After Me by Joyce Scarbrough

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After Me by Joyce Scarbrough
Publisher: Buzz Books USA
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Contemporary, Paranormal
Length: Full Length (290 pages)
Age Recommendation: 16+
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

After she’s murdered by a sexual predator, 18-year-old Jada Gayle must stay among the living until she finds and stops the Internet stalker who killed her. When the Afterlife Admissions Office assigns the now “transdead” Jada to a foster home back among the living, she assumes the identity of a newly-dead homeless teen and is expected to simply fit in as she hunts down her killer.

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While Jada deals with all this unwanted teenaged angst, the man who murdered her is closing in on more foolish girls. Jada thinks she has plenty of time to handle her predicament until the night she gets a terrifying message: I HAVE YOUR FRIEND.

Some deaths leave behind loose ends. Now that Jada’s been given the chance to tidy a few of hers up, will she be able to do it?

Jada’s snide approach to the afterlife is quite funny. What really made me like her, though, was how she responded to everything that happened after she was murdered. Not only did it fit her personality to a tee, it blended in incredibly well with how some people react to the type of trauma that she’s just endured. Her character development was superb, especially considering how subtle it is in the first few chapters of this novel. While I don’t know if the author has any intention of fulfilling my wish, this is the kind of book that is absolutely begging for a sequel. I loved getting to know Jada and would be thrilled to catch up with her again very soon.

People in Jada’s position are given special powers to help them complete their missions. Most of her newfound abilities are things that her new friends and foster family wouldn’t notice under normal circumstances, but there are a few things about her that I would have liked to see explained in more detail due to how easy it would be to accidentally reveal them. The powers themselves make a great deal of sense given the nature of her assignment, but it was occasionally hard to believe that Jada was so good at keeping others from noticing the logical consequences of her having them.

The premise of this tale was so unique that as soon as I noticed it I had to know what happens next. Ms. Scarbrough snagged my attention so thoroughly that I actually stayed up past my bedtime for several nights in a row to power through just one more chapter. What really earned this story such a high rating, though, was how the author acknowledged certain tropes in young adult fiction without succumbing to them. It’s hard to dig more deeply into this topic without bumping up against spoilers, but I was impressed by her consistently creative approach to the plot. This was my first introduction to Ms. Scarbrough work, and I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing what she’ll do next!

After Me is a must-read for adults and teens alike. I, for one, will be rereading it again soon.

Seal Girl by Magda Knight

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Seal Girl by Magda Knight
Publisher: Buzz Books USA
Genre: Contemporary, YA
Length: Short Story (26 pages)
Age Recommendation: 12+
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Orchid

Ondine is the new girl at school, and with her flaming red hair, Irish accent and deformed hands, she’s used to being the odd girl out. She tells herself that she simply doesn’t care. But like the mythical selkies who swim in the cold Atlantic, Ondine swims to championships in high school pools, where she feels free. She chooses to be a free spirit, but when someone close starts to play dirty, it seems she runs out of choices …

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Ondine has moved to a new school and is finding it difficult to fit in. She has type IV syndactyly which fuses her fingers. The other pupils call her Flipper and make fun of her, but her swimming excellence gives her solace as she ploughs her way through the pool each day.

Some of the boys and girls seem friendly but others only pretend to be and then tease her mercilessly. Her swimsuit is unusual, but it belonged to her mother and reminds her of sealskin. When she wears it in the pool she feels like a magic creature of the sea.

Ondine learns some of her fellow pupils are not nasty, although sometimes she misunderstands their actions. She must learn to cope with a world where she is considered a freak.

Although short, this is a story of how a girl copes with being different at school, and being the odd one out in a society where it’s important to fit in. Staying aloof brings unhappiness, but a tentative offer of friendship could end in disaster. As with many new pupils in an already established hierarchy, difficulties spring not only from her difference but also from being new. I was interested to see how Ondine coped with these problems and think the author handled the situation very well.