Lost Girl
Juniper has inherited some mystic skills from her grandmother, whenever she uses these skills, she gets what she calls her 'Blue Vibe."

Juniper is helping her friend Gena try to find her missing retainer along with their friend Anne.  They consult a Ouija Board for help; the board gives them the word 'Park.'  This isn't helpful to any of the girls, so they decide to try scrying instead.  While scrying, Juniper sees a young girl that is injured; the girl's face continues to haunt Juniper as they search for Gena's retainer.  When Juniper comes across a "Missing" poster with the girl's face on it, her Blue Vibe jumps into overdrive and she decides that she needs to find this lost girl no matter what.


A good, fast-paced, Sci-Fi mystery with very true to life teenage girl characters.  Who knew a missing retainer could lead to finding a runaway girl?  I like the way the Juniper's psychic elements were handled and using an I-pad as a modern scrying device was great!  Juniper, Gena and Anne were great characters that I felt like I knew, despite the fact that this is a novelette and not very long at all. 

Lost Girl was received for free via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Second Sight
This is another Oracles Novelette; I am fortunate to be reading "Second Sight" right after "Lost Girl" although, they do not need to be read in any particular order.

Second Sight is told from Gena's point of view.  Gena absolutely loves sunglasses! When her friends Anne and Juniper go thrift shopping for a present for Juniper's dad's birthday, Gena comes across a pair of odd sunglasses that she falls in love with.  For 0.65 cents, she just has to have them!  As soon as Gena puts on her strange sunglasses, she starts to see wierd images, flashes of the future that she can't interpret.  Is Anne going to go blind?  Is Gena's dad going to be killed by his new girlfriend?

This Oracles Novelette was a little lighter than "Lost Girl" but still enjoyable.  The sunglasses were an interesting device to use to see into the future, and as in "Lost Girl," the girls characters and great.  I'm glad that the characters are so well developed and carry over from each Novelette.  I'll be waiting for the next one...

This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.

Mina Paradis is a woman who should be 104 years old, instead she has been bound in the body of her 10 year old self captaining a ship in service to her mother, Madame Secretary, and the Government.  Mina's ability to go through life without aging is held within the flame of a strange torch, this torch also binds her to carry out the work that the Government doles out to her.  This work often involves maiming, stealing and killing.  Mina has been struggling with the inner conflict of what would happen to her if she puts out her torch and any other consequences to her crew and her family.

I was very intrigued by this book, the plot was very unique and Mina's character,  a 10 year old girl, but who has lived a lifetime was excellent.  Mina's abilities as a ship's Captain and her ability to carry out dangerous missions solidify her as a strong female lead.  Written in first person, we were privy to Mina's thoughts and inner struggles with her torch that kept her from aging and feelings about her missions and family.  I had a bit of a hard time placing the setting of the story, it seems like a 19th century alternate reality, but with familiar places like Florida, New England and countries in Africa.  Also, this is a first book in a series, so it may be explained later, but the workings of the mystical Doors, Lamps, and Tailors were slightly glossed over.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

An alternate reality exits, mirrored cities, called the 'Nether' for Faerie families. Opposite of the Nether is the Mundane, where humans live.  Cat, daughter of a powerful Faerie family in the Nether, wants desperately to live out her life in the Mundane city of Bath, rather than the rather Victorian-era mirror in the Nether, Aquae Sulis.  She has succeeded in hiding in Bath for three years while going to school and even having a boyfriend by using powerful Charms.  Cat's life in the Mundane comes crashing down when the head of her family finds her and lifts her Charms, saying she is needed in the Nether.  Cat is carted off to the Nether by her brother only to be forced into an arranged marriage with Will, from another powerful family and to be used by a Sorcerer to take a Charm off a human who can help figure out what has happened to her kidnapped uncle.

I don't know quite where to begin with this book.  There was a lot going on and a lot of characters to keep track of, with the point of view switching from character to character.  Being the first book in a series, the plot took me a little while to get into but really got me hooked about half way through when all of the different characters stories started to come together and some action started happening.  Between Two Thorns also ends on a cliffhanger, leaving the main character, Cat, in quite a bind.  This definitely makes me want to read the second book, Any Other Name.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.