Be careful what you search for...
When a strange girl appears, bent on revenge; demon dogs become a threat; and Jack turns into a walking skeleton; Emma has no choice but to learn hoodoo magic to undo the hex, all before summer—and her friends--are lost forever.
Type:Young Adult, Paranormal
Heat: 1.5 out of 5
Rating: 4 out of 5
Aw Conjure was such a great young adult novel and a pretty damn impressive debut by Lea Nolan. The basic gist is that twins Emmaline and Jack, along with their best friend Cooper, are spending the summer together and find themselves neck deep in a centuries old curse, or two, and fighting for their lives. There's action, mystery, some total ick you out moments and a very sweet little romance. It's an excellent ride :)
I absolutely loved Emmaline and Cooper. They're awesome young teenagers and ones I'd totally want to hang out with in real life. And the two are so sweet together. She's been crushing on him for a while now and omg if I were like half my age I'd totally have crushed on Cooper too! The boy is just too cute. I really enjoyed seeing the sweet little romance start to bloom between them. It's kept pretty PG so safer for the younger teens and anyone on up :)
I thought the storyline was pretty entertaining and rather unique. The hoodoo aspect, and Emmaline learning the rules and different spells, was really interesting. There are some crazy hold-your-breath-omg-moments along the way that would have freaked me the heck out. But these kids really held their own. There were some nice twists and surprises along the way that I so didn't see coming and you know I love that.
The "Creep" that's attacking her brother was oh so disgusting. It was excellent but omg yeah totally icked me out and put me off my cereal (which I'd made the mistake of munching on while reading). LOL. I made a lot of eeeehhhhwwwwwww girly noises on this one.
The one thing I didn't really love, and this has nothing to do with Nolan's writing, which was fantastic, but with Jack who'd gotten himself good and cursed. I'm all for sympathy for the victim, but when you start acting like a butt-faced jerk I'm good letting The Creep take your sorry self down. That's one seriously annoying teenage boy with some hardcore mood swings. ::shudder:: I'm real curious to see what happens with him next and if I'll still want to pinch the ever living tar out of him or not.
If you're looking for something a little different (or a nicely developed read you can share with your younger teens) this is definitely one to look into. I'm really looking forward to reading more from Nolan and seeing where these three friends go from here.
Get Your Copy
Amazon B&N Book Depository
Lea Nolan couldn’t read until the third grade. After a lot of hard work she finally got the hang of it and quickly learned the best way to get out of doing chores was to tell her parents she was reading. Soon she was hooked, devouring books by Roald Dahl, E.B. White, Judy Blume, C.S. Lewis, and anything with a shiny Newberry Award sticker on the cover. Books provided a portal to enchanted lands where anything was possible and characters relied on their wits to wiggle out of sticky situations.
Lea Nolan couldn’t read until the third grade. After a lot of hard work she finally got the hang of it and quickly learned the best way to get out of doing chores was to tell her parents she was reading. Soon she was hooked, devouring books by Roald Dahl, E.B. White, Judy Blume, C.S. Lewis, and anything with a shiny Newberry Award sticker on the cover. Books provided a portal to enchanted lands where anything was possible and characters relied on their wits to wiggle out of sticky situations.
Today, even though she’s all grown up, Lea writes the kinds of stories she sought as a teen--smart paranormals with bright heroines, crazy-hot heroes, diabolical plot twists, plus a dose of magic, a draft of romance, and a sprinkle of history. She holds degrees in history and women’s studies concentrating in public policy and spent fifteen years as a health policy analyst and researcher. She lives in Maryland with her heroically supportive husband and three clever children, who’ve figured out how to get out of doing their chores.
Leave a nice little comment for extra entries into the grand prize drawing!
It's over on the right side of the page so don't forget to enter your points there too!
Oh this sounds great! I think I found Adi & my next book to read together!
ReplyDeleteOoo hope you and Adi enjoy it!
Deletefor a debut book you seems really happy with it so i guesss i could try it but from your review i'm sure i would be angry with jack too... oki he is perhaps afraid of what it's happening to him but it's partially his fault after all so no need to become a jerk
ReplyDeleteIt was a really nice surprise Miki. Emmaline and Cooper were fantastic. Totally awesome teens. But oy yeah that Jack. Little rough. He was pretty hard on his sister which ruffled my feathers. LOL. I'm really curious what he'd be like without the curse. But still it was all really well written and a fun read :)
DeleteCool! I don't read YA books usually but would based on your review :). I have a teenage daughter who would probably love it.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Lori
I don't read too many of them but they're not bad every now and again. Especially when they're well written :) Lea definitely has me interested in reading more!
DeleteThanks for sharing the review of the book. Seems like one that my older daughters may enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI hope so! I think it would be a great read for anyone middle school age on up!
DeleteSounds like a very interesting read.
ReplyDeleteIt really was :)
DeleteNot usually my kind of read. But you never know. Sometimes. you wanna try something different. :-)
ReplyDeleteExactly :) That's what I love about reading. It may not always be your taste in real life but it's always interesting to jump into someone elses world :)
Deletethis sounds like a fun read for the young adults - gets the imagination going.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely does :)
DeleteSounds like a book my teen would love. She is a paranormal fan with minimal to NO sex stuff!
ReplyDeleteThere's a little kissing but nothing goes to far so probably a great one for her :)
DeleteI think it sounds pretty interesting and worth a read.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! It was a fun one :)
DeleteThanks for sharing your views of Conjure. It sounds like a very unique story. I'm not a YA reader, but I'd love to read this one.
ReplyDeleteluvfuzzzeeefaces at yahoo dot com
You know, I'm not really either. Maybe 5 out of every 100 books will be YA but I've found they're pretty good as a little break from the more adult themed books. Especially with authors like Lea and Emi Gayle out there. Amazing ladies!
DeleteI love YA books even though I am an adult. Sounds like a great story!
ReplyDeleteLOL you are not alone May! I know a lot of adults who devour the YA books. I've really enjoyed the ones I've picked up too (and I'm way grown now at 30! LOL)
DeleteSounds great! I love YA stories...
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy it!
DeleteSounds like a pretty good YA book.
ReplyDeleteI'd say so :) It's got me hooked and ready for more!
DeleteThis book sounds greats, love to read this book. Thanks for sharing the review of the book.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Thanks for coming by and good luck with the giveaways!
DeleteLooks really interesting.
ReplyDeleteI normally avoid YA novels but I have been pleasantly surprised by one or two this year so I'm going to give this one a try. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteAdria
Breath of Life Reviews
No prob :) I really don't read them all that often either but more times than not I've really enjoyed myself :)
DeleteHope you enjoy this one!
sounds like a great read...I'll check it out!
ReplyDeleteLove the interview and Nolan is always on my TBR list!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
//Linda
Great review. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGreat review.
ReplyDelete