Sixteen-year-old Anna sees things from another world, the spiritual world, a skill that isn’t exactly useful in high school. It’s bad enough that her mother, possessed by a demon, took her own life when Anna was a child, a loss she remains tortured by. Now her father makes his living “clearing” haunted objects, and Anna’s job as his assistant makes her a social misfit. Most kids in her suburban New Jersey town refer to her just as “Goblin Girl.”
Only Freddy and Dor remain loyal friends. But Anna’s so focused on her own problems, she’s missed that her connection with Freddy is moving beyond the friend zone.
As junior year approaches, a rare solar storm lights up the night skies and the citizens of Bloomtown begin to act strangely: Anna’s teachers lash out, her best friends withdraw, and the school bullies go from mean to murderous. When Anna realizes she can harness this evil power, she sets out to save Bloomtown and the only family she has left.
But to do so, she must keep her own increasingly dark urges at bay.
Anna continued the staring contest with herself until the current of connection became so strong that she couldn’t look away from the mirror even if she wanted to. And then the details of the yellow flecks around her pupil—the golden starbursts in the hazel of her irises—suddenly grew sharper in the glass, crystallizing. Every muscle in her body tightened. Something was going to happen.
At first Anna thought she was shaking with fear, and then she was sure that a bee had flown into her mouth. Her jaw clenched instinctually, biting down. She braced for the soft crunch and searing sting that was sure to follow, but her teeth met without resistance. There wasn’t a bee, but her teeth continued to rattle as an electric thrumming spread throughout her body. Was this another portal attack? Anna wasn’t sure, but it was a vastly different sensation from the river rage—a much faster and higher-pitched vibration. She waited with dread for the shaking to slow and deepen, for the waves of hatred and misery to roll through her. But the vibration inside her increased in tempo, intensity and pressure.
It was like being in an airplane right before the wheels lifted off the ground—all that power. She was vibrating at a body-numbing, incredibly high rate, but was somehow still at the same time, like a tuning fork. It had been a mistake to try this in her room. What if the mirror gazing had opened her up even more to the destructive power of the portal spew? There was something familiar about it, the growing roar in her ears, but she braced herself and resisted with all her strength. No.
Review
I’ll be honest. When I first started reading this, I wasn’t sure what I’d gotten into. The story concept seemed solid, and the setting was interesting. But the characters all just seemed so strange. The teen angst was there in a big way, and it wasn’t just the teens. Almost everyone was angry, and the choices people were making weren’t all working for me.
This book surprised me in a lot of ways. It’s subtle, masterfully subtle. There are a lot of big-picture issues in here that almost snuck by me. The author makes some bold statements but in a way that doesn’t preach. If you’re careful, you’ll see them, and they will wow you.
The story itself is also subtle. At first, I was rather annoyed with Anna. She seemed to be the most angsty, pissy teenager who ever went through hormonal changes. And the rest of her school seemed no better. I wanted to grab the entire place, shake it, and ask what was wrong with it.
In fact, this is exactly what I should have done. I won’t spoil, but this book went on to reveal explanations for just about every thing I disliked in its characters. And the explanation was good. It made perfect sense in the story. Like the issues this book touches on, it was so subtle that I missed it until it smacked me in the face. It really turned my opinion around.
There is some content some readers may find gross. This book isn’t necessarily for the weak of stomach. While the story did explain away most of my issues, there were still a few things that bugged me. Maybe I’m overly critical of teen thought processes. I’m perfectly willing to accept that my dislikes are 100% subjective. I really do recommend this book. Not in a shout it from the rooftop’s kind of way. More like in a “hey, I read this, and it resonated a couple of days after I finished it” way.
Caroline Flarity is a web content producer living in NYC. Her fascination with fringe topics and love of scary movies led her to begin her writing journey penning creepy screenplays. Her debut novel THE GHOST HUNTER’S DAUGHTER started life as a feature script, placing in the finals of the StoryPros Awards and as a semifinalist in Slamdance Film Festival’s writing competition. She enjoys pitting her characters against both supernatural and cultural evils. Find her online at www.CarolineFlarity.com
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All the opinions expressed in this review are my own. Read the full disclosure here.