review: Radiate

During her junior year, Hayley decides to change her extracurricular activities. She gives up band and starts practicing like crazy. Cheerleading tryouts are help right before summer for the fall.

Hayley's so happy when she makes the team. She can't wait for cheer camp and that first football game. During the course of training, she notices leg pain and lump.

After going to the doctor, she's dumbfounded to discover it's cancer. Right away, she goes into the hospital for an operation.to remove the cancer.

Her recovery takes longer than she would like, but she's determined to make it to the football games. Her determination helps when the doctors aren't sure of her progress, when she's back at school and no one knows what to say, and when her hair falls out.

Can Hayley's senior year be everything she dreamt it could be?

My Thoughts: I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book. I don't like reading about sickness or disease. Plus cancer has hit close to me recently.


But I'm a big fan of Marley's so I read it and I'm glad I did. I was expecting the book to be sad and depressing. While there were moments of sadness, it was mostly uplifting. I expected to cry buckets, but instead, I think I teared up once or twice.


I admired Hayley for her strength, her determination, her courage, and her hope. She came through with humor and honesty. 


Her parents were great, doing everything they could to make their daughter better. They struggled financially due to family drama they tried to hide. Hayley struggled with her friends and their reaction to cancer. Some of them were amazing and some were cruel.


An excellent look at how cancer tried to impact Hayley's life and left scars, but didn't change her.


Cover Thoughts: Cute


Source: My Library

Review: Ghost Huntress - the Discovery

After returning from her retreat, Kendall's ready to start up ghost hunting again. Her team's down a photographer since Taylor moved. But the good news is that Patrick, her new boyfriend, is willing to join her team. He comes to visit her on the weekends.

Together they attend a Civil war exhibit for a homework assignment. There Kendall and her friends come across a creepy doll - a cursed doll. After hearing the legend of the doll, several people pose for photos with the doll.

According to the legend, anyone who snaps a picture with the doll will develop bad karma. The doll gives Kendall and Patrick the creeps, but nothing they say can prevent people from taking photos.

When accidents start occurring to the people from the pictures, Kendall knows that she needs to perform a ghost hunt inside the historical society house. However, the authorities aren't interested in her help. Can they be convinced otherwise?

My Thoughts: A creepy edition to this fascinating series. As the series progresses, the books and the ghosts become darker. I confess I had a hard time reading this book alone after dark. However, the side stories add lightness. One of the major side stories in this book surrounds Kendall finding out more about her family. I really liked the historical aspect of the book. The book ends on a cliff hanger - making me eager for the next book.

Cover Thoughts: I'm always interested in these covers because they reveal so much about the story - but it's hard to uncover the clues until after you've read the book.

Source: My Library

Review: Ghost Huntress - The Counseling

After Kendall's brush with death during her last ghost hunting mission, she's taking a break. She's not sure she wants to continue using her gifts. Kendall just might be done with ghosts.

Her parents send her to a retreat in California for teens just like her. Kendall isn't sure about the retreat, but she's happy to have time to think about herself and what she wants from the future. S

he soon meets other teens who have similar abilities, all in a place where they can talk about their experiences. Kendall feels drawn to one boy in particular.

At first, Patrick seems snarky, but there's more to him than meets the eye. Soon, he and Kendall have a connection between them, but he's traumatized from a past experience.

Can he trust her enough to open up to her? Will Kendall find peace with her past and be able to move forward?

My Thoughts: The fourth book in the GHOST HUNTRESS series creates a cast of new characters to enjoy while delving into Kendall's feelings. However, dealing with ghosts doesn't take a back seat. While learning how to focus her energies and move past recent traumas, Kendall still connects with a spirit. While this spirit isn't dangerous, the circumstances surrounding her death are shrouded in mystery. After dealing with a little heartbreak in the last installment, a new love interest appears. THE COUNSELING is a great chapter in this fresh and unique series.

Cover Thoughts: Unique. I love the colors.

Source: My Library - also reviewed for www.teensreadtoo.com

Up Next: The Discovery due out in May

Review: Ghost Huntress: The Reason

Kendall isn't sure about her life's direction anymore. Two months ago, she had a dream of her death. She isn't sure what to do or who to confide in. She doesn't want to worry her friends or her family, but its hard getting this secret locked inside.

Is she over-obsessing?

Luckily, she has a new ghost hunting case. The mayor of Radisson is having body aches. As Kendall passes the house one day, she notices a ghost peering down from the window.

Kendall and her team check it out and discover this spirit isn't friendly. She's actually quite dangerous. Is Kendall in over her head? Will her dreams become a reality?



My Thoughts: A unique series about taking power into your own hands. I love the ghost hunting aspect of this series. This is the third book in the series filled with danger, ghosts, forging friendships, romance, and family drama. Kendall discovers more about herself in this book that turns the series upside down. The hint of danger kept me turning the pages, loving the excitement.

Cover Thoughts: These are very unique covers. One aspect I love is the dreamy feel and seeing how the objects tie into the story.

Source: From the publishers: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Author Visit: Marley Gibson

Marley Gibson came to Otis Library on Monday.

Here's a photo of us together:

Ten Fun Things about Marley
10. She wrote two books under the name Kate Harmon
9. She's a BUZZ girl
8. She used to make up stories about her 300 stuffed animals - proms, weddings, beauty pageants and she made up a newspaper with these stories, plus photos articles, and gossip
7. She started ghost hunting in her teens and she's seen things that she can't explain
6. She's going to do a ghost hunt at a library in Key West
5. She's really funny: "They're going to eat that up like chocolate cake" (speaking of the Heather Davis book The Clearing)
4. She and her sweetie are traveling around the country in their RV with their books and goodies (including awesome, but gross skull brains)
3. There could be SIX books in the Ghost Huntress series
2. which just might be made into a movie - it's been optioned!
1. Her books give me chills - but in a good way

Here's a READ poster:

Ghosty Display

Teen Read Week Book 2 and author Chat

Now that Kendall's gone through her awakening and saved her father from a ghost, she and her friends have been working all over town. Not everyone is happy about Kendall's newfound abilities. First, her mother still doesn't believe her daughter's a psychic, and she's made Kendall promise to be tested. Kendall and her mom travel to Atlanta to meet with an open-minded doctor. They talk about her awakening and finally run mental and medical tests. Courtney, the queen bee at school, hates all the attention people are giving Kendall. Plus, she hates that Kendall is dating her ex-boyfriend. She comes up with a plan to shift the attention back on to herself: she fakes her own awakening. However, Courtney doesn't understand the rules and she's playing a very dangerous game. When a seance turns into something more, Kendall knows she has to step in and save Courtney if she can. The ghost oppressing Courtney is more vicious than any spirit she's ever encountered. She's not sure if she's strong enough to handle him.

The second book in the once trilogy, but now at least five book GHOST HUNTRESS series, picks up a couple of months after the first book, THE AWAKENING, ends. It continues the fun, danger, and romance of ghost hunting. The ending left me with goosebumps and I can't wait to devour the next book in the series.

This book is a bit different - being a nonfiction How-to manual for ghost hunting. It's a fun read and touches on a number of points

* you can't scientifically prove that ghosts exisit
* a quick history of ghost hunting
* You don't make money by becoming a ghost hunter
*explains the different types of apparitions
* Dos and Don't of actually hunting ghosts - a great list
* What types of abnormalities you might encounter (draining of batteries, cold spots, etc...)
*Equipment to use
* EVPs (Electronic voice phenomena - voices not heard aloud in normal conversation, but in a playback situation.)
* Different types of psychic abilities - and how to test one.
* Reviewing your evidence
* How to put your own team together (Like Kendall)
* Plus some places to start investigating.

Chat Information: Chat with the Authors of The Other Side

What: Online Chat with Marley Gibson, Patrick Burns and Dave Schrader!

Where: TKA Chat Room

When: TONIGHT - Wednesday, October 21st @ 9pm ET

How To Chat: (1) Click on this link: http://client1.sigmachat.com/sc.php?id=115545 (2) Enter a username and password (any combination) (3) Click Login

Ghost Huntress: The Awakening

"It’s too freaking quiet here! I can’t sleep. Not a wink."
Kendall's not adjust well to the family move from Chicago to Georgia. She missed her best friend, but most of all, she misses the noise. She can't sleep - which means that she can't function. Something's keeping her from sleeping. At first, Kendall thinks it's just insomnia, but she son comes to realize that it's something more - something MUCH more. She hears a voice in an otherwise empty room. She befriends a woman who informs her she's going through her psychic awakening. Kendall can hear ghosts, see ghosts, and know details about people she's never met. She confides in her neighbor - the only girl she knows in town. Together, they decide to become ghost huntress. They ask other people at their school to fill the photographer, the nonbeliever, and the sound technician spots to make their group complete. With the town full of ghosts, will they succeed in their hunting or will they simply make the ghosts angry?

The start of a trilogy with sassy characters who don't fit the stereotypes of teens. There's something for everyone here: a paranormal activity, parental issues, forging friendships, and a little romance. It's a super fun read that make you question your ghost beliefs.

Read the first chapter
Book two continues in September

The Formal: Sorority 101

Jenna, Roni, and Lora-Leigh made it through winter break and are more than ready to tackle the new semester. Jenna's convinced she can tackle her responsibilities with better planning and more communication. She's happy to be in relationship with Tiger and to be formally a ZZT sister. Roni's about to embark on the biggest challenge of her life. She's undertaken the formal assistant post for the social calendar of ZZT. Right now, she's supposed to be helping plan the Spring Formal, but so far her sister is making her do all the work and taking the credit. Will her frustrations and committments ruin her new relationship? Lora-Leigh's tackling the star football player now that the season's ended. But he has bigger dreams and might not be around on campus too much longer. Lora-Leight has dreams of her own, but is she ready to leave ZZT and her two besties for FIT? The sisters rock this semester with some drama, lots of romance, and a little heartache.

I really like this series. (I'm hoping it's not just a trilogy). I like that it's about college and gives a different look at sororities than most other books. It's more about sisters and friendship than backstabbing. I adore books with a strong friendship pull. Not to mention the addicting storylines. It was hard for me to put the book down. Check out the author's new upcoming series and the first two books of 101 Sorority here.