Thursday, June 26, 2014

Review: The Suburban Strange (The Suburban Strange #1) by Nathan Kotecki

Title: The Suburban Strange (The Suburban Strange #1)
Author: Nathan Kotecki
Source: Self-Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Release Date: October 2, 2013
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Shy Celia Balaustine is new to Suburban High, but a mysterious group of sophomores called the Rosary has befriended her. Friends aside, Celia soon discovers something is not quite right at Suburban. Girls at the school begin having near-fatal accidents on the eve of their sixteenth birthdays. Who is causing the accidents, and why? As Celia’s own birthday approaches, she is inexorably drawn into an underground conflict between good and evil—the Kind and the Unkind—that bubbles beneath Suburban High. Plentiful references to music and art—along with the intriguing underworld mythology—make this supernatural series debut a page-turner.


The Suburban Strange is going to be a fantastic series - the first book has me hooked to Celia's life and I NEED to know what happens next.  The first book follows her first year at Suburban High and her adjustment to living as a member of the elite clique The Rosary.  It's the first time she's felt included and important and she hopes to make a whole new life for herself.  

She does that and then some.  Learning about the Kind and Unkind and finding out it's all true and part of her life.  It's not just part of her life, it's threatening to take her life.  When the time comes for the curse to find her she needs to make a very tough choice.

Celia's group, The Rosary, seemed to have the potential to be a bad influence at first.  But you quickly discover that they are true friends for her.  They introduce her to music, art, and literature that blows her mind (in a good way).  There is actually a playlist in the back of the book that I will be checking out this weekend.  Her cultural horizons expands as does her self-confidence.  Now they aren't perfect by any means, but they were amazing friends throughout the story.  She has a couple other friends outside this close knit group and they all play very important roles in the story as well - sometimes even more important than The Rosary.

The story itself unfolds in a way that makes you keep reading.  There was no "down time" just times where it slowed down to an easy jog so you could catch your breathe.  I did figure out who the bad guy was early on, and it made me want to scream at Celia a few times for not seeing things that seemed obvious to a reader.  Nathan Kotecki isn't afrad to shock you a little or make you feel.  There are a lot of highs and some very deep lows in the story that only made it more enjoyable and easy to fall in love with all the characters.


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