The big Midwinter Library convention was in San Diego earlier this month, close enough for me to walk down each day to the Convention Center. Normally, although the exhibits are chock full of free advanced copies of upcoming books, I try not to pick up many, if any at all. My bags are usually close enough to the 50lb limit without piling in a bunch of books. But, since all I had to do was carry them home, I ended up with about 30 books. If they're all as good as the first one I read, I totally hit a goldmine this year!
Don't Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon comes out in May 2011.
The back cover description made this book sound compelling, but I had no idea. I couldn't put it down and couldn't stop thinking about it when I did. The evening I started it, I made the mistake of staying up late, the only one awake in a dark house. Fair warning - if you read this book, don't do that. It doesn't look terrifiying, but it is, in a spooky, things that go bump in the night are real and after you kind of way.
Fifteen years ago, 12 year old Lisa, disappears into the wood, leaving behind her brother Sam who never believes the story Lisa tells him before she leaves - She is going through a secret door in the wood to meet the Fairy King and become his Queen.
Chapters alternate between the days leading up to Lisa's disappearance and fifteen years later when Lisa's brother Sam has tried to put the past behind him. Tried to forget about the sister he lost as a child and move on with his life. Until his girlfriend, Phoebe, receives a call that seems to be from Lisa. She is coming back from the land of Fairies and she needs their help.
It might not seem so terribly dark, but you'll be wanting to pile things under your bed and will be guessing till the very end whether this is a real supernatural tale, or a tale of evil people doing things that make them seem other worldly.
