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Every year, Wiscon has a table at the Gathering where they sell ARCs for $1 each, with people limited to buying 10 books. Last year, I noticed that the YA books had been sorted into a separate section, and I picked up 9 of those, pretty much at random. (The tenth book was a m/m fantasy adventure romance by an author whose name I recognized from fanfic. The fanfic was better.) I'd intended to do brief writeups of the books as I read them, but never got around to it.
This year, I did the same thing, but hadn't got around to reading any of them yet, because I had so many ebooks to read on my iPad. But I've finally started with this year's batch.
From Bad to Cursed, by Katie Alender, is the sequel to Bad Girls Don't Die, which is also hopefully listed as the title of the series. The book stands up well without my having read the first book. In the first book, I infer, the main character's younger sister was possessed by a spirit, and the main character prevented her from killing her family. In this book, the main character was possessed by a spirit, and the younger sister prevented the main character from killing her family.
That's not entirely fair, I suppose. The book is actually about a book that houses a spirit called Aralt. Aralt wants girls (and women) to be happy and popular and successful, and helps them to do so. What would be so bad about him wanting something back, when he gives so much? Alexis and Kasey both join the new Sunshine Club and start seeing results almost immediately. Later, Alexis encounters an older woman who mentors her, and is also one of Aralt's girls, and realizes this has been going on for quite a while. Things take a darker turn when the keeper of the book disappears in a pool of blood.
I'd rate it as readable but not particularly recommended. I was kept interested through the entire book, but it's going in the giveaway pile, because I don't plan to reread it.
This year, I did the same thing, but hadn't got around to reading any of them yet, because I had so many ebooks to read on my iPad. But I've finally started with this year's batch.
From Bad to Cursed, by Katie Alender, is the sequel to Bad Girls Don't Die, which is also hopefully listed as the title of the series. The book stands up well without my having read the first book. In the first book, I infer, the main character's younger sister was possessed by a spirit, and the main character prevented her from killing her family. In this book, the main character was possessed by a spirit, and the younger sister prevented the main character from killing her family.
That's not entirely fair, I suppose. The book is actually about a book that houses a spirit called Aralt. Aralt wants girls (and women) to be happy and popular and successful, and helps them to do so. What would be so bad about him wanting something back, when he gives so much? Alexis and Kasey both join the new Sunshine Club and start seeing results almost immediately. Later, Alexis encounters an older woman who mentors her, and is also one of Aralt's girls, and realizes this has been going on for quite a while. Things take a darker turn when the keeper of the book disappears in a pool of blood.
I'd rate it as readable but not particularly recommended. I was kept interested through the entire book, but it's going in the giveaway pile, because I don't plan to reread it.
