Living Violet

Gr 8 Up—Biracial Samara works at Buncha Books, where a girl making out with coworker Caleb one minute collapses in the parking lot the next. Caleb has these amazing purple eyes and Sam finds herself curious, but he's got girls throwing themselves all over him, and then there's the matter of girls suspiciously having heart attacks. What is going on? What's going on is an entirely new world—no vampires or zombies but, instead, inner demons. Reed knows how to write dialogue, and Sam's spunky, sarcastic voice keeps the action moving forward. The world Reed has created is somewhat farfetched, yet believable, and there are some fun twists. The novel explores issues of self-control, peer pressure, and relationship boundaries amid drama in the human and paranormal worlds, and when Sam's eyes turn green at the end of book, teens will want the next installment in the series immediately.—Amy Cheney, Alameda County Library, Oakland, CA