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Alive Author Chandler Baker Talks “The Paranormal Comeback” with 5 Must-Read Paranormal YAs
With Halloween just around the corner, everyone’s looking for the best of the best when it comes to spooky reads, featuring things that go bump in the night…and sometimes during the day. And who better to recommend some of the newest shining stars than an author of a creeptastic book herself? Chandler Baker’s debut, Alive, follows the story of Stella, who receives a much-needed heart transplant, only to find her side effects going out of control in terrifying ways. The only thing that alleviates her pain is new boy Levi, which quickly makes him a necessary fixture in Stella’s life. A little too necessary, perhaps…?
Alive is just one of this year’s Halloween-perfect YA reads. Here with five more is its author, Chandler Baker.
It’s almost Halloween and that means everywhere we look we’re surrounded by celebrations of the supernatural—ghosts, ghouls, and monsters that go bump in the night—but where did this touch of magic go in young adult literature? Somewhere between fantasy and contemporary lies paranormal fiction, and for a hot minute it was all anyone could talk about in YA. During the Twilight craze, we were entertained mainly by “creature feature” tales of vampires, werewolves, angels and mermaids, but as often happens, the market appeared to overcorrect, and what was once a glut became a dearth for fans left craving more.
Have no fear, though, because this year, we’re in luck! As an author of paranormal fiction and an unabashed fan of the genre, I’m delighted to report that it’s making a comeback. Look out for fewer creatures, but a feast of stories with pivotal elements that can’t be explained by science. To whet your appetite, here are 5 can’t-miss books in 2015:
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Daughters Unto Devils, by Amy Lukavics
Prepare to be spooked. When the Verners arrive at their new home, a large cabin abandoned by its previous owners, they discover the inside covered in blood. And as the days pass, it’s obvious to Amanda Verner that something isn’t right on the prairie. She has heard stories of lands being tainted by evil, of men losing their minds and killing their families, and there’s something strange about the doctor and his son who live in the woods on the prairie’s edge.
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Becoming Jinn, by Lori Goldstein
Escape into the world of genies. Azra has just turned sixteen, and overnight her body lengthens, her olive skin deepens, and her eyes glisten gold thanks to the brand-new silver bangle that locks around her wrist. As she always knew it would, her Jinn ancestry brings not just magical powers but the reality of a life of servitude, as her wish granting is controlled by a remote ruling class of Jinn known as the Afrit.
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Shutter, by Courtney Alameda
Sing along to “The Monster Mash” with Micheline Helsing, a girl who sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual: the corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. Read now and thank me later.
Blood and Salt, by Kim Liggett
Add a dollop of romance to your horror. Ash Larkin follows her mother to Quivira, Kansas, where something sinister and ancient waits among the rustling cornstalks of this village lost to time. She is plagued by memories of her ancestor, Katia, which harken back to the town’s history of unrequited love and murder, alchemy and immortality. Charming traditions soon give way to a string of gruesome deaths, and Ash feels drawn to Dane, a forbidden boy with secrets of his own.
Lair of Dreams, by Libba Bray
Bend the genre with a historical sequel. After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer in The Diviners, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. With her uncanny ability to read people’s secrets, she has become a media darling, and earned the title “America’s Sweetheart Seer.” Everyone’s in love with the city’s newest It Girl…everyone except the other Diviners.
Chandler Baker’s Alive is on sale now.