bookseller. Unfortunately paper-munching goats aren’t exactly welcome in bookstores, even in a wonderful world where all different animals live in peaceful coexistence.

Eventually, Yagi is able to persuade Ookami, the strict wolf manager, into giving him a job at his bookshop… but can a goat surrounded by books resist his natural instincts? And what about the instincts of the a wolf, who’s been charmed by a sweet and tender goat?

Personal & Info

I hear Tokyopop is releasing some good yaoi/BL stuff, and this is a stand alone manga, so I figure it’s a good one to try.  I have The Cat Proposed for the same reason, and I have to say, neither of them are disappointing. Two out of two fairly current Tokyopop BL manga, and I like them both. I’ll have to look into getting more.

Characters

Yagi, obviously, the goat.

Ookami, the wolf, and store manager.

Chita, a cheetah girl who appears to be one of Yagi’s best friends. She works at the bookshop.

Shimafukurou, a Blakiston’s fish owl, and an employee at the bookshop.

Kuma-sensei, an author of children’s books. He stops at the shop frequently.

I adore the character designs in this book. Everyone is so cute. My only disappointment is, I don’t think we ever get to see Chita’s tail, even though she is frequently shown.

Story & Thoughts

The story starts off rather quick. It’s fast paced throughout, but it’s a stand alone story, so that’s to be expected.

The story itself is simple, and I think it progresses seemingly unnaturally fast, or unrealistically in some ways. Basically, it’s the type of story where neither knows how the other feels, so they both decide to do nothing until they know more, but their secret love of the other makes them do things normal friends or coworkers wouldn’t normally do.

There’s nothing surprising about the story, either. There’s a backstory involving Yagi and Ookami, but it’s so blatantly obvious to the reader that there is no mystery. Even Ookami knows, so it seems Yagi is the only one truly in the dark about anything. If I were rating on story alone, the score would likely be lower. However, I think it deserves a four out of five, because it’s so darn cute and funny.

I was smiling and giggling the whole way. The character designs, facial expressions, and their interactions are all amazing. The occasional chibi style parts are great, too. The image on the back cover is a good example. I’d love a bookmark or something with that on it.

There are two erotic scenes in the book. This manga does have censoring, though. Instead of the black bars or blurring, it uses the bright light method. You know, the kind where they place a ball of light at the tip or covering the whole thing. There are some panels where it looks like Yagi doesn’t even have a penis.

The Cat Proposed

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The Cat Proposed by Dento Hayane
Genres: BL, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Supernatural
Intended Age Group: 16 & up
Publisher: Tokyopop
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 9781427867483
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

Matoi Souta is an overworked salaryman tired of his life. On his way home from a long day of work one day, he decides to watch a traditional Japanese play. But something strange happens…He could have sworn one of the actors had cat ears!

It turns out that the man is actually a bakeneko – a shapeshifting cat from Japanese folklore. And then, the cat speaks: “Starting today, you’ll be my mate!”

Personal & Info

I heard Tokyopop has been releasing some good yaoi/BL stuff, and this is a stand alone manga, so I got it to try. This was at the top of my list when I decided to make my blog. I was too tired to read it for a while, so I mostly just flipped through it on occasion until I got around to it. I love the artwork.

The color picture in the front is the same as the cover image for the first chapter, but they have subtle differences. For example, the shape of Souta’s eyes, and Kihachi’s smile shows teeth in the color image, but has none in the black and white image. Kihachi’s fingers also look different between the two. I think one of them was a redraw. I have no issue with this, it was just something interesting I noticed.

Characters

There are four significant characters in this book. Kihachi is the cat. He’s the dark haired guy on the cover. I both loved and hated his design at first. After reading, it’s just love now. I’m pretty sure he’s my favorite character in the book, too. Kihachi loves stories, and is a professional story teller. The synopsis is a little misleading, because it’s worded to make it sound like Souta finds him at a play. It’s not a play, and there are no other actors, it’s a story telling event.

Souta is the overworked guy wearing a tie on the cover. Overworked is an understatement when describing Souta. Contemplating death to get some sleep is pretty extreme. He’s basically worked himself into the ground and didn’t realize it because adrenaline was keeping him going. I thought he was the cat character at a glance, because he’s the one doing a cat pose. He’s just a kind and shy dude. The tie should have given him away as the overworked salaryman.

Yamabuki a.k.a The Ryokan Cat, is a nosey bakeneko with two different colored ears.

Kikkyou is an eccentric old bakeneko lady.

Story & Thoughts

I hadn’t heard of a bakeneko before, but I certainly wasn’t expecting a human sized bipedal cat. The description certainly did not imply that. If you already know what a bakeneko is, it’s likely not a surprise. If you don’t, the book does explain it. However, the bakeneko have their human ears at the same time as their cat ears, that’s pretty weird. They have interesting traditions for interspecies marriages, though. I think Souta is slightly permanently altered from the experience. I can’t think of any other reason a human would be able to literally purr.

The story was cute. It’s an adorable tale of finding love unexpectedly. Each chapter is a “story” so there is no solid time table to know how long they were together between each. This also makes it feel like it progressed quicker, even though it’s paced quickly already.

There are some forward thinking ideals mentioned early on (good things), like gender/sex being insignificant for mate choice, and thinking of people for who they are instead of what they are. It also touches on encouraging a healthy balance between life and work. As someone who lives in America, the toxic work ethic hits a bit close to home.

This isn’t really a spoiler as much as it is pointing out a trope. There’s a lack of communication that causes most of the drama. For various reasons, both characters neglect to tell each other what is really important. If you don’t like stories that use that trope, this probably isn’t for you.

I came across the word bakemono in chapter 5. I wasn’t sure if it was a typo or not, so I looked it up. It was not a typo. It means a state of transformation or shapeshifting. So, in case anyone else wondered.

There’s a bonus chapter in the back called, “The Story of Their First Night Together.” It’s not long, and I think it belongs sandwiched somewhere in chapter seven. It’s an intimate scene, but it doesn’t show anything graphic. It has a lot of sexual implications and heavy breathing. The rest of the book doesn’t have anything like that. It’s the only scene you get for anything past kissing.

The image of the tuxedo cat and the sparrow on the back cover makes a lot of sense after reading the book.