There's never a shortage of paranormal novels on the young adult market these days, but there's often a shortage of paranormal novels that actually capture my attention...and keep it. I look for vivid settings, great characters and a plot that's going to stand out as original. That's a tough list of criteria for any book (because I'm a hardass), but they do pop up! 

Title: The Dolls

Author: Kiki Sullivan (Twitter)

Publisher: Balzer & Bray

Publish Date: September 2, 2014

Genre: YA, Paranormal Mystery

Pages: 384

Eveny Cheval just moved back to Louisiana after spending her childhood in New York with her aunt Bea. Eveny hasn’t seen her hometown since her mother’s suicide fourteen years ago, and her memories couldn’t have prepared her for what she encounters. Because pristine, perfectly manicured Carrefour has a dark side full of intrigue, betrayal, and lies—and Eveny quickly finds herself at the center of it all.

Enter Peregrine Marceau, Chloe St. Pierre, and their group of rich, sexy friends known as the Dolls. From sipping champagne at lunch to hooking up with the hottest boys, Peregrine and Chloe have everything—including an explanation for what’s going on in Carrefour. And Eveny doesn’t trust them one bit.

But after murder strikes and Eveny discovers that everything she believes about herself, her family, and her life is a lie, she must turn to the Dolls for answers. Something’s wrong in paradise, and it’s up to Eveny, Chloe, and Peregrine to save Carrefour and make it right.

There's something about a down-home Louisiana setting that both excites me and makes my skin crawl...in the best possible way. Add to that delightful setting a character with a painful backstory, a voodoo plotline and mysteries galore, and you pretty much have a winning combination in my book! There's something dark and twisty about this one, and I absolutely must know what it is. What do you think, and what are you waiting on this week? 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature from Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Title: My Last Kiss
Author: Bethany Neal (Twitter)
Publisher: FSG BYR
Publish Date: June 10, 2014
Genre: YA, Paranormal Mystery
Pages: 368
Source: Publisher

Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss—the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died—is a blur. Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn’t a suicide as everyone assumes. She can’t remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she’s worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend.

If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she’ll ever love, she must face her past and all the decisions she made—good and bad—that led to her last kiss.

In an age where ghost stories are a dime a dozen, it's refreshing to read a story about a girl who can't leave until she understands how she died. My Last Kiss explores the life and death of Cassidy Haines, a girl who had it all, until it was wrenched away from her three days after her seventeenth birthday. Police have deemed her death a suicide, but her memory is hazy, and though she knows she was going through a rough time, she knows she wouldn't have simply ended her life. To solve her murder and save her name, Cassidy must return to those she loved (and hurt) the most - if only to find some peace in her afterlife.

The premise for My Last Kiss isn't entirely original. In fact, I remember reading Between by Jessica Warman and thinking what a remarkable setup for a novel it was to return your deceased MC to the present day to uncover the truth behind their demise. My Last Kiss, however, offers us a little bit more. Secrets shroud the night of Cassidy's party, and we're asked to sift through the murky details with her to understand both why and how our protagonist died. Author, Bethany Neal, doesn't make it a cut-and-dried affair for us though, flipping between the past and present to get a glimpse at the alibis of the present day and the fragmented memories Cassidy has to uncover.

Whereas other novels have succeeded with this formula before though, I struggled with some of My Last Kiss, in large part because of the characters. There is a large host of secondary characters, all of whom are offered up as suspects in what Cassidy suspects is her murder. Of Madison and Aimee, her best friends, Madison was a cold fish, while Aimee wanted nothing more than to uncover the truth. Ethan, Cassidy's boyfriend, was devoted, loving and grief-stricken, while her fling, Caleb, was self-medicating the pain away. Ethan's friends played their roles, too, but I felt like many of the characters fell into their tropes and never transcended them. It was a hodge-podge of personas, and very few of them were incredibly likable or real.

In terms of the plot, My Last Kiss is slowly unfurled throughout the story as Cassidy pieces together life before and after her death. This was both a gift and a curse because I so wanted to better understand just why Cassidy would give up what she had with Ethan only to find comfort with another. And, in the end, I don't see her reasoning as solid, since she told him easily enough in the end. The murder plot was a maze - I'll give it that. I didn't know who the actual murderer was, but I definitely figured out a player in the plot, and I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see the actual repercussions after following the entire journey.

Overall, My Last Kiss was both a challenging and engaging read. While I feel as though depth of characters and reasoning behind the mystery was lacking, it was nevertheless a fast-paced, easy read. I give it a 3.5 out of 5, and I recommend it to fans of YA, especially those who enjoy lighter murder mysteries and paranormal stories.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

Title: The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant
Author: Joanna Wiebe (Twitter)
Publisher: BenBella Books
Publish Date: January 14, 2014
Genre: YA, Paranormal, Mystery
Pages: 272
Source: Publisher

So many secrets for such a small island. From the moment Anne Merchant arrives at Cania Christy, a boarding school for the world’s wealthiest teens, the hushed truths of this strange, unfamiliar land begin calling to her—sometimes as lulling drumbeats in the night, sometimes as piercing shrieks.

One by one, unanswered questions rise. No one will tell her why a line is painted across the island or why she is forbidden to cross it. Her every move—even her performance at the school dance—is graded as part of a competition to become valedictorian, a title that brings rewards no one will talk about. And Anne discovers that the parents of her peers surrender million-dollar possessions to enroll their kids in Cania Christy, leaving her to wonder what her lowly funeral director father could have paid to get her in… and why.

As a beautiful senior struggles to help Anne make sense of this cloak-and-dagger world without breaking the rules that bind him, she must summon the courage to face the impossible truth—and change it—before she and everyone she loves is destroyed by it.

There is something to be said for cross-genre books that simply refuse to be confined by one genre. Since the paranormal genre has truly seen its heyday in the past few years, I've avoided it like the plague, but The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant piqued my interest with a premise that promises readers a little bit of everything. From murder mysteries, to drama, to action, horror, paranormal and a touch of romance, this book takes no prisoners, giving readers a little bit of everything in a book that, for being rather slim in terms of similar novels, packs quite the punch. Author, Joanna Wiebe, weaves us into a world that's dark and alluring, but still accessible, reminding us that high school really can be hell.

The setup behind The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant develops rapidly, and as the action quickly picks up, we can't help but become invested in this extremely off-kilter town and school. It seems as though every character in the novel has a story of their own, each of which adds a touch more mystery and intrigue to the mix. Ms. Wiebe takes her time leading the story towards the paranormal elements, so I originally thought that we were going to fall for the "ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances trap." I was pleasantly surprised to see, however, that the novel was simply setting a very grounded stage for the supernatural elements to unfurl and really take center stage.

Anne was a delightful heroine to follow in such a haphazard tale. While everything moved and swirled like a funhouse mirror, Anne was a constant heroine that I was glad to become invested in. She has a headstrong persona, and rather than being a wilting flower like so many paranormal heroines, Anne is straightforward, smart and determined. It was easy to access her emotions and her reasoning behind her actions because they were so very human. The secondary characters also succeed. Molly was a fantastic friend and sidekick for Anne, while Harper is the quintessential queen bee that simply must have it all. I must say that I wasn't the most fond of either of the two main guys, Pilot and Ben, both of whom play a role in the slight love triangle. I never felt as though either character was fleshed out quite enough to root for them and, instead, ended up being annoyed with Ben's actions and his inactions. 

Despite this though, The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant offers us one hell of an adventure from start to finish. Perhaps the biggest success of this novel, however, is the fact that it successfully navigates the paranormal and supernatural genre without ever needing to give us either werewolves or vampires to solidify its status as such. Rather, the mystery takes center stage and, while it's a big over-the-top and quirky at times, for the most part, it kept me guessing throughout, and I can truly say that I was pleasantly surprised by the end outcome.

Overall, despite a few minor hiccups along the way, The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant succeeds for me in the end. After a long departure from the genre, this was a welcome foray back into the fold, and I can honestly state that I can't wait to see where the series goes next. I give it a 4 out of 5, and I highly recommend it to all fans of YA, especially those who enjoy paranormal and mystery stories.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.