A Deadly Inheritance

Written by Kelley Armstrong

Tundra Books

978-1-77488-803-2 

424 pp.

Ages 14+

March 2026 

 

Understanding where you fit in the world is rare here. Embracing it is even rarer. (pg. 45)  

For seventeen-year-old Liliana Green, getting by since her mother died recently is everything to her. That and avoiding the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services. She works two part-time jobs, works hard at school to get that full scholarship to college in September, and she sells stuff to make rent. When lawyer Cecilia Robbins appears on her doorstep and announces that Liliana to be the grandchild of the billionaire Chamberlains, Liliana's financial troubles appear to be over. She's whisked away to Westdale, her mother's alma mater and a school that only admits the wealthiest of students. 

 

Of course Liliana has lots of questions, especially why her mother never went to her parents for help, but once she's at Westdale, Lili just has more questions. She may be enjoying the perks of being part of a billionaire family—". . . I'll enjoy what I can, while I can" (pg. 20)—but she still has to navigate meeting new peers who see her as the new Chamberlain girl. She becomes friendly with Maddox Moreno, son of a tech wizard, and Theo Dubois, son of an actor and a director, although the two boys have a cool relationship with each other. And Lili is invited to join Allegra Khan, Polly Reeves, and Isolde Brandt in the Lilith society, one of four societies on campus. 

Soon Lili is being recruited to join the race for that year's Optima, a prestigious competition that would win her a place in an elite networking group outside the school. Even before she has agreed, she's targeted and told to watch herself. Would her competitors really try to eliminate her? But Lili has another mystery to solve when she learns her mother was the Dux (leader) of the Liliths, and ran away with her father before she graduated. Why did they run away? What does it have to do with the death of a scholarship student? And what secrets is Westdale keeping?

 

Like many boarding schools, Westdale is a microcosm of good and bad and ugly. There is a clear class structure and distinct peer groups. There are secrets from the past and mysteries from the present. There are rules to be broken and a system to work in. And there is danger hiding everywhere. Kelley Armstrong takes us into a school of the fabulously wealthy and lets us watch as the students form alliances and friends, tread cautiously around others, and do what they can to safeguard themselves and support those for whom they care. But no one is ever safe. So, as we learn more about the secrets behind Liliana's parents, Rose (Rosalyn) Chamberlain and Will Green, and several suspicious deaths, including that of Maddox's sister and that of a friend of Rosalyn's, Kelley Armstrong twists and turns the reader into believing no one is to be trusted. She gives us all the clues but she cleverly tangles us into seeing connections where there are none and ignoring key players because they seem inconsequential. Still, even if you pay attention, Kelley Armstrong will surprise you, both with her ending and the solution to the mystery. And there's nothing better than the unraveling and intertwining of plot threads leading to a refreshing and a gratifying denouement, which is what you always get with Kelley Armstrong's suspenseful reads.

If We Tell You

Written by Nicola Dahlin

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-1147-5

400 pp.

Ages 12-15

October 2024

 

A truth relies on what came before it. (p. 32)

 

There's something about the cover that tells you that If We Tell You is going to be a thriller. And if that doesn't give it away it then the first pages in which fifteen-year-old twin brothers Lewis and Cameron Larsen are running from a "serious event" at their home outside of Calgary and heading to the airport and then to Scotland definitely would. The "serious event"? It was a man and a woman who crashed their BBQ and held guns on the boys before Mom and Dad expertly put the strangers down with a knife and a gun. Mom and Dad have taken off and left the boys with a backpack of passports with new names and a load of money. Now the twins are heading to find Maggs, a woman who runs a guest house in Edinburgh, determined to find their parents again and figure out why this is all happening.

Because they had been told by their mother to stay together but avoid being seen together–they are identical twins–the boys experience things differently, not the least of which is because the two are not identical in dispositions. Cameron is the more impetuous boy but optimistic and more street savvy of the two, while Lewis is the smarter one and the one who does not believe that his parents have done anything wrong to get them to this state.

Though they hope getting to Maggs will answer all their questions, Lewis and Cameron just get more perturbed by what they learn and are left with more questions including finding out who their parents really are. The parents they knew as Jennifer Reid and David Larsen are known by different names. They're suspected of being terrorists and thieves and are still wanted by the police. It's going to take a whole host of characters, including family they never knew existed and an assortment of guests and neighbours at Maggs's, to keep the boys safe and help them figure out whether all their lives are based on lies.

 

Told in the alternating voices of Lewis and Cameron, If We Tell You is an action thriller that offers different perspectives on the same circumstances. They are twin teens who witness a terrifying situation and are separated from the only family they know, and they see their circumstances differently. Of course, they are both devastated but Lewis adheres strictly to what his parents told him to always do and not to trust anyone and is convinced that their parents are not the criminals they are assumed to be. Cameron jumps in and follows his heart, doing what he thinks is right and hoping that it will help them find their parents and the truth. As the two boys grapple with their circumstances, including posing as one boy Will, their trust of each other and others becomes limited. But Calgary author Nicola Dahlin brings the boys full circle, from only seeing their own perspectives to appreciating those of the other. In fact, it is only because of those differences that the two are able to face a myriad of challenges, including kidnapping, assaults, and romance, and come out the other side.

This is Nicola Dahlin's debut novel and, because of her own background, living in Calgary and growing up in Scotland, there is an authenticity of voice and place. Her placement of the bulk of the story in Scotland, a place of rich history, of the Edinburgh Festival, and more, adds a unique dimension, in language and landscape. Moreover, she brings in all sorts of characters, from teens to tourists, police and historians, some friend, some foe, such that it's difficult for the boys, and readers, to tell the difference. If We Tell You is as rich in storytelling as it is in people and place.

The title may be If We Tell You but there's not a whole lot of telling that is happening that is the complete truth, though for the boys and the readers, figuring it out when they're on the run and in a different country makes for a good story. And a good story it is with action and history, mysteries and even a little romance. In the end, it's a whodunit or maybe even a what-did-they-do story, and its ending promises more to come.

 

40 Days in Hicksville

Written by Christina Kilbourne

DCB

978-1-77086-715-4

264 pp.

Ages 12+

October 2023

 

Moving to Clarendon with her mother to live in her grandparents' old home was supposed to give Kate Cooper a clean break from living in the city. Little did they know that she'd just find a new trouble with classmate Zach Whitchurch. Yeah, she's definitely safer in Clarendon a.k.a. Hicksville. Not. 

When Kate and her mom Sally move into the Cooper place next door, Zach is smitten. And Kate, determined to convince her mom Sally that she's making an effort, let's Zach show her around. When he points out Peter Goheen's property, warning her that he is known to be cruel and maybe even dangerous, Kate reveals that he is her grandfather, though she's never met him. When they venture onto his property to introduce Kate, Pater Goheen is less than welcoming and warns them against trespassing again. That doesn't deter Kate who, with Zach, discovers a cave-like crevasse which they investigate after midnight so that she can make a video. What they discover deep inside are the remains of two bodies. 

 

Zach's dad, a detective in Clarendon, reveals that a wallet in the jeans of one is that of Sally's fifteen-year-old brother James who disappeared in 1982 along with his friend Luke McLeod. For the first time, Kate learns about her uncle and his disappearance and about Sally's troubled family life because of her mean drunk of a father. Though Peter Goheen was questioned, Kate's dad Mitch provided an alibi for his father. And without bodies, it was impossible to know the truth. But that was then.

Are these the bodies of James and Luke? What happened to them? Who did it and why? 40 Days in Hicksville could be a true crime podcast, unravelling the story through Kate and Zach's eyes–chapters are alternating perspectives of the two teens–and with the twists and turns that often come with a thriller. Christina Kilbourne, author of The Limitless Sky, Safe Harbour and Dear Jo, takes us to a small Ontario town as if the setting for an episode of Dateline or 20/20, unravelling the mystery with each interview and piece of evidence and investigative step of the police.  And, as in those in-depth investigations of the newsmagazine shows, the trajectory from missing person to justice is not a straight line. There are those who keep secrets, those who hide truths, those who lie, and those who grieve. There are those who are determined to make things right and find justice. There is danger and revelations, standstills, and action. With a variety of characters, some who are aggravating, others naive, some scared, others aggressive, 40 Days in Hicksville remind us that small towns are not always boring communities in which nothing happens. Sometimes they are seething with secrets and dangers and history that are only revealed when someone from outside arrives. Kate may not have wanted to be in Clarendon but her first forty days in the town her father called Hicksville are as thrilling as the urbex videos that got her in trouble in the city. Fortunately, Christina Kilbourne's "Epilogue" reveals that this adventure has a far more constructive outcome for both Kate and her community.

The Project

Written by Courtney Summers

Wednesday Books (St. Martin's Press)

978-1-250-10573-8

352 pp.

Ages 12+

February 2021

 

In 2011, when Lo is just 13 years of age, she is critically injured in a car crash that kills her parents. Her 19-year-old sister Bea is called to the hospital and, in the chapel, begs for a miracle and Lev Warren appears. The miracle happens for Lo but Bea disappears from her life, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt Patty.

Six years later, Lo knows Bea has joined Lev Warren's The Unity Project, an organization whose mission is to do good works to atone for all sins and bring salvation. After an earlier exposé investigating The Project as a cult, Lev has tried to keep The Project out of the media, focusing on their community work and annual public sermon. But, now working for SOV magazine, Lo is drawn to look into the organization again. While she has tried numerous times to reconnect with Bea, she is always kept away by Casey Byers, The Project's spokesperson and Lev's right hand. But Lo's interest is piqued by the death of a young man, Jeremy Lewis, whose father Arthur had been trying to save his son from The Unity Project. When Lo sees Bea in the photos Arthur's private investigator took of Jeremy, coupled with numerous voiceless calls she receives, Lo is determined to find Bea and learn more about The Project.

Alternating between the past and the present, primarily over seven years, Lo and Bea's stories unfold with Bea looking to prove herself worthy of a miracle she believes Lev performed and Lo looking for her sister. Their stories are eerily parallel, especially under the charismatic Lev who has become father, friend, therapist and even saviour to members of The Project. Both sisters are bereft because of their losses of family but each feels compelled to action because of The Project. But, it would seem, The Project has other things in mind.

Everyone should be prepared for an unnerving read in The Project. By balancing family and everyday living with the extremes of manipulation and doctrine, it's Courtney Summers at her best. Like her award-winning Sadie (2018), The Project is chilling in its possibilities because this could be someone's reality. A tragic accident, absolute faith in an irresistible leader, family estrangement, a compelling mission and the need for connection could all be elements of any of our lives and with her storytelling Courtney Summers will disquiet readers with the possibilities.

While her plotting is always sophisticated and involved, never leading the reader to a predictable ending, it's Courtney Summers's atmospheric writing that is most captivating. There's a perennial sense of foreboding, even with the most mundane of circumstances, like grabbing a cab or working in an office. Courtney Summers never lets the reader relax and maybe we shouldn't because bad things happen, even if dressed up as good.

 

Lo, the writer, tells Lev that...

If you tell a story–something real, something true–you get to be alive in other people. (pg. 251)

Thankfully Courtney Summers is alive and well by virtue of The Project and all her other stories. She tells the truth, even if it's unsettling.

You Were Never Here

Written by Kathleen Peacock

HarperTeen

978-0-06-300251-7

392 pp.

Ages 13+ 

October 2020

 

I used to think that once things broke, you couldn't put them back together, that the cracks would always be present and there was no point in trying. (pg. 388)

Seventeen year old Mary Catherine Montgomery a.k.a. Cat undoubtedly thinks of herself as broken, or at least not normal, and it has nothing to do with her physique, though she often deprecates herself for her wild red hair and chubbiness. What Cat can do, since puberty, is feel others' desires and fears when she has skin-to-skin contact. Consequently, she wears long sleeves as much as possible and avoids crowds and any chance of close contact with anyone. She's learned from experience how damaging it can be to reveal what she knows. The first time was with Riley Fraser, the boy next door to her Aunt Jet's in Montgomery Falls, New Brunswick. Now after another incident because of her gift, Cat is leaving her home in NYC and going to stay with her aunt. But things are much different now. Oh, she still has her gift, though she generally knows how to avoid its consequences. It's Riley. He's disappeared.

At her aunt's home, now a rooming house, Cat meets eighteen-year-old Aidan Porter, as well as his friends Chase, Joey and Skylar, and reconnects with Riley's older brother Noah who returned from university when his brother disappeared three months earlier. As Cat tries to fit in with her horror film-loving new acquaintances and piece together the bullying that Skylar is experiencing related to Riley, as well as help Noah learn what happened to his brother, Cat gets caught up in another incident when they discover the near-dead body of another student, Rachel Larsen.

In a thrilling YA novel of a suspicious disappearance, a supernatural gift and the natural need for acceptance and human contact, Kathleen Peacock sends us into the community of Montgomery Falls and into the heads of Cat and several others to recognize that,

Sometimes... people fear the things they want or want the things they fear. (pg. 154)

Discovering what happened to Riley is paramount in You Were Never Here but learning about Cat's ability and how that has impacted her relationships with Riley, her NYC friend Lacey, her father, and others is also relevant. Because of that power, Cat avoids getting close to people, including her own family, and can't trust herself to feel for anyone, worried that they might run out on her or accuse her of being a monster. How do you trust others when you can't trust yourself? Blending Cat's gift with regular teenage angst, a craving for friendship and a bit of romance, and a mystery or two to be solved, Kathleen Peacock has created a story teeming with emotions and tension, and reminds us what it takes to be human, and Cat most certainly is. She's bright, realistic, compassionate, and cautiously trusting, though not always of herself. She is not the monster but there is one around. And, as with any good mystery, the reveal is both unexpected and convincing.

A Box of Bones: Guest blog post

Today's review has been submitted by Grade 6 student Bronte L.

Written by Marina Cohen
Roaring Brook Press
978-1-250-17221-1
288 pp.
Ages 8-12
May 2019

In Marina Cohen’s book A Box of Bones, the main character, Kallie, is very logical and intelligent for her age, yet she lacks imagination. When her beloved grandfather takes her to the Festival of Fools, she doesn’t enjoy it as much as the other visitors do. During the Festival, a faceless man in a fedora gives Kallie a wooden box. Later, she figures out that the box is a puzzle. Against her father's advice, she starts solving the puzzle, and uncovering secrets. Finally she finds the right combination and unleashes something that seems like magic.

While Kallie tries to figure out what’s happening to her world, Liah, a young bone carver, goes on a long journey with her master to sell bone carvings to the empress.  On the journey, she ends up accidentally wrecking a valuable cup that her master made.  She tries to hide this fact from her master along the way.  Although Kallie and Liah's worlds are far apart in time and place, their stories connect in many ways. 

A Box of Bones by Marina Cohen is great for readers in Grades 4-8 seeking a book full of adventure and suspense. It's a book on developing friendships and uncovering family secrets. The large font, short chapters and 281 pages makes it great for a light read. The cliff hangers will make you stay up past your bedtime. The emotional description is fantastic.

Out of ten, I would give A Box of Bones an 8. I loved how the two worlds intertwined. Trying to put together all of the clues and secrets made me feel like a sleuth. All of the characters are original and interesting, their back stories are emotional and deep. Both worlds had their share of drama and suspense. This book gives the reader many chances to draw connections and imagine a new and exciting world.  Once you read this book, you will be drawn into the magic of it all.

~ Bronte L.

You Owe Me a Murder

Written by Eileen Cook

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

978-1-328-51902-3

359 pp.

Ages 13+

March 2019

Travel provides opportunities for new experiences, for meeting new people, and for personal growth.  But for seventeen-year-old Kim, her summer trip to London with Student Scholars for Change seems doomed from the beginning. Not only is she no longer in a relationship with Connor for whom she'd initially signed up for the trip, he is travelling with new girlfriend Miriam, and Kim has to watch it all from the sidelines of their small group of eight Vancouver high schoolers. But after meeting English girl Nicki, who challenges her to steal a bottle of duty-free vodka and lets her vent about Connor all the way to London, Kim is ready to find "a new me" (pg. 41), one that could be daring and isn't a quitter.

Being good at something doesn't mean that it isn't hard or scary–it just means that you keep moving forward when other people quit. (pg.25)

But in that vodka-infused venting session, Kim prepares a list titled "WHY I HATE CONNOR O'REILLY AND WHY HE DESERVES TO DIE" and Nicki suggests that she will kill Connor and Kim could kill Nicki's mom whose alcoholism is making her life miserable. Of course, Kim barely remembers their laughable discussion until Connor is killed in a Tube station and she gets a message that reads "You're welcome" along with the news story about his death.

Panicking, Kim doesn't know to whom she can turn. Worse still, the police begin investigating and Kim realizes her silence about her relationship with Connor is going to make her look suspicious. Worst of all, Nicki still has the incriminating document and is using it to blackmail Kim into murdering her mother.

So while sightseeing in London and relishing a budding romance, Kim tries to evade a drunken commitment to homicide, investigate the mysterious Nicki, and keep herself and others safe from a girl who purports to be owed a murder.

I would call You Owe Me a Murder a roller-coaster except that ride suggests highs and lows and twists and turns and this young adult novel has no lows. From start to finish, it's more like a high-wire act: tense, dangerous, and unrelenting. With Eileen Cook's exceptional plotting, You Owe Me a Murder becomes a magnificent melding of relationship angst with psychological thriller. It's a waiting game for the reader who is compelled to read through to learn whether Kim will go with through the murder pact or become victim to Nicki's vengeance. With characters like Kim and Nicki, and even secondary ones like Connor, Miriam and Alex, You Owe Me a Murder becomes a complex study in human behaviour as young people fall in and out of love or lust, seek revenge and fulfilment, and try to discover who they really are and what they are capable of being and doing.

Like Hitchcock's movie Strangers on a Train, Eileen Cook's You Owe Me a Murder demonstrates that meeting the right or wrong person can turn your life upside-down, and finding the way to right things may require courage and recognition that the truth hides in the details. (pg. 324)

All That Was

Written by Karen Rivers

Farrar Straus Giroux

978-0-374-30246-7

384 pp.

Ages 12-18

January 2018

Seventeen-year-olds Piper and Sloane are friends. On the surface, they are very similar, or at least make themselves appear similar in hair style and colour and clothing, and spend all their time together or they did until the No-Boyfriend Rule is broken.  But Piper and Sloane's friendship is one of contradictions: love and hate, appreciation and disrespect, and camaraderie and rivalry. With that kind of a basis for a friendship, what happens when one of the friends is gone?

Though Sloane Whittaker thinks of herself as common compared to the more exotic Piper Sullivan, Piper is actually more like the flirty alpha in their friendship. If she wants something, she goes after it and is oblivious to the nuances in their friendship that might indicate Sloane may think differently.  So when they attend an art show that includes the work of Soup Sanchez, a boy Sloane has liked since fourth grade, Piper teases her shamelessly until Sloane denies liking him. The next day Piper reveals she and Soup connected after the show and are now going out. Now Sloane must endure Piper's personal divulgences about their kisses and sex while secretly yearning for the boy she has always liked and coincidentally seems to like her. But it's hard to say "No" to Piper. So when Piper decides that Sloane must experience sex, and she sets her up with a boy, James Robert Wilson, Sloane goes along.

But trouble is brewing as Soup and Sloane are regularly thrown together and Piper, oblivious until one fateful night, continues to direct their lives and her story to her best advantage.  That all changes when Piper dies.

All That Was is told in the voices of Sloane and Soup in terms of "Before" and "Now" relative to Piper's death. Most of the story is the "Before" in which we learn about the basis for Sloane and Piper's friendship; their revealing discussions which are both friendly and hostile; Sloane's aspirations to be a documentary filmmaker; and Soup and Piper's relationship. The "Now" brings to light the police investigation and arrest of a murderer, the guilt Sloane and Soup harbour, and the necessity of perspective and forgiveness, even of oneself.

Although many would consider Piper and Sloane frenemies and their friendship essentially doomed, I think it goes far deeper than that. The two girls sincerely love one another as friends but there is an inherent meanness to their interactions.  Theirs is a dance of sarcasm and one-upmanship, trying to be individuals but scared to be separated.  It's a very real relationship though not one to which anyone would aspire. Although I like some aspects of Sloane, probably identifying her as the underdog of the two, neither Piper nor Sloane are very likable. Karen Rivers made them very real–I suspect most teens know a Piper and a Sloane at their high schools–and their connectedness authentic though strained. Whether there is a message here about forgiveness or getting past tragedy, I don't know.  I do know that Karen Rivers makes it clear that not all friendships are rainbows and unicorns, just as she did in her earlier book Finding Ruby Starling (2014).  Some relationships are darker and deeper like crows and tumultuous waters, but they still build our life experiences, good or bad. Sloane and Soup, and yes, even Piper, can take from this chapter and move forward. Sometimes it is what it is. And All That Was just was.

The Disappearance: Book launch (Hamilton, ON)

Join best-selling author

Gillian Chan

author of middle-grade and young adult

historical fiction, short stories and more

for the launch of her newest young adult book

The Disappearance

Written by Gillian Chan

Annick Press

978-1-55451-983-5

208 pp.

Ages 12+

September 2017

on

  Saturday, October 7, 2017

1:30 p.m.

at 

The Reading Room

Bryan Prince Bookseller

1060 King Street West

Hamilton, ON

I hope to review this book before the launch (thanks Annick Press for the review copy!) but, until it is posted, here is the publisher's take on what is sure to be a superbly suspenseful read:

A fast-paced, gritty mystery with a supernatural twist.

Jacob Mueller and Mike McCallum couldn’t be more different. After mystifying doctors, who finally decide that he is an elective mute, Jacob ends up in a juvenile group home, isolated, withdrawn, and bullied. Mike, also in the group home, is scarred physically and emotionally after the murder of his younger brother. He uses his horrific appearance, imposing size, sharp intelligence, and a calculated brutality to keep everyone at bay—until he encounters Jacob. Mike is fascinated by Jacob, particularly the way in which he seems able to shut out the world around him. This fascination becomes tinged with a mixture of awe and horror when Jacob starts to talk, and appears to have knowledge of Mike’s past, particularly of his dead brother. Mike takes it upon himself to solve the puzzle that is Jacob Mueller, and when he comes to the impossible conclusion that Jacob is from another time, he makes it his mission to return him home.

Retrieved from http://www.annickpress.com/Disappearance-The on September 28, 2017.

The lovely Gillian Chan promises

• a reading

• talk of books

• refreshments

• book sales and signing

and

possibly

• learning who disappeared and why.

Will you be there?

With Malice

by Eileen Cook

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

978-0-544-80509-5

316 pp.

Ages 13+

June 2016

Eighteen-year-old Jill Charron just wants the truth.  Waking up in a hospital room without any memories of how she got there and struggling to find words because of a brain injury means that getting at the truth is not going to be easy.  As the byline to the book states, "The truth is how you tell it" and it seems the truths are multitudinous and varied.

Jill's divorced parents seem to want to keep a lot of truths from her, especially the key one that Simone McIvory, Jill’s best friend, was killed in the car being driven by Jill while on a school trip in Italy.  The police, both American and Italian, as well as Evan Stanley, her high-priced lawyer, are badgering her for the truths she can’t remember.  And everybody else, from other students on the trip, to newspaper reports, crime drama series, and subscribers to the “Justice for Simone” blog are more than willing to share their opinions as to the truth.  But what is the truth and is there only one?

While Jill, whisked back to the States by her rich and demanding father, endures rehab and counselling to help heal her body and six weeks of memory loss, the police interview Simone’s parents who portray their daughter as a confident and popular teen with old-fashioned values, and Jill as a less well-liked girl from a broken home and desperate for attention.  Though the strength of their friendship is recognized by many who knew them, different stories arise with regards to the two girls-chilly or friendly, studious or popular, jealous or self-centered–by those who knew them well or just marginally and even by those who’d never met them but nastily weigh in on the news story.

“It doesn’t matter what’s true–what matters is what people believe.” (pg. 102)

Eileen Cook brilliantly layers the multifaceted truths recounted in blog posts, transcripts of police interviews, newspaper articles, yearbooks, and other media as she intricately develops the subplots of With Malice, all with the purpose of revealing what actually happened to Simone and Jill in that car in Italy.  Below the very concrete mess of a mangled car lies a substantial mess of romance, anger, pettiness, jealously, hurt and misplaced affection.  The ultimate truth is both expected and surprising and Eileen Cook reveals it with breath-taking patience, taking YA readers on a suspenseful read all the way to the end before exposing a friendship admittedly more fragile than honest.

The Inn Between

by Marina Cohen

Roaring Brook Press

978-1-62672-202-6

208 pp.

Ages 8-12

For release March 2016

Don’t be deceived by the gold and green turquoise lightness of the cover of The Inn Between.  The story is nothing but dark and I believe that Marina Cohen has achieved her goal of a Stephen King novel for middle grade readers.

Eleven-year-old Quinn Martin is travelling by car with her best friend Kara Cawston and Kara’s family–parents and older brother Josh–to the family’s new home in Santa Monica.  The two girls had been inseparable in Denver and the linking of their two woven frienship bracelets, which seems to intrigue the non-Norm man running Norm’s Diner, shows how close the two really are.  After a weird bright light in the desert accosts the family car, they stop at the Inn Between, a gorgeous old-fashioned hotel straddling the border between California and Nevada, that promises “We’ve been expecting you.” (pg. 28)

As beautiful as the hotel is, the people within are very strange (and this is an operative word for everything at the Inn Between) and oddly overly hospitable.  There’s the desk clerk Persephone, the elevator operator Sharon (for the elevaor they are not allowed to use) and the valet-doorman, Aides.  And the guests are just as odd. From old Mr. Mirabelli who tells Quinn “They’re going to pull the plug” (pg. 34) to the little girl with the singed doll and Rico the guy who’d partied a little too hard and had come for a rest.  Most scary though is a tall, unshaven man in a black and yellow ball cap whom Quinn notices pursuing them.

After the first night, Kara’s parents are gone, apparently with the van that had to be towed for servicing, and the three kids spend the time swimming, enjoying the food and just hanging out.  But Quinn’s mind is perpetually troubled with memories of her little sister Emma and the guilt she harbours about her, and smells and sounds at the hotel continue to play on these memories.

When Josh goes awol too, Quinn and Kara go in search of Emma, convinced the crying Quinn hears is her young sister who had gone missing.  But what they find starts Quinn realizing who the guests at the Inn Between really are and why they must escape, without Kara’s parents and Josh.

The Inn Between is a mermerizing read of creepiness and suspense with a healthy dose of action and psychological tension.  Young readers who never get enough of spine-chilling drama (and it is very limited in youngCanLit) will be pleasantly disturbed by the eerie story, unnerving setting, and sinister atmosphere of The Inn Between.  Marina Cohen has done it.  She has written a spooky–but ghost-free–story about a place you wouldn’t want to visit and wrapped it in a cosy hotel robe of mystery and unsettling thoughts, without completely terrifying young readers, though there are some frightening scenes.  Best of all, Marina Cohen has something to say about friendship and grief and guilt but does so in a wonderfully unique and  horrific narrative.

Betting Game

by Heather M. O'Connor

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-4598-0930-7

216 pp.

Ages 10+

October 2015

I've never been much for sports-based fiction, assuming that the plot and characters will be less than stellar when focusing on a sport and its logistics.  And it can be even worse if it is a sport with which I am not familiar.  But, though I'm not a big soccer fan, Betting Game easily captivated my interest with its action and suspense and honest teen characters.

Seventeen-year-old Jack and his brother Alex are very earnest about soccer, attending the Durham Lancers Soccer Academy, aspiring to positions in professional leagues.  Alex is the current captain and takes his responsibility very seriously while Jack is doing co-op with the Lancers' physio team, getting an inside track on injuries and the status of the players.  Not surprising then, when Jack meets a bookie, Luka, through his father at a Lancers game, Jack doesn't tell Alex about it.  Though Jack is chagrined when his dad shares with Luka Jack's successes on fantasy soccer online, Jack is finessed into dishing about the team himself and into placing his first real bet.

My first real bet.  It bumps the game up to a whole new level. Like watching a movie on IMAX instead of a laptop.  Or hearing your favorite band live.  No wonder people bet on sports. (pg. 27-8)

 As with all gambling, the successes beget further bets and Jack becomes both a benefactor of Luka's generosity and ultimately a victim of this relationship.  Meanwhile, the boys' team is learning to work with its new striker, Gil, and Alex, as captain, is distracted, leading Jack to get further and further into Luka's betting game.  

Heather M. O'Connor, an author whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the Ontario Library Association's recent SuperConference, has no trouble grabbing the reader's attention with a fast-paced action-filled story.  Betting Game is undoubtedly the kind of read that will grip both sports fans and reluctant readers (at a reading level of 2.0, Betting Game is definitely a hi-lo book).  The story doesn't waste time with extensive prose, having Jack quickly falling deep into the betting game and, though he initially acknowledges the stupidity of his actions, he becomes addicted to the thrill of winning, of having a secret that sets him aside from his brother, and of the self-importance it cultivates in him.  And though hi-lo texts tend to place less emphasis on setting and atmosphere and characters, Betting Game does not lack these elements.  Instead, the story wins the reader over fully with its gripping storyline and its winning ending.  That just goes to show that you can't always bet on how things are going to turn out, whether it be a game, life or a book.

A Teachers' Guide is available from Orca Book Publishers at http://digital.orcabook.com/teachersguides-bettinggame/

Summer's On! A Fiction Book List

For readers of chapter books, whether they be early readers or middle grade, these summer reads have something for everyone: vacations with family, going to camp, adventures in the wild, pranks, mysteries, melancholy and humour.  But it's all courtesy of time off school and weather that lets you stay outside longer than other times of the year. Enjoy!  

FICTION

Adventures at Camp Lots-O-Fun

by Marilyn Helmer

Illustrated by Mike Deas

Orca Book Publishers

60 pp.

Ages 8-10

2010

After Peaches

by Michelle Mulder

Orca Book Publishers

106 pp.

Ages 9-11

2009

After the Fire

by Becky Citra

Orca Book Publishers

186 pp.

Ages 8-11

2006

Alberta Alibi

by Dayle Campbell Gaetz

Orca Book Publishers

189 pp.

Ages 9-12

2005

The Archaeolojesters
by Andreas Oertel
Lobster Press
192 pp.
Ages 9-12
2010

As Long as the Rivers Flow

by Larry Loyie with Constance Brissenden

Illustrated by Heather D. Holmlund

Groundwood Books

48 pp.

Ages 7-11

2002

Bat Summer

by Sarah Withrow

Groundwood Books

174 pp. 

Ages 10–13

1998

Becca At Sea  

by Deirdre Baker           

Groundwood Books

176 pp.
Ages 9-12

2007          

The Big Swim

by Cary Fagan

Groundwood Books

128 pp.

Ages 9-12

2010

The Big Tree Gang

by Jo Ellen Bogart

Illustrated by Dean Griffiths

Orca Book Publishers

61 pp.

Ages 7-9

2005

Bye-Bye, Evil Eye

by Deborah Kerbel

Dancing Cat Books

168 pp.

Ages 9-12

2014

Reviewed here

Camp Outlook
by Brenda Baker
Second Story Press
245 pp.
Ages 9-13
2014

Days That End in Y

by Vikki VanSickle

Scholastic Canada

194 pp.

Ages 9-12

2013

Reviewed here

Driftwood

by Valerie Sherrard

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

200 pp.

Ages 10+

2013

Reviewed here

The Fossil Hunters

by Marilyn Helmer

Illustrated by Dermot Walshe

Orca Book Publishers

62 pp.

Ages 6-8

2009

Gemini Summer

by Iain Lawrence

Delacorte Press

261 pp.

Ages 10-13

2006

The Green Man

by Michael Bedard

Tundra Books

304 pp.

Ages 11-14

2012

Greysteel’s Ghost

by Robert Sutherland
HarperTrophy Canada
176 pp.
Ages 9-12
2005

A Handful of Time

by Kit Pearson

Puffin Books

186 pp.

Ages 8-12

1987

I Owe You One

by Natalie Hyde
Orca Book Publishers
126 pp.
Ages 8-11
2011

Johnny Kellock Died Today

by Hadley Dyer

HarperCollins

152 pp.

Ages 9-12

2006

Just J.

by Colin Frizzell

Orca Book Publishers

138 pp.

Ages 9-13

2007

Keep Out!

by Hélène Boudreau
Nimbus
82 pp.
Ages 6-9
2010

Losing Joe’s Place

by Gordon Korman

Scholastic

233 pp.

Ages 12-14

1990

Nobody's Dog

by Ria Voros

Scholastic Canada

150 pp.

Ages 8-12

2012

Reviewed here

Off Track (Sports Stories, #62)

by Bill Swan

James Lorimer

106 pp.

Ages 8-13

2003

One Thing That's True

by Cheryl Foggo

Kids Can Press

128 pp.

Ages 10+

1997

On the Road Again! More Travels with My Family

by Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel
Groundwood Books
141 pp.
Ages 7-10
2008

Out of the Box

by Michelle Mulder

Orca Book Publishers

150 pp.

Ages 9+

2011

Reviewed here

      

The Path of Names

by Ari Goelman

Arthur E. Levine/Scholastic
399 pp.
Ages 10-12
2013

Pete's Gold

by Luanne Armstrong

Ronsdale Press

188 pp.

Ages 10-14

2008

Sabotage

by Karen Autio

Sono Nis Press

293 pp.

Ages 10+

2013

Reviewed here

Siena Summer

by Ann Chandler

Tradewind Books

142 pp.

Ages 12-14

2008

Sky Lake Summer

by Peggy Dymond Leavey

Napoleon Publishing

178 pp.

Ages 9-11

1999

Somebody Else’s Summer

by Jean Little

Viking Canada

180 pp.

Ages 9-12

2005

Summer Days, Starry Nights

by Vikki VanSickle

Scholastic Canada

221 pp.

Ages 11-14

2013

Reviewed here

Summer in the City

by Marie-Louise Gay and David Hormel

Groundwood

150 pp.

Ages 8-10

2012

Summer of Discovery

by Eric Wilson
HarperTrophy Canada
96 pp.
Ages 9-12

1996

The Summer of Magic Quartet

by Andrea Spalding

Orca Book Publishers

Ages 9-12

The White Horse Talisman (Book One)

192 pp.

2003

Dance of the Stone (Book Two)

196 pp.

2003

Heart of the Hill (Book Three)

182 pp.

2005

Behind the Sorcerer's Cloak (Book Four)

227 pp.

2006

The Summer of Permanent Wants

by Jamieson Findlay

Doubleday Canada

241 pp.

Ages 10-14

2011

Summer of Suspense (Science Squad Adventure Series #1).

by Kristin Butcher

Whitecap Books

159 pp.

Ages 8-12

2002

The Summer of the Spotted Owl (A Dinah Galloway Mystery)

by Melanie Jackson

Orca Book Publishers

180 pp.

Ages 9-12

2005

Summer on the Run

by Nancy Belgue

Orca Book Publishers

139 pp.

Age 8-12

2005

A Taste of Perfection

by Laura Langston

Stoddart Kids (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)

214 pp.

Ages 10-13

2002

Travels with My Family

by Marie-Louise Gay     

Groundwood Books
119 pp.
Ages 7-10

2006

Trouble at Impact Lake (The Archaeolojesters, Book 3)

by Andreas Oertel

Lobster Press

185 pp.

Ages 9-12

2011

The Uncle Duncle Chronicles: Escape from Treasure Island

by Darren Krill

Lobster Press

335 pp.

Ages 14-16

2006

The Way to Schenectady

by Richard Scrimger

Illustrated by Linda Hendry

Tundra Books

163 pp.

Ages 9-13

1998

Wishing Star Summer

by Beryl Young

Raincoast Books

136 pp.

Ages 9-12

2001

Zach & Zoe: Bully and the Beagle

by Kristin Butcher

James Lorimer

117 pp.

Ages 7 -11

2009