I love a good mystery. I even enjoy some fantasy and a little horror. Today we are sharing a book that is a bit of all of this. It has monsters and vampires and all sorts of demons. It also has a long history of this evil. And, of course, a group of high school students who need to fight the evil and save the town and possibly the world. It is recommended for ages 10+ but think it is better for a bit older. The book is Girl of Lore by Melanie Dale.
About the Book:
For the first printing only! This hardcover features stained edges while the special edition supply lasts.A girl who’s used to battling the monster of her own mind discovers there’s a sinister evil lurking in her small town in this atmospheric paranormal novel that’s perfect for fans of Tracy Wolff and Maggie Stiefvater.
Stories of dark magic and even darker creatures have always swirled about Mina Murray’s town of London, Georgia. Mina knows they aren’t true—and are likely perpetuated only to drive the quirky tourist-trap ghost tours of downtown—but that doesn’t stop her from collecting the stories and drawing them in her sketchbook. Something about the possibility of real monsters helps her deal with the monster in her own head: her OCD, which convinces her danger lurks everywhere.
But when a body is found drained of blood and a classmate goes missing, Mina is thrust into a tangled web of London secrets…that she seems to be at the center of.
From Me:
In this book we meet Mina. She is an adopted teenager who does not know anything about her first family. She gets jealous of her younger sister who does things with her first family often. Mina also has OCD. She is trying to fight the compulsions, but it makes her feel like there is danger everywhere. She also doesn't have many friends. When her mother wants her to work in her yoga studio, Mina makes up a story of starting a new club about discovering about the town's lore which consists of vampires and more. The club brings her new friends. As the club researches the lore Mina begins to wonder if it is really true.
The story delves into life with OCD. Mina struggles all the time with intrusive thoughts and fears what she may do in real life. She also is in to dark things. She loves to hang out at the cemetery and draw gory pictures. She struggles with social situations and has some family issues as well. But throughout the book, she grows in her confidence and helps to save the world.
The book has so many interesting ideas with the old history of demons and families trying to fight it. The vampires or at least their stories that are considered a tourist trap. The kids join together and find ways to research and explore. I also love that the parents are also very supportive of them.
At school one of the teachers is offering a writing horror stories class. The kids love it and the stories are good. (I have gotten to read some.) Many of our students love the horror genre. I was telling some of them about this book and they want to read it. In fact, I promised my copy to one of them tomorrow. This is a book that helps kids understand OCD and for those with it to see that OCD does not define them. It does all of this while sharing a scary story that is full of mystery, drama and action. The characters are well developed. The story is bone-chilling and a page turner. I stayed up past midnight the other night because I couldn't put it down.
