Buy Haunting Violet Special: $13.58(Regular price: $16.99) Publisher: Walker Format: Hardcover Reviewer: Melissa on June 30, 2011 Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars In 1870, the pinnacle of the Spiritualist movement, most people would see the ability to see spirits as a gift. For Violet Willoughby, however, it’s more like a curse. She’s helped her [...]

Buy Wrapped Special: $13.58 (Regular price: $16.99) Publisher: Atheneum Books Format: Hardcover Reviewer: Melissa on May 24, 2011 Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars When Agnes Wilkins stands in front of a mummy, ready to begin unwrapping it, you might assume that she’s in the midst of a great adventure in Cairo. If she heard [...]

Buy Purple Daze Special: $11.94 (Regular price: $15.95) Publisher: Running Press Teens Format: Hardcover Reviewer: Melissa on April 10, 2011 Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars It’s 1965; do you know what American teens and the country at large were doing? From political speeches to haiku poems and from personal letters to interior monologues and [...]

Buy Puppet Special $13.50 (Regular price: $17.95) Publisher: Tundra Books Format: Hardcover Reviewer: Melissa on January 4, 2011 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars In 1882, a servant named Esther goes missing from her small Hungarian village. Assuming that there must be someone at fault, the Hungarian villagers start circulating lies – the “blood libel” [...]

Buy Folly Special $11.98 (Regular price: $15.99) Publisher: Tundra Books & Wendy Lamb Books Format: Hardcover Reviewer: Melissa on December 30, 2010 Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars It’s the late 1800s, where a few moments of folly have the power to change the lives of others. Mary, who has always been a sensible, young, [...]

Right now I’m reading Marthe Jocelyn‘s Folly, which reminds me just how much I love and appreciate YA historical fiction. If you or the teen in your life thinks that this genre is a yawn, then you clearly haven’t been reading the contemporary reincarnations, and if you only give it a try, then I have [...]

Buy Prisoners In The Palace Special $14.76 (Regular price: $16.99) Publisher: Chronicle Books Format: Hardcover Reviewer: Melissa on November 14, 2010 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars It’s London, England in 1836. Liza Hastings dreams of a society debut, an unforgettable romance, and a dream wedding, but when both her parents die in a tragic [...]

Melissa, thank you for letting me chat with your loyal and devout fans… When you write a novel of historical fiction, there are always too many facts to put in. So many lovely details that you want to include, but you can’t for fear of overwhelming your reader. In Prisoners in the Palace, my heroine [...]

Buy Rose Sees Red Special $12.94 (Regular price: $17.99) Publisher: Scholastic Press Format: Hardcover Reviewer: Melissa on September 2, 2010 Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars Sometimes a single night has the power to change everything; sometimes a single night is all you have. If you pick up Rose Sees Red by Cecil Castellucci, I [...]

Buy Wildthorn Special $12.00 (Regular price: $16.00) Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Format: Hardcover Reviewer: Melissa on August 19, 2010 Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars She was on her way to become a companion at the Woodville residence, but when the carriage stops, she finds herself locked away in the insane asylum known as Wildthorn Hall. [...]