Unearthly Things by Michelle Gagnon

Readers, if you were to do a quick search for Jane Eyre on my blog, you'll see that I'm maybe a fan...

Who am I kidding, I'm definitely a fan and a sucker for anything paying tribute to, retelling, or just plain compared to the gothic classic. So when Michelle Gagnon's newest teen tale turned out to be a modern retelling, I was all over it!

Janie Mason has lost everything. Orphaned and alone, she's shipped from her home in Hawaii to live under the care of one of her father's oldest friends in San Francisco. And while initially the Rochesters are welcoming enough - well except for not even being home when she arrived, that is - things quickly go off the rails.

The youngest Rochester, a boy who seems ignored and neglected by everyone but the elderly maid, is insistent that his dead twin sister is still hanging around. His older sister is none too pleased about having to share her home or school with Janie unless it means spending more of her daddy's money. Oh, and Mrs. Rochester makes no bones about the fact that Janie is a HUGE inconvenience. But it's the strange noises in the mansion at night and the appearance of the never mentioned elder Rochester son that really get Janie's radar going.

That and someone in the Rochester house - real or spectral - seems intent on making sure Janie knows her place!

Janie Mason is definitely a modern girl. A surfer used to spending every spare hour on her board, she grew up in a loving household with strained finances. And though the Rochesters seem to have more money than Midas, their house is about as warm as the mythological king's must have been.

The relationship between the Rochester patriarch and his family is ice cold. In fact, Janie soon realizes that most of the people in the household do their best not to upset the man. And he gives off some majorly odd vibes as far as Janie is concerned. But he's sweet as pie when she first arrives, making him pretty much her only ally in the house.

Well, excepting six year old Nicholas.

Nicholas is in fact the only Rochester in Janie's welcoming party. Up past bedtime and anxious to meet her, he lets slip a tiny detail about his dead twin sister that nags at Janie as the story progresses.

And it nags at the reader as well.

What I love most about Jane Eyre is the underlying atmosphere, and this element is something Gagnon stayed especially true to in Unearthly Things. The noises at night, the happenings in the house, and the very hush hush story about the dead Rochester girl all give the tale a great creepy undertone.

My only real complaint about Unearthly Things was that it was too short. I could have spent quite a while more in this tale, and I think the characters and their relationships, as well as the setting, would have benefitted from just a bit of extra development overall. That said, the story is a successfully fun twist on Bronte's creation that also stands well on its own.

Rating: 3.5/5

(Oh, I've got my hands on another retelling due out next month as well! See, I can't pass it up!)

Don't Look Now by Michelle Gagnon

Happy book birthday to Michelle Gagnon! Don't Look Now, the follow up to last year's Don't Turn Around, is out on shelves today! If you've not yet read Don't Turn Around, you'll want to skip this post for possible spoilers. No worries, though, I've posted a review of the first Persefone book here :)

Don't Look Now picks up shortly after the end of Don't Turn Around. Noa now leads an army of teens in an attempt to break down the company behind Project Persephone. With Peter's help, they've hacked the company's system and have begun infiltrating their labs. With each new raid they've managed to save more and more teens from the fate Pike & Dolan has in store for them. And as word on the street spreads, targets for the project are becoming scarce. For Noa and the others, this is progress but they won't stop until the project ends.

Michelle Gagnon's Persefone series is an absolute must read for any action junkie! From the very first pages, this series is explosively intense and exciting. This second of the series matches pace with the series debut, Dont' Turn Around, drawing readers in with a smart plot that keeps you guessing and characters you can really root for.

I love how the action progresses in the series so far. There is so far very little explanation about PEMA, Pike & Dolan, and Project Persephone, though we do know the ultimate goal seems to be a cure for PEMA, this mysterious illness that affects teens exclusively. I'll be looking forward to seeing how that continues to play out in the final installment of the trilogy.

Rating: 4/5

Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon

Noa wakes up in a strange room wearing a hospital gown and sporting bandages. She has no idea how she ended up there, but herevery instinct screams "RUN!" And run she does. She is immediately set upon by men in scrubs and security uniforms, but she manages to outsmart them all and escape. Unfortunately, she's lost everything - id, credit cards, shoes! - and is certain that whoever these people are, they'll have her home under watch. Noa is smart, though, and she's got skills that will come in handy - she's a hard core talented hacker and part of a network called /ALLIANCE/.

Meanwhile, the network's creator has his own problems: a quick perusal of his father's computer ends with heavies beating down his door and stealing his computer. Scared and angry, Peter sets /ALLIANCE/ to the task of finding out more about the people who broke in. His pick for the job: Noa. Desperate for funds, Noa accepts but soon discovers that Peter's new foes are connected to the people who kidnapped her. The more she learns, the deeper both she and Peter are thrust into a conspiracy with grave and unsettling ramifications.

This first in Michelle Gagnon's Persefone series also marked her debut in the YA scene. As a fan of her Kelly Jones series, I had pretty high expectations for Persefone and Gagnon has gone above and beyond that! Don't Turn Around is a great blend of mystery, sci fi, medical thriller, and tons of action. The teens are smart (the adults... not so much) and Gagnon holds back just enough of the actual story behind PEMA and Project Persephone to keep the reader thoroughly intrigued.

The series actually kicked off with a little e short called "No Escape," which set the tone brilliantly for the series. In the story, we're introduced to a teen who will soon become a victim of Project Persephone. (He even gets a brief mention in Don't Turn Around.) The short also includes a preview of Don't Turn Around, in case I've not convinced you yet, and can be downloaded here for free. It's a pretty explosive beginning, so you should be prepared to track down a copy of the full book.

Gagnon's follow up, Don't Look Now, hits shelves tomorrow.

Rating: 4/5

Another Rec From My Reading Past

I had planned on saving Michelle Gagnon's latest, The Gatekeeper, for my trip last week, but I couldn't wait that long to read it. I think I got it a week before that, that's how impatient I am.

I thought I would hold out initially because strangely I've read Michelle's books on vacation before. In fact, while driving from Colorado to Louisiana last summer, we stopped in Austin for a couple of days to attend the wedding of a high school classmate and Bone Yard was my companion in the hotel while Mike was at the bachelor's party.

Like I said, I was impatient and started reading it Thanksgiving day instead. And then I realized that I've not yet posted anything about this series. Chalk it up to starting the blog after reading the first and somehow...

But I'm doing it now. We're three books in here and I think it's high time for anyone who hasn't started them yet to do so now.

When the series began with The Tunnels in 2007, I was lucky enough to get a review copy from the publisher. Here's my review from the BB archives:

FBI agent Kelly Jones has no family, no real friends and no ties. Her only real motivation is her job, and the tragedy in her past that led to her career. Now, the bodies of two coeds have been found in an abandoned tunnel system below her alma mater. The first body, that of Anna Varelas, is found mutilated and posed before an odd image painted in blood. The blood belongs to Lin Kaishin, the second body discovered in the tunnels. Kaishin is also posed before the same strange image. This time, the blood is that of an unknown pregnant female. Further investigation leads to shocking revelations regarding the symbolism of each site. Everything from the positioning of the bodies to the way that they were killed leads Jones to believe that their suspect is anything but the textbook definition of a serial killer. Gagnon’s debut is sure to be a hit with mystery lovers. Jones is an appealing heroine and the plot is truly original. I really thought I had it figured out, too, but I was completely wrong in the end. I hope book two in the series is soon to follow.

I was, and still am, impressed by Gagnon's ability to make each new book as exciting and intense as the last. And her ideas are completely original each time around. I look forward to each new book in the series with major anticipation. And I have no problem telling you that the end of The Gatekeeper is a whopper that's going to keep me on the edge of my seat until the fourth release rolls around!

For more on Michelle Gagnon and her series, check out her website here. I'll be sure to post both Bone Yard and The Gatekeeper (which I'll review for bookbitch.com this week) shortly.