Whisper the Dead: The Lovegrove Legacy, Book #2

by Alyxandra Harvey

Bloomsbury

978-0-802737502 

408 pp.

Ages 12-18

2014

The dead do indeed whisper. And although not all the Lovegrove cousins can hear them, ghosts and spirits and even those in the Underworld seem to have a lot to say. Seems attention must be paid, for everyone's sake.

In A Breath of Frost, Book 1 in the Lovegrove Legacy, the Lovegrove cousins–Emma Day, Gretchen Thorn and Penelope Chadwick–learned of their supernatural powers and heritage and began attending  the Rowanstone Academy, ultimately helping to thwart the evil Greymalkin Sisters.

Now the Keepers of the Order of the Iron Nail (a.k.a. the Greybeards) are diligent about securing the wards around London to keep it safe from open or leaking portals such as the ones that allowed the Greymalkin Sisters to return.  Gretchen's twin brother, Godric, who is overwhelmed by his ability to see spirits, must help the Keepers such as Emma's love interest Cormac and his partner Tobias Lawless in their task, though it is Gretchen, loathe to limit herself to learnings appropriate for young ladies, who truly wants to help in this endeavour.  In this capacity, Godric becomes acquainted with the unschooled witch and Madcap, Moira, whom he begins to court rather discreetly.  However, Gretchen's mother insists that her daughter choose a suitor promptly though Gretchen is too busy developing her gift of hearing whisperings of the dead and curiously examining her feelings for Tobias who has been assigned to watch over her. (Seems the Order is "cautious" about the Lovegrove cousins and their extraordinary magic and is determined to watch their every move.)

While Gretchen is learning to harness the insistent voices buzzing in her head, Emma is trying to open a portal to connect with her father in the underworld and to fix the spell she'd used to harness the Greymalkin sisters.  Fortunately for her, Cormac is by her side all the way.  Penelope, on the other hand, is balancing the attentions of Lord Lucius Beauregard while her childhood friend Cedric, the grandson of the family coachman, remains vigilant about protecting her, though a Keeper has been assigned to her.

While most young women are striving to secure a suitable marriage match, the Lovegrove cousins have greater issues with which to deal and they do it with such style.  And though they are all working to develop their magic and help keep London safe, even if they are ladies, Whisper the Dead is definitely Gretchen's story, just as A Breath of Frost was Emma's.  Gretchen is the gutsy girl who lets nothing stop her from pursuing her interests:  not her clothing, not her mother, not society, not etiquette.  Like her familiar, a wolfhound, Gretchen is fierce, fearless and dangerous, and her dear twin Godric is her champion, albeit a quiet one.  She will fight with daggers, climb houses, break the rules, speak her mind, and listen to her heart.  She is the sister, cousin and friend they all need in their corners.  So, it's especially satisfying for her to find a love in Tobias Lawless, a very proper young man who needs Gretchen to help him release his unreserved self and accept his inner (!) wolf.

Alyxandra Harvey is one of those authors whose stories are so multi-faceted and -layered that it is virtually impossible to provide a succinct yet comprehensive synopsis.  I haven't been able to do so for her Drake Chronicles or these Lovegrove Legacy stories. The weakness is in my retelling.  The stories are so rich and complicated, encompassing different levels of society in Victorian England and in the supernatural world, each with their own characters, protocols and flavours, and their own villains, heroes and common folk.  But Alyxandra Harvey integrates them all superbly in Whisper the Dead into a story abounding with intrigue, secrets, magic and romance, written in a voice uniquely her own.  Readers will find themselves holding their breath throughout the story, anticipating the worst, hoping for the sweetest, and always satisfied that the story has unraveled as it should.  As such, we are drawn further into our own relationships with the cousins as Whisper the Dead reveals more about the legacy that is the Lovegrove family, leaving us again expectant of further angst, conspiracy, and love that is sure to come.

Blood Prophecy (The Drake Chronicles, Book 6)

by Alyxandra Harvey

Walker Books/Bloomsbury

978-0-802734297

475 pp.

Ages 14+

2013

Blood Prophecy, the sixth and final book of Alyxandra Harvey's The Drake Chronicles, came out at the end of last year but I couldn't bear to read it.  Ending trilogies is hard enough. Imagine what it's like having committing yourself to getting involved with characters after six books. But it's time.  Time to wrap up story-lines, relationships and clean up the messes from nasty vampires and rogue hunters.

When the various vampire tribes gathered at the Blood Moon (Book 5) to forge relationships and see the new queen crowned, Solange, the youngest of the Drake offspring, was not dealing well with her new vampire-ness, seeming to have gone to the darkside and listening to a voice that encourages her to feed her blood lust (not something her family does).  Sadly, her brother Nicholas and her best friend, Lucy, Nicholas' girlfriend, get caught up in her machinations, which then threaten all the Drakes and relationships between tribes.

While Solange struggles to command her thinking and actions, she begins having bizarre experiences–like time travel or magic–in which she relives the events that the voice in her head, Viola, endured in the 12th c. There are dragons, dungeons, witches, a love interest, a nasty grandmother, and a whole lot of anger.  Luckily, Lucy is sure that Solange is not herself and more likely possessed by another's spirit.  Lucy gets help from all the Drakes and close friends to attempt to rid Solange of Viola, and make things right at the Blood Moon camp where Solange/Viola caused much mayhem.  And did I mention that somebody, dubbed the Dracula Killer, is murdering humans and making it look like the vampires are to blame?

By alternating chapters from the points of view of Solange, Lucy and Nicholas, Alyxandra Harvey provides the means for the characters, and the readers, to put the clues together about Solange's bizarre behaviour, though tracking Solange's actions was rather confusing.  I actually enjoyed the emphasis on Lucy's voice again, as each of the Drake Chronicles books tend to emphasize the budding relationship of one Drake son with a new character, and Lucy and Nicholas' relationship has not been front and center since Hearts at Stake.  Of course, Kieran and Solange do resolve their bumpy love in Blood Prophecy but Lucy and Nicholas' interactions are so much more satisfying.  That said, I think Alyxandra Harvey had a hard time trying to incorporate all the established romances (Hunter and Quinn, Christabel and Connor, Isabeau and Logan) into Blood Prophecy, though they all make appearances.  Because the couples vary greatly in their sensibilities, their cursory participation in the plot, sadly, just wasn't enough for fans of the Drakes.

While Blood Prophecy and Blood Moon to some extent establish the story-line that brings together all the groups, vampire and not, introduced in the earlier books, Books 1-4 are still my favourites, relying more on establishing the Drake family and its interactions with these groups.  With three Drake sons–Sebastian, Marcus and Duncan–left without their own full novels in which they find partners for themselves, The Drake Chronicles ended far too abruptly for me.  I wanted more.  

Luckily, though Alyxandra Harvey has completed the novels of The Drake Chronicles with Blood Prophecy, look for extras at her website and elsewhere.  There are six novellas, including Sound and Fury which is appended to Blood Prophecy, to help take the sting off the end. 

A Breath of Frost

Written by Alyxandra Harvey

Bloomsbury

978-0-8027-3443-3

496 pp.

Ages 12-18

Released January 2014

Starting to feel a bit of a chill? Not surprising when there's murderous magic and family secrets, as well as a potentially disastrous romance, tingling around young Emma Day in 1814 Regency London.  And she understands none of it.

While attending one of those infernal balls at which young debutantes attempt to win the attention of young gentlemen, seventeen-year-old Emma Day drops and breaks a small bottle of liquid which she carries as a talisman as a connection to her mother, Theodora, who has gone mad.  When an earthquake hits, chaos ensues, with Emma first finding an injured girl, Margaret York, and then witnessing a fire breaking out in the ballroom. Grabbing the first help that she can find is somewhat problematic, as it happens to be the debonaire Cormac Fairfax, the young man who'd kissed her over a year ago and then had ignored her so obviously ever since.  Worse yet, they find Margaret dead and covered in ice with a star-nosed mole exiting her chest!  Consequently, Cormac confuses Emma with talk about what she's done and insists she tell no one.

Confusing becomes even more bizarre as the night progresses and Emma and her two cousins, Gretchen Thorn and Penelope Chadwick, return home from the ball.  Gretchen and her twin brother Godric see the ghost of Margaret York and the strange mole.  Penelope, attending to her mother, Lady Bethany, in her sitting room, picks up a ring and falls into visions of being burned at the stake.  And Emma, determined to find out what is going on, steals away to Cormac's bachelor rooms to learn the truth, but not before she witnesses her hands and chest as if on fire.  Luckily, Emma's visit with Cormac is very revealing on several levels.

First, Emma learns she is a witch, one of the Lovegrove line, to which Theodora, Bethany and Gretchen's mother Cora all belong.  Secondly, Cormac is a Keeper for the Order of the Iron Nail, who keep order amongst those who do magic for nefarious purposes and tells her that a door to the Underworld has opened, perhaps because of Emma's "witch bottle", and as a result, Margaret was murdered.  Finally, it becomes evident that, although Emma feels she has been rejected by Cormac perhaps because of her mother's madness, Cormac is very much attracted to Emma but worries that there will be a conflict because of who she is i.e., a Lovegrove.  (Fortunately, I think Cormac will heed the advice of his wise mother that he should not let being a Keeper prevent him from finding true love.)

At 496 pages, A Breath of Frost is a lengthy read and I can't possibly share all the details within.  However, I can tell you that the Order is frightened by the power of the Lovegroves, and when several more young women are murdered, all frosted over, and Emma is the first to find each of them, the Order has her running as a fugitive.  Fortunately, Cormac does all he can to keep her safe, while enjoying stolen moments with her.  Moreover, there are secrets about Emma's heritage (did I mention she grows antlers?) that must be uncovered and worries about the newly-opened doors to the Underworld and the return of the really horrible Greymalkin Sisters, a trio of evil witches.

As I mentioned, A Breath of Frost is a long read but it has so many key characters and so many subplots, not to mention taking place in several time periods, that I'm surprised Alyxandra Harvey was able to keep it down to under 500 pages!  And how she is going to keep it to a trilogy is beyond comprehension, but I suspect that each book will focus on one of the Lovegrove cousins, this first centered on Emma.  In A Breath of Frost, Alyxandra Harvey has had to introduce the witch and magic contexts, and there are so many nuances to how magic manifests itself in general and for the individual, that there is still so much to learn. And that's just the content.

But A Breath of Frost's magic goes beyond its plots.  It sparkles with unique characters, great dialogue, some heart-grasping romantic interludes, remarkable imagery and a wit that twines throughout.  Take Godric's discomfort when he sees more ghosts: "Just when I thought it was safe to quit drinking." Or the image of a little girl with a toothless grin walking a gryphon on a silver chain down the street of Goblin Market. Alyxandra Harvey has created a lavish supernatural world that has all the perfect ingredients for casting a spell on readers of young adult fantasy, with a touch of true love.

Bleeding Hearts

by Alyxandra Harvey

Bloomsbury US

978-0802722850

304 pp.

Ages 14-17

2011

Bleeding Hearts, the fourth book in Alyxandra Harvey's vampire series The Drake Chronicles, introduces a new character to Violet Hill - Christabel, Lucy's cousin who has come to stay with them while her mom is in rehab for alcoholism. Lucy appreciates her cousin's company (even if Christabel is content to just read), especially when she's barely seen her best friend Solange, a newly-turned vampire, in over a month. Even Solange's boyfriend, Kieran, a Helios Ra vampire hunter, is concerned about Solange's odd behaviour.  Luckily, Lucy is still dating Solange's brother, Nicholas Drake, and is training with Hunter Wild, a student at the Helios Ra Academy and girlfriend of Quinn Drake, Nicholas' older brother, so she knows what's going on around Violet Hill.

And what's going on around Violet Hill is that it's no longer a quiet and safe community.  The dark, blue-skinned Hel Blar continue their nasty attacks, although many seem to be wearing copper collars and responding to a whistle summons now.  But, with a Blood Moon gathering scheduled, vampires, including a few articulate light-skinned Hel Blar, from around the world are converging on Violet Hill.

Although Lucy's parents have imposed an incredibly early curfew on the girls if they are unescorted, to keep them safe from the increased Hel Blar attacks, Christabel knows nothing of the paranormal activity and is convinced that she's street-wise enough to take care of herself. That's how she first encounters Connor Drake, Quinn's more modest twin, as she sneaks out for a walk.  There's obviously some subtle chemistry between them, but Christabel doesn't know he's a vampire.  That is, until she is kidnapped by the light-skinned Hel Blar, called Na-Foir, who believe she is Lucy and she can't explain away all the weirdness she sees.  Luckily, Connor has become familiar with Christabel's scent (how romantic!) and gets involved in her rescue, but not before he has to reveal his vampire-ness to her, negotiate with a Wendat and a pirate Na-Foir, and fight more nasty Hel Blar.

The requisite romance, Christabel and Connor's, will please teen readers of The Drake Chronicles, especially as both characters demonstrate an endearing modesty and the awkwardness of the first serious relationship.  But, by introducing Aidan and Saga as representatives of the new sub-species (I'm not sure if that is correct taxonomically), the Na-Foir, and Christabel who leaps from the naive human to something which you will need to read the book to learn, Alyxandra Harvey has enriched the series.  The impending Blood Moon gathering (and Book #5 in the series) is sure to create more conflicts from the developments in Bleeding Hearts, particularly as there may be every reason to believe that not all the romantic pairings will survive.

Alas, if there ever was a single-word sentence to end a book that could leave the reader dangling over a crevasse of trepidation, Bleeding Hearts has it.  Luckily, Blood Moon was released in June.

Alyxandra Harvey's The Drake Chronicles

Having recently met Canadian YA author Alyxandra Harvey at the Festival of Trees in Toronto, as her novel Haunting Violet (Walker & Co., 2011) was selected as the Honour Book for the 2012 Red Maple Award, I learned that she pens a very successful and popular supernatural series called The Drake Chronicles.  So, having enjoyed Haunting Violet, I thought I'd look into The Drake Chronicles and have just finished reading the first three books.  How could I have been so remiss in not recognizing this series when it first came out?  With five books in total already published and the sixth scheduled for release in January, 2013 (see list below), I've got a lot of catching up to do. 

1. Hearts at Stake (alternate title: My Love Lies Bleeding)
2. Blood Feud
3. Out for Blood
4. Bleeding Hearts
5. Blood Moon
6. Blood Prophecy (for release in January 2013)

For now, I'll limit myself to reviewing only the first books in the series here.  After all, you can get too much of a good thing, just like chocolate. And the Drake Chronicles are a very good thing.

Hearts at Stake
Written by Alyxandra Harvey
Walker & Company
(Distributed by Penguin Canada)
978-0-8027-2074-0
248 pp.
Ages 14-17
2010


Blood Feud 
Written by Alyxandra Harvey
Walker & Company
(Distributed by Penguin Canada)
978-0-8027-2096-2
258 pp.
Ages 14-17
2010


Out for Blood 
Written by Alyxandra Harvey
Walker & Company
(Distributed by Penguin Canada)
978-0-8027-2168-6
292 pp.
Ages 14-17
2010


 

The Drake Chronicles are called such after the Drake family, an ancient family of vampires, upon whom each story is founded.  The nucleus of the contemporary Drake family consists of mother Helena, father Liam, seven brothers (Nicholas, Logan, Quinn, Connor, Sebastian, Marcus, Duncan) and the youngest and only daughter, Solange.  Also living with the family at the beginning of the series are Aunt Hyacinth, Helena's aunt, and Uncle Geoffrey, Liam's brother.  Lucy, Solange's human best friend, is also an integral member of the Drake family, essentially an honorary sister, daughter and soon girlfriend.

In the first book, Hearts at Stake, Solange is worrying about her impending sixteenth birthday, the time for her blood change from human to vampire.  Knowing the physical and emotional trauma that all her older brothers endured with the change, Solange is already apprehensive.  But, as the only female vampire-born offspring, a prophecy declares that she will be the ruling Queen, destined to supplant Lady Natasha.  And now a menagerie of vampires, including the power-hungry Montmartre, are sending courting gifts, hopeful of a liaison with an upcoming queen.  Luckily, her best friend Lucy, a human, is sticking around to help her still enjoy life, even if Lucy and Solange's brother Nicholas keep butting heads as they have since childhood (though that power struggle now includes surprising kisses!)  So, not only does Solange have to worry about the change (and how good her best-friend Lucy will smell), and the endless (and sometimes gross) gifts of her suitors, everyone is out to protect her, practically suffocating her, especially once they learn of a bounty on the Drakes.  But, Solange is determined to have a life, even if that means getting closer to Kieran Black, the Helios-Ra vampire hunter who is convinced the Drakes killed his father. 

Blood Feud has the Drake family preparing for Helena’s coronation as the new Queen, with special guests and emissaries beginning to arrive.  The representative of the Hounds, Isabeau St. Croix, an eighteen-year-old woman whose aristocratic parents were murdered during the French Revolution, had been turned into a vampire by Greyhaven and buried for centuries before being rescued by the powerful Hounds.  Now Isabeau represents her queen or shamanka, Kala, and the Hounds who have allied themselves with the Drakes, particularly against Montmartre and his Hel-Blar army.  Not surprising that Logan Drake, wearer of waistcoats, frock coats and pirate shirts, finds himself drawn to Isabeau, as they work together to thwart the attacks of Montmartre, the Hel-Blars and even Greyhaven.

Drake brother Quinn and Helios-Ra student Hunter Wild are the voices of Out for Blood, the third book in The Drake Chronicles.  Hunter, an outstanding student at the Helios-Ra Academy, has been chosen by Helios-Ra leader Hart to accompany him and nephew Kieran Black to Helena Drake's coronation, as the Helios-Ra are allying themselves with the Drakes.  Through Kieran, who is still dating Solange, Hunter encounters Quinn to whom she is wildly attracted.  Quinn, of course, is similarly attracted, though with his charm and startling handsome features (like all Drake men), he is known as quite a ladies' man.  Having a vampire as a close acquaintance is problematic for the young Helio-Ra, especially with her bigoted grandfather, but she needs to uncover the truth about some goings-on at the Academy, and Quinn is eager to help and protect her.

If you check out  Alyxandra Harvey's website, you'll see how popular her books are throughout the world by fans of YA vampire books. While it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact features of the books that the fans love, I suspect that it has much to do with the great and varied characters, sweet romances, strong female leads, expressive teen attitudes, and the interweaving of vampires, Helios-Ra, Hounds, Hel-Blar and other assorted groups.  While the paranormal aspects of the books create fantastic context for the stories, the interrelationships between individuals and groups are easily recognizable for YA readers:  best friends, enemies, siblings, crushes, guardians and children, teachers and students, mixed with love, hate, like, disgust, respect, fear, confusion, loyalty, and concern.  The familiarity blended with the fantasy and the resolution of the good-evil conflict is an irresistible combination.

Alyxandra Harvey's books are regular contenders in the best of the paranormal romances that include series like Twilight, the House of Night, the Mortal Instruments, the Infernal Devices and the Darkest Powers.  I couldn't count the number of readers who proclaimed with exclamation their preference for The Drake Chronicles over the Twilight series.  That's high praise for a series by a Canadian author whose books have not had the exposure and promotion that the other has enjoyed.  And as long as Alyxandra Harvey continues to tell stories about the Drake family and those in their circle in her winning style, readers, including myself, will continue to escape into the tempting shadows of The Drake Chronicles.

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As already mentioned, Alyxandra Harvey has a fabulous website with details about the books, trailers, mailing list, bio and other such goodies.  But, if you only want to see a few of the official videos for these books, they are available on the CanLit for LittleCanadians: Book Trailers site here.