Tis the season to get SPOOKED!

It's October! I love October, mostly because I love Halloween, a holiday which I feel is sorely unappreciated her in the UK, I spent one Halloween in the US and it totally ruined it for me because no-one in England really cares about Halloween. No-one decorates, no-one dresses up and I haven't had trick or treaters in YEARS. It always disappoints me that no-one gets in to it over here, but I figured if anyone would appreciate a Halloween theme, my fellow book lovers would!

Not only do I usually spend Halloween watching....well...Halloween films, you know the sort, Hocus Pocus....Ghost Busters.....Beetlejuice....Sleepy Hollow and so on, wearing my tacky Halloween jumper and leggings and eating my body weight in Candy Corn (Bless you Bentall Centre and your American candy section!), but I also love nothing more than a Halloween read. Not always spooky ones, but some that are just ya know....magical!

SO for you guys I have compiled a list of some of the best books to read this month for Halloween, some are spooky, some are creepy, some are well and truly Halloween reads, and some, while not being scary, have that magical element that Halloween is all about. Not everyone dresses up as scary things ya know!

So here we gooooo!

1. The Fall

"She has spent her life fighting fate, and she thought she was succeeding. Until she woke up in a coffin.

Ushers die young. Ushers are cursed. Ushers can never leave their house, a house that haunts and is haunted, a house that almost seems to have a mind of its own. Madeline’s life—revealed through short bursts of memory—has hinged around her desperate plan to escape, to save herself and her brother. Her only chance lies in destroying the house.

In the end, can Madeline keep her own sanity and bring the house down?The Fall is a literary psychological thriller, reimagining Edgar Allan Poe’s classic The Fall of the House of Usher."

This is a Halloween read through and through, eerily creepy, it'll really get you in the spirit! 

2. Born At Midnight

"One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever. Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.” Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.

Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either. Or does she? They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason. As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas. Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past. Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart. 

Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…"

Born At Midnight is the first in the Shadow Falls series, and it's one of my favourite series! Really you should read them all, and the Shadow Falls: After Dark series, which is just starting out. Shadow Falls has everything you could want for a Halloween read, vampires, fae, werewolves, shifters and ghosts, and they're all chilling in the woods! There's even romance for all you romance fans! And trust me, certain parts involving the ghosts are reaaaaally creepy.

3. Soul Screamers

"She doesn't see dead people. She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who'll be next."

My Soul To Take is the first in the Soul Screamers series, again, another of my favourites, and another that I feel fits the Halloween vibe for those who don't want to be totally terrified. There's reapers and banshee type things going on, and again, romance, and it's another perfect, lighter Halloween read! 

4. Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone

"Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy - until he is rescued by an owl, taken to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel. The Reason: HARRY POTTER IS A WIZARD!"

I wasn't really going to do a synopsis for this, but I thought I'd better on the off chance, and GoodReads is suspiciously short! 

How can I do a Halloween reads list WITHOUT Harry Potter? I couldn't not include him! All the magic and the creatures and ya know...Halloween in the book...."TROOOOOLLL....IN THE DUNGEON" and all that. Just do it. You know you feel a re-read coming on so why not start it now? 

5. Dracula

"Acting on behalf of his firm of solicitors, Jonathan Harker travels to the Carpathian Mountains to finalize the sale of England's Carfax Abbey to Transylvanian noble Count Dracula. Little does he realize that, in doing so, he endangers all that he loves. For Dracula is one of the Un-Dead--a centuries-old vampire who sleeps by day and stalks by night, feasting on the blood of his helpless victims. Once on English soil, the count sets his sights on Jonathan's circle of associates, among them his beloved wife Mina. To thwart Dracula's evil designs, Jonathan and his friends will have to accept as truth the most preposterous superstitions concerning vampires, and in the company of legendary vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing, embark on an unholy adventure for which even their worst nightmares have not prepared them."

We're gonna get classical now for the next couple, how can you not read Dracula in honour of Halloween in October? It's a must really. It's just so....Halloween ;) 

6. Frankenstein 

"A summer evening's ghost stories, lonely insomnia in a moonlit Alpine's room & a runaway imagination--fired by philosophical discussions with Lord Byron & Percy Bysshe Shelley about science, galvanism & the origins of life--conspired to produce for Mary Shelley this haunting night specter. By morning, it had become the germ of her Romantic masterpiece,Frankenstein. 

Written in 1816 when she was only 19, Shelley's novel of "The Modern Prometheus" chillingly dramatized the dangerous potential of life begotten upon a laboratory table. A frightening creation myth for our own time, Frankenstein remains one of the greatest horror stories ever written & is an undisputed classic of its kind."

Again, another classic that is so totally Halloween, when everyone thinks of Halloween they usually picture Dracula, Frankenstein and a Werewolf, they're like....the Mean Girls of Halloween! 

7. The Strange Case Of Doctor Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

"Published as a shilling shocker, Robert Louis Stevenson's dark psychological fantasy gave birth to the idea of the split personality. The story of respectable Dr Jekyll's strange association with damnable young man Edward Hyde; the hunt through fog-bound London for a killer; and the final revelation of Hyde's true identity is a chilling exploration of humanity's basest capacity for evil."

I um'd and ah'd about including this, but ultimately decided that it fits the bill! Again it's another Classic, and one that I have very vague recollections of seeing the musical version of, back in the day, I'm fairly certain I still have the soundtrack floating about, and I think a re-read is in order! 

8. The Picture Of Dorian Grey

"Dorian is a good-natured young man until he falls in with the cunning and quick-tongued Lord Henry, who unveils  to Dorian the power of his own exceptional beauty. As he gradually sinks deeper into a glamorous and decadent world of selfish luxury, he seems to remain physically unchanged in spite of age and the stresses of his corrupt lifestyle. But in his attic, hidden behind a curtain, his portrait tells a different story."

Again, not one of the Mean Girls of Halloween, but a good classic that is suitably Halloween-y. I do actually watch the film version of this every Halloween/October, but to be honest, I think the film version is just a bit crap, I only really watch it for Ben Barnes *winkwink* 

9. Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Tales and Poems

"In a career that spanned slightly more than two decades, Edgar Allan Poe pioneered the short story as a literary form, perfected the tale of psychological horror, launched the detective fiction genre, and helped to revolutionize modern poetics. The full body of Poe's imaginative work encompasses mystery tales, horror stories, satires, fables, fantasies, science fiction, dramas, and verse."

Again...how can you not? This collection is kind of a must read for Halloween, and if you're gonna read The Fall, this has The Fall Of The House Of Usher in it, and seeing as The Fall i based on it, you should really give it a go! It's also got Murders In The Rue Morgue, The Raven and well...everything! 

Aaaannnd this is the last classic, I promise! 

10. Alice In Zombieland

"Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies…."

Zombies....classic Halloween monster right?! Alice In Zombieland has a totally unique take on zombies, has romance for all the romance fans, and is suitably creepy at points as well as badass. You can probably guess it's another of my favourite series, and ya know...the third and final in the trilogy just came out so why not give it a go to get in the Halloween spirit!? 

11. A Breath Of Frost 

"In 1814, three cousins—Gretchen, Emma, and Penelope—discover their family lineage of witchcraft when a binding spell is broken, allowing their individual magical powers to manifest. Now, beyond the manicured gardens and ballrooms of Regency London, an alluring underworld available only to those with power is revealed to the cousins. By claiming their power, the three cousins have accidentally opened the gates to the underworld. 

Now ghouls, hellhounds—and most terrifying of all, the spirits of dark witches known as the Greymalkin Sisters—are hunting and killing young debutante witches for their powers. And, somehow, Emma is connected to the murders…because she keeps finding the bodies. 

Can the cousins seal the gates before another witch is killed…or even worse, before their new gifts are stripped away?"

Witches....magic....this is the first in a new series by one of my favourite authors and the second installment is out very soon...perfect timing right!? For me, this is suitably Halloween-y what with the witches element, it's also a slightly lighter one, there's some creepy bits but it's all cute and romancey too. You should also check out The Drake Chronicles, Stolen Away and Haunting Violet as each is suitable Halloween reading material! Vampires....fae....ghosts....all are perfect! 

12. Poison Princess

" Sixteen-year-old Evangeline "Evie" Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future—and they're still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.

But she can't do either alone.

With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can't totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?

Who can Evie trust?

As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it's not always clear who is on which side."

This one is another of my favourites, that I actually read the first two of at around October last year, while they're not especially creepy, well I mean...I guess they can be at points, they're more apocalypse-y, but I don't know...this series just fits the Halloween vibe with the arcana cards and the horrible visions and everything! And actual Death....on a horse. 

13. White Hot Kiss 

" Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses. 

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever. 

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul. 

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne… it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world."

OKAY, don't judge the cover and the title...hear me out first! This has made my list because yes, it has demons who are suitably creepy/Halloween-y, and unique...but it also has Gargoyles. Come ooonn ya know you haven't read one about Gargoyles before, you're gonna love this, I promise you, and it's great for Halloween, I think since the Gargoyles TV show/cartoon stopped, gargoyles have been severely under-rated. 

14. Unspoken 

" Kami Glass loves someone she's never met . . . a boy she's talked to in her head ever since she was born. She didn't spend her childhood silent about her imaginary friend, and is thus a bit of an outsider in the sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, she has a best friend, runs the popular school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head. 

But all that changes when the Lynburns return. ." 

Yes, I know y'all know I love this series, and obviously it has made the list. Why is it a Halloween read? Creepy Lynburn house with strange goings on/secretive stuff going on and ya know...magical type things going on. Not to mention in the second book a load of scarecrows come alive and attack them. I've not read the third yet, but I'm sure it's just as fantastic. 

15. The Name Of The Star 

" Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London to start a new life at boarding school just as a series of brutal murders mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper killing spree of more than a century ago has broken out across the city. The police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man believed to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him - the only one who can see him. And now Rory has become his next target...unless she can tap her previously unknown abilities to turn the tables."

Shades Of London. A must read. Particularly at Halloween, I read this at night and just...never again. I'm going to be getting in to the Halloween spirit this week by reading a proof copy of the third book, but you guys can and should read the first two. Ghosts. Jack The Ripper wannabe. What more do you need on the creepy front? 

16. Vampire Academy

" St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. . . .

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever"

So, Vampires are one of the big Halloween baddies. I wanted to include a book solely about Vampires (Shadow Falls is a mix of everything) that wasn't a classic and thus more easy to get in to for people who don't care for Classics or their wording. I already mentioned The Drake Chronicles by Alyxandra Harvey, but I didn't wanna do two from the same author on different slots. So we have, I think, one of the first Vampire books I read, along with Morganville Vampires (there's another Halloween one!), this one is quite a light Halloween read...it's funny, there's romance, there's also a suitable level of badass-ery, and ya know...Vampirey things. It's a good series, it's now completed, and if you're in the mood you could check out the spin off series Bloodlines!

17. Unbreakable 

" When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Now Kennedy has to take her mother’s place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon — battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way." 

Reviewed recently by me, I've included this because it's a 100% Halloween read. The best way to describe it, is a YA version of Supernatural. There's even brothers, although they're twins. It's got humour, it's got REALLY creepy ghosts and vividly creepy haunted and abandoned locations, including a prison. This is one of the creepier offerings I have for you guys on this list! But seriously, it's a really good series! 

18. City Of Bones

" When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know... "

It's a well known fact I love this series. Why is it a Halloween read? Demons. Demons EVERYWHERE. And ya know...werewolves, warlocks and so on are also present. So this one makes the cut as well, check out the rest of the series and check out the prequel trilogy The Infernal Devices! 

So there you have it! Halloween reads. 18 of them. Some classics in there, a couple of fully creepy ones, but most of them are light ones, there's some romance, there's the usual Halloween monsters and everything, this is purely because occasionally I do get freaked out quite easily, there was an incident where I binge watched season 1 of Criminal Minds in a day and couldn't sleep properly for days for example, so while I like the odd creepy book, I don't have a million of them in my possession nor have a read a lot of them, so there's a mix of both, but as I said, most of them are fairly light, but have Halloween "monsters".

Unmarked

Unmarked
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: ARC Courtesy of NetGalley!

We join Kennedy just over 2 weeks since the events of Unbreakable, and she's been packed off to a boarding school in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. The world is pretty much going to crap around her, there's been a missing girl every day  since, and they all look creepily like her. The day creepy writing with a message appears on her mirror, Jared finally finds her. Feeling like she doesn't belong, she goes with the gang and Elle in search of her long lost Aunt Faith, her Dad's secret sister.

Using her memory they track down a taxidermy museum that holds the clues to finding her aunt, but when they do, paranoid is...well that's being polite. Her aunt's specialty is prophetic dreams and after a run in with the Illuminati they've been hunting her. But they brought something with them, and when Andras finds them, the end result is tragic.

Using the clues her aunt left her, they learn more about the Freemasons, and when they finally find the journal....they learn more about the night Andras was freed. Setting out to find Andras turns out to be easier than it first seemed, when he finds them, but after some shocking revelations regarding Kennedy's family, followed by an accident with Andras, the life of someone she loves is left hanging in the balance and they find themselves working with the enemy. The Illuminati. Could they not be the villains they've been lead to believe?

"We have officially entered The Exorcist territory" 

Nooooooooooooooo. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. *sob*. Dammit all. My poor feels just can't take this, I'm slightly glad the third book isn't out yet because it saves me some pain and suffering, but then I'm not glad because now I have to wait. But what a thrilling sequel, it's not often sequels can match the first books but this one manages it!

It pretty much picks up straight away, pulling you in to the story, but time has passed so we get flashbacks of Kennedy remembering what happened after Unbreakable ended so we don't miss out on anything and it's more interesting than pages of "previously on The Legion"

With Unbreakable we had what was kind of like mini episodes of Supernatural, with the whole different locations and destroying the ghosts thing, to get and build the Shift. This is an entirely different....what's the word, format? Story? I don't know. In this we have the search for her aunt, the clues to be followed to the journal, the run in with Andras, and then trying to find a way to save Jared. Unmarked is aaaalll about the demons and specifically Andras, there's no vengeance spirits in this, I mean there's a residual haunting which was delightfully creepy but this ones the demon book. Which ya know....means it's less creepy....sort of.

But I loved the change of pace with the story, I loved the focus on the demons in this book and Andras, it's keeping the series interesting. We learn more about demons in this book, as well as more about the Illuminati. I can't get enough of the rich lore/history whatever you want to call it regarding the story's world and the things in it. It's every bit as rich and detailed as Unbreakable.

Unmarked continues the fast pace, engaging narrative, and concise and smooth prose. There is literally nothing for me to complain about so this will be a gushing review full of love. This book is so engrossing it's not even funny!  It's also just as humorous as it is serious and sad, the scene where they're talking about what they'd be doing if they weren't in the Legion and Priests reaction, for example, was heartbreaking. Our characters become more complex, we're left needing to know more about them, the third book is subtly set up at the end and the world continues to ooze off the page and surround you.

"I'm not sticking around to be one of the Ghostbusters" 

The world building this time was still fantastic, it was very doom and gloom, and still very vivid and atmospheric, The book was playing like a movie in my head. Unbreakable was off the charts creepy, Unmarked was still creepy but taken down a notch. Which is just as well because ghosts freak me out a bit, ever since I got forced to watch Paranormal Activity and Most Haunted as a marathon. *shudder*.

So we have the taxidermy museum, nice and creepy, slightly wish I couldn't picture it so well, but there we go. We have her aunts house, we have the tomb in Boston and theeeeennn the safe-house. I can picture all clearly in my mind, and I love being able to do that. Each place had an atmosphere that you felt while reading and again the world sucked you in. I was oblivious to everything and everyone.

There was plenty to keep you intrigued in the book, I was trying to work out what the deal was with the missing girls, to no avail. The plot twists are insane, and if I was home alone I would have shrieked/screamed and had a full out temper tantrum at the one with Jared....I mean dude, seriously. And it's still not resolved and we have to wait for book three....someone hold me!

"She missed the chapter on prison tats in criminal history class" 

I love these two books because it's not often I read a book lately and I can't work out what's going to happen next. I always work it out. Not so with Unbreakable and Unmarked, I tried, I really tried but I got nothing. I loved it! It's just so great to be able to read a book and not know what's going to happen next so you're frantically turning the pages.

Like I already said, we learn loads more this book, particularly about the Illuminati as we meet the characters of Gabriel and Dimitri. It would appear Gabriel was tasked with spying on Kennedy's aunt, broke her heart and was also a friend of Kennedy's mums because SPOILER ALERT, her mum was a freaking Illuminati. You can imagine my face when I was reading! I'm really excited to learn more, because her mum was part of an order that where kind of a shady group of Illuminati's that weren't sanctioned, and now I want to know more and why her mum got involved and so on.

"A marquis of hell preying on a bunch of kids? Times must be tough Andras" 

We also get a deeper look in to what happened the night the Legion summoned Andras, what went wrong and the whole one of the Legion stabbing the Angel but not actually killing her like they'd assumed.

I enjoy the flashbacks, whether it's Kennedy remembering something, or courtesy of a journal entry it's a nice break from the narrative that keeps it fresh and conveys important information in an interesting way while adding to the intrigue.

There's a new interesting twists regarding the Vessel which is assumed to be the Shift but turns out to be the White Dove, who is Kennedy, who was predicted by her aunt and I'm excited to watch that play out and see where it goes!

Jared and Kennedy are finally together in this one and they're are so adorable which is what makes what happens so heartbreaking, because they really deserve a break. After releasing Andras Kennedy is feeling really guilty, and pretty much is feeling how Jared always feels, so they make kind of the perfect match.

In Unbreakable we saw a brief glimpse of Elle and I was sad not to see that much of her but for anyone feeling the same, don't worry, because Elle is along for the ride as well in Unmarked! It would also appear her and Lukas have something going on *winkwink* which means we'll be avoiding a love triangle, although there is still going to be plenty of angst to keep things interesting!

                      "No-one touched your precious demon-slayer belt Buffy" 

I must say I really like the character of Elle, she's the perfect best friend, so fiercely loyal to Kennedy, I love how she just believes everything Kennedy tells her, no questions asked and even through everything she still sticks with the gang. I'm excited to see more of her and Lukas too. I wasn't sure how I felt about a possible love triangle, but I love how Lukas has Elle and is just Kennedy's friend. I also love her bickering with Alara, and watching their friendship grow was a nice added touch to the story! I need more of those two together!

Dimitri and Gabriel are....interesting. I love Gabriel's snark, and while he and Dimitri are new characters, they have just as much depth as our other main characters, including Elle who clearly has more to her from some things Kennedy said about her family. Gabriel was her mothers friend, and I do want to know more about him but right now I'm focused on Dimitri, we don't get as much about him as Gabriel and I neeeedd to know what his deal is! SO much intrigue!

"Holding hands while you waited for your Wonder Twin powers to activate?" 

I'm also excited to see the whole Kennedy being Illuminati thing playing out. Like I said I want to know more about her mum, but I also want to see how this plays out. In the beginning Priest and Alara are very not okay with it and a line is drawn in the sand but as it carries on they appear to be over it, and I want to see whether Kennedy can still become the Legion member when her Dad dies, or if she'll be joining Gabriel and co.

Yes, yes I did say Kennedy's dad. He pops up. I think he's a douche. Kennedy is really easy to connect with, and you feel what she feels, so I was feeling some rage when her dad was all "you think you love him" about Jared. Turns out her Dad is the fifth Legion member and I'm soooo not buying what he's selling with his excuses.

With the arrival of Kennedy's Dad you can see the relationship with Kennedy and Alara thrown in to sharp relief. Like Kennedy says in the book, Alara has known her for a short time but knows her better than her stalker father. I love Alara's friendship with Kennedy and after her saying Kennedy reminds her of Maya her sister I had so many feels. So many.

We get more Alara background too! We know she's rich, but in this installment we see her sister and brother helping her out so she doesn't have to do what her parents say, and it turns out she has a secret hot boy. More of him please!

"I'm going to my room, or whatever you call those cryogenic chambers where you have us sleeping" 

We also get more of Priest and what life was like for him and I'm really feeling for him. His grandfather was all he had, and he doesn't have another person like everyone else does, can we please give him a new friend? Pleaaaseee?

Lukas....well, we get a deeper look at him as well. As we all gathered from the previous book he and Jared where very competitive, because their father favoured Jared, and we see more of how deep that went, because it's revealed that Lukas isn't quite the golden boy everyone thinks he is. He knew about the list and didn't stop Jared because he wanted him to get in trouble, I can see his reasoning, but it's another side to Lukas I didn't suspect was lurking. Especially as he partially deserves some of the blame.

I'm excited to see more of the new group dynamic. It's been revealed about Jared and the list and as expected Priest and Alara aren't happy, Priest  more so. While Alara appears to be okay with Kennedy despite knowing she knew, Priest is really not okay with Jared at all, and I'm not sure how he is with Kennedy, he was really pissed but then he seemed a bit more mellow at the end. So it's really going to change the dynamic of the group especially when Jared is back.

Because of this our merry band of demon/ghost fighters are split as Dimitri takes Priest and Alara to look for a new demon Bastiel, that Andras released. I'm sad because I need more of Alara and Kennedy's friendship especially after what Alara said, and I need for Priest to be okay with Kennedy because he was her first friend and ugh. I don't like them being separated!

I'm ridiculously excited for the next book to see how everything plays out, and like I said, particularly the whole Kennedy/Illuminati thing and if Priest and Alara are really okay about it or if they'll shove her out again. Not to mention Kennedy having to deal with her dad although I think Elle might rip him to shreds? The new pieces of information have tided me over but there's so much more to know and I love how we get just enough to keep us going but we're still left with questions, it's the perfect blend!

Unmarked is a strong sequel to what's turning into a fantastically unique series filled with great friendships, plenty of creepyness and a smidge of world saving! There's plenty of different puzzles to try and work out but the unpredictability of the book is another feature that marks out from the crowd. The world of Unmarked is fast becoming a favourite and the lively characters jumping of the page are becoming more loved each installment! Bring on round three!

Unbreakable

Unbreakable
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: ARC Courtesy of NetGalley
For Fans Of: Supernatural all the way.

It's dark, it's creepy and it's a graveyard, Kennedy would love to be anywhere else but she has to find her cat. Unfortunately a spirit finds her first. Although Kennedy doesn't believe in ghosts she pretends it never happens. But then her cat starts to act strangely and when she comes home to find her mother dead, things take a turn for the worse.

Four weeks later, spending her last night in her home before she goes to boarding school in New York, a waaay better option than living with her aunt, she awakes to find her cat lying on her chest being all kinds of freaky and taking her breath. It's at that point that twins Lukas and Jared burst into her room and shoot it, then the creepy graveyard ghost that comes out of her cat. Enter epic scale freakout, made even worse when the twins are still there the next day with the happy news that a demon is trying to kill her, promptly followed by her unplugged radio spazzing out and all her knives trying to stab her.

As she escapes with the boys, they reveal that her mother was a part of The Legion of the Black Dove, ancient secret society that protects the world from a demon their ancestors unleashed centuries ago in their fight against the Illuminati. Turns out Kennedys mum wasn't the only society member murdered. All five where, in the same way on the same night, making the kids the new Legion.

Kennedy has to take her place along with Priest, Alara, Lukas and Jake in order to uncover the truth and stay in the land of the living. The gang embarks on a quest to find the five scattered pieces of a device called the Shaft, which they believe will destroy the demon. Journeying from one creepy place to the next, battling the spirits sworn to protect the pieces, bonds form, love prospers and creepiness abounds. Unfortunately, not everything is as it seems...

"I wasn't the fifth member of their secret exorcist society" 

Holy shiiiiiiiitt. Excuse my language but seriously, I think I have another favourite series. This is one of those ones where I'll now go and acquire a physical copy for my collection, I loved it that much! Being the avid Supernatural fan that I am, I couldn't resist this when I read the synopsis I mean ghosts and demons?! I wasn't sure what to expect, but I really wasn't expecting to love this book this much! It's like a YA Supernatural, there's journals and grimoirs and salt and devils traps, but with more hunters and twin brothers, I will admit I half expected at one point for Jared or Lukas to be all "Dad went on a hunting trip....and he hasn't been home in a few days", how can you not read it!?!

I was hooked in from the first creepy page, and from then on I couldn't put the book down. It's fast paced, engaging, entertaining has a smooth flow and excellent prose. I mean, I would have more than one quote but I was too engrossed to take note! Although I did enjoy "Scream first and ask questions later".

The plot was fairly complex, with plenty of twists and turns that are largely unpredictable, the last twist in particular, I really did not see coming! You spend the entire book thinking one thing and then at the end it's like "BHAM SURPRISE BITCH" and you're like whaaaaaaaaaaaaat. ,It was the perfect cliffhanger, you're left wanting more, and the next book is set up perfectly right in the end chapters, but subtly and without giving much away for what's going to happen in the next book. There's an obvious plot point but yeah.
Essentially it's kind of a quest story with clues and going from location to location, but it's more....spiced up shall we say? What with the spirits and everything.

The world building is astounding. There's detail, but it's concise and doesn't interrupt the narrative with too much information. The world really does suck you in. I didn't want to leave the world of the story to be honest. Each location is described very vividly and very creepily. I mean we have creepy house, creepy well, creepy children's home and creepy prison, the shop wasn't quite up there with the other creepy ones but to be hones that was a nice break. I still need to go in to shops, and after reading this book I think I will avoid the creepy places mentioned...not that I wouldn't be avoiding them any way...in some cases...but yeah.

Like I said all these different locations and settings are vividly brought to life and suck you in. You can feel the atmosphere of the places oozing off the page, and the writing was very cinematic for me. Or maybe that's just how my brain works with awesome books, I don' t know?

The world created is very in the vein of Supernatural with the demons, which we haven't seen yet but I'm fairly certain they're different, and the ghosts and vengeful spirits and so on, and with the whole salt thing and weapons. BUT the unique part of the book that I latched on to and loved is the rich history of the Legion. What they are, how they came about, what happened and so on. It's so very enthralling but we don't get all the details in one go, we get enough to tide us over and keep our intrigue up. Like we don't know exactly what happened when the ancestors summoned the demon, what happened to the angel? What's the deal with Kennedy's mum? I'm fairly sure he dad is someone important too.

Kennedy I loved, I connected with her and I could empathize with her. She's not a badass, but she's not useless either even though she thinks she is. Yeah she can't fight but her photographic memory and drawing skills come in handy with binding symbols and devils traps. She's had a rough go of it, and now she's thrown in to this world with all these badass fighters, and she feels like she doesn't belong and I think a lot of people can sympathize with that. But at the same time, she's not afraid, well she was a bit, but she still went in to the haunted house, she jumped in the well after Priest etc and towards the end of the book you could see her courage growing, and I'm excited to see it taken further in the next book.

Each character is well written, multi-dimensional and has plenty of depth. Each of them has a different story. Each has a different background. They're all so different but work so well together. In the book they each have a specialty, another unique element, Jared's for example being fighting and weapons. We get to know a bit about each of them, and what made them who they are today. I feel I can't pick a favourite!

We have a romance going on, I'm sure it'll please a lot of you! Kennedy and Jared. It's not really anything more than her liking him and him caring about her in the beginning, the romance was to me, fairly secondary, which was no bad thing, it was there but it wasn't in your face, but you see the relationship grow and build up and towards the end it hits full on romance territory.

Jared is a damaged soul, he thinks the deaths of their family members was his fault and Lukas certainly blames him for it. He essentially thinks he's bad and screws everything up which makes him very different from the standard hero who's all "I'm sexy and I know it and I can do no wrong", he's not perfect and I loved that, Kennedy isn't perfect either, both have screwed up and I just really loved reading about them, the whole not perfect thing made them more realistic and human. They're also totally adorable.

I feel I should mention Lukas right about now. Jared's twin brother. I'm not sure yet if there will be a love triangle. As far as I could tell, Kennedy likes Jared, Lukas is her friend. Lukas likes her, but I can't tell in what capacity, sometimes it seems one way, other times another. It's going to be interesting to see if we're going to have a full on love triangle and how it's going to be dealt with. I have every faith in Kami to write it perfectly either way.

I'm kind of rambling at this stage in fangirly glee, and I'm not sure if I've left anything out! Buuuuuuuuuuuttt....

Unbreakable is a perfect blend of action, romance, adventure, supernatural and the creepy. Fast paced, it'll keep you glued to the page the entire way through with the engaging narrative, bouts of humour, mysteries, heart pounding moments and rich history regarding the Legions. Delightfully creepy it's guaranteed to send shivers down your spine and depending on your creep factor...possibly make you sleep with the light on! Unbreakable is a unique take on demons and ghosts, and I can't wait to see more.

If you love Supernatural, you're gonna love this. I chuckled every time someone said or thought "....unnatural"*winkwink*

(shhhhh I'm reviewing the second one tomorrow so stay tuned for more fangirling ;))