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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Maggie Quinn: girl reporter, honours student, newspaper staffer, yearbook photographer. Six weeks from graduation and all she wants to do is get out of Avalon High in one piece. Fate seems to have different plans for her.
High school may be a natural breeding ground for evil, but the scent of fire and brimstone is still a little out of the ordinary. It’s the distinct smell of sulphur that makes Maggie suspect that something’s a bit off. And when real Twilight Zone stuff starts happening to the school’s ruling clique – the athletic elite and the head cheerleader and her minions, all of whom happen to be named Jessica – Maggie realises it’s up to her to get in touch with her inner Nancy Dew and ferret out who unleashed the ancient evil before all hell breaks loose.
Maggie has always suspected that prom is the work of the devil, but it looks like her attendance will be mandatory. Sometimes a girl’s gotta do some pretty undesirable things if she wants to save her town from soul-crushing demons from hell and the cheerleading squad.
It’s six weeks until Prom and Maggie Quinn has no intention of going to it. She plans to get out of Avalon High School as soon as possible and take up a place on a journalism course at Syracuse University. But it soon becomes obvious that the Prom isn’t about to let her go easily because Maggie has a gift – she has premonitions of the future – and that future isn’t looking too good for the school’s jocks and cheerleaders. Something that smells of fire and brimstone is deliberately targeting them in a series of weird accidents and not even Maggie is safe.
With the help of her best friend (and evil overlord in training), Lisa and her professor father’s hot new research assistant, Justin, she’s got to work out what’s responsible and why before her own soul is dragged to hell ...
Rosemary Clement-Moore’s debut YA novel, the first in a series, is a breezy and entertaining paranormal fantasy told in a great first person voice and with a plot that rolls along at a fast pace. Although the twists are fairly predictable, the high school setting would make it appeal to fans of YA contemporary and fantasy alike and the light tone makes for a good beach read.
The best thing about the book is Maggie’s first person voice. Dry and ironic, I totally believed in Maggie as a teenage girl and enjoyed her sly observations on the politics and cliques of high school life. Her friendship with the driven and equally dry Lisa is well depicted although I would have liked to have seen more of it on the page. I wasn’t as convinced by the romance with Justin, mainly because they’re not together enough to justify it but also because it’s based on Maggie constantly embarrassing herself around him, which is a pet peeve.
The supernatural elements have been done before and although I was leery of Maggie’s dream premonitions, Clement-Moore’s writing keeps the concepts feeling fresh. I did wish though that she’d been more willing to talk to someone about her gift as a lot of the book is spent with her trying to deny it and it threatened to get tedious.
All in all though, it’s a fun and entertaining read and I shall definitely check out the sequel.
The Verdict:
Rosemary Clement-Moore’s debut YA novel, the first in a series, is a breezy and entertaining paranormal fantasy told in a great first person voice and with a plot that rolls along at a fast pace. Although the twists are fairly predictable, the high school setting would make it appeal to fans of YA contemporary and fantasy alike and the light tone makes for a good beach read.
Maggie Quinn: girl reporter, honours student, newspaper staffer, yearbook photographer. Six weeks from graduation and all she wants to do is get out of Avalon High in one piece. Fate seems to have different plans for her.
High school may be a natural breeding ground for evil, but the scent of fire and brimstone is still a little out of the ordinary. It’s the distinct smell of sulphur that makes Maggie suspect that something’s a bit off. And when real Twilight Zone stuff starts happening to the school’s ruling clique – the athletic elite and the head cheerleader and her minions, all of whom happen to be named Jessica – Maggie realises it’s up to her to get in touch with her inner Nancy Dew and ferret out who unleashed the ancient evil before all hell breaks loose.
Maggie has always suspected that prom is the work of the devil, but it looks like her attendance will be mandatory. Sometimes a girl’s gotta do some pretty undesirable things if she wants to save her town from soul-crushing demons from hell and the cheerleading squad.
It’s six weeks until Prom and Maggie Quinn has no intention of going to it. She plans to get out of Avalon High School as soon as possible and take up a place on a journalism course at Syracuse University. But it soon becomes obvious that the Prom isn’t about to let her go easily because Maggie has a gift – she has premonitions of the future – and that future isn’t looking too good for the school’s jocks and cheerleaders. Something that smells of fire and brimstone is deliberately targeting them in a series of weird accidents and not even Maggie is safe.
With the help of her best friend (and evil overlord in training), Lisa and her professor father’s hot new research assistant, Justin, she’s got to work out what’s responsible and why before her own soul is dragged to hell ...
Rosemary Clement-Moore’s debut YA novel, the first in a series, is a breezy and entertaining paranormal fantasy told in a great first person voice and with a plot that rolls along at a fast pace. Although the twists are fairly predictable, the high school setting would make it appeal to fans of YA contemporary and fantasy alike and the light tone makes for a good beach read.
The best thing about the book is Maggie’s first person voice. Dry and ironic, I totally believed in Maggie as a teenage girl and enjoyed her sly observations on the politics and cliques of high school life. Her friendship with the driven and equally dry Lisa is well depicted although I would have liked to have seen more of it on the page. I wasn’t as convinced by the romance with Justin, mainly because they’re not together enough to justify it but also because it’s based on Maggie constantly embarrassing herself around him, which is a pet peeve.
The supernatural elements have been done before and although I was leery of Maggie’s dream premonitions, Clement-Moore’s writing keeps the concepts feeling fresh. I did wish though that she’d been more willing to talk to someone about her gift as a lot of the book is spent with her trying to deny it and it threatened to get tedious.
All in all though, it’s a fun and entertaining read and I shall definitely check out the sequel.
The Verdict:
Rosemary Clement-Moore’s debut YA novel, the first in a series, is a breezy and entertaining paranormal fantasy told in a great first person voice and with a plot that rolls along at a fast pace. Although the twists are fairly predictable, the high school setting would make it appeal to fans of YA contemporary and fantasy alike and the light tone makes for a good beach read.
