Review with Author Interview: By a Charm and a Curse by Jaime Questell

Book info:

Title:  By a Charm and a Curse
Author:  Jaime Questell
Genre:  YA contemporary Fantasy with magical realism
Release Date:  February 6th, 2018
Publisher:  Entangled Teen
Source:  Egalley from publisher
My rating:  4.5 stars

Synopsis:
Le Grand’s Carnival Fantastic isn’t like other traveling circuses. It’s bound by a charm, held together by a centuries-old curse, that protects its members from ever growing older or getting hurt. Emmaline King is drawn to the circus like a moth to a flame…and unwittingly recruited into its folds by a mysterious teen boy whose kiss is as cold as ice.

Forced to travel through Texas as the new Girl in the Box, Emmaline is completely trapped. Breaking the curse seems like her only chance at freedom, but with no curse, there’s no charm, either—dooming everyone who calls the Carnival Fantastic home. Including the boy she’s afraid she’s falling for.

Everything—including his life—could end with just one kiss.

My Review:
Personally, I loved this story.  I'm always a sucker for a good story that takes place in a carnival or circus.  This one hit all the points that I love about stories like this.  The characters were really great, I felt so much for Emma, and couldn't help but like Ben so much.  When I picked this one up, I hated whenever I had to put it down.  I mostly read during lunch breaks at school, so it made going back to work really hard.  I got swept into the mythology behind the curse and the charm.  I liked how there were people you would assume would be a problem with trying to break the curse, but they surprised you.  I loved how Sidney even became someone you empathized with, and wanted to see him get his true love finally.  And then there was all the horrible things those with the curse had to endure. The initial breaking to start the curse, followed by the coldness and twitching.  Not being able to feel anything.  Then the guilt of having to either do the same terrible thing to another innocent person in order to save yourself, or else having to be stuck with the curse yourself, not being able to go back to your own family.  Also the curse was related to the rest of the carnies "charm" and how much they were able to do as part of their amazing acts.  

I loved the connection to New Orleans.  And the story behind the curse was so good.  Solving the curse was a very heart-breaking solution, and it was easy to understand why Emma didn't want to do it the way it had to be done.  A great story, a book I will definitely be purchasing for my school library!

Now, my only issues.  First, the aerial family members that were the "bad guys" in the story.  I almost feel like I needed a little more reason for what they did.  For how evil they got at the end.  I didn't quite understand what their solution was with Ben and Emma.  My other thought is one I had about teens today.  I wonder, do teens today really know or get what a carnival or traveling circus show is?  I mean, Barnum and Baileys are going out of business, right?  So what circuses are there anymore?  And even as I was growing up, there weren't really the carnivals like this story is about.  The reason I began thinking about this, is that another of my favorite stories,  Girl on a Wire by Gwenda Bond, is about a circus, and I can barely get students to even look at it.  I guess I just wonder if carnivals or circuses mean the same to teens today as they did when I was growing up.  

Author Interview:

1.  What does your writing process look like? Do you know the whole story when you start?  Or do you just start writing and go with it (seat of the pants writing)?  If you plan it out, how do you do that?  Outline, notecards, post-it-notes, etc.? 

 I love outlining. Outlining helps me feel like I’m writing with purpose. Early in the process, I’ll do a super vague outline of plot points that  I know need to happen. And later in the process, when I’m stuck, I’ll do a micro outline, something meatier than an outline but without the emotion, metaphors, and dialogue that make it a real scene. That said, while I don’t always know exactly how thing will end when I start a draft, I do know the feeling I want to leave the reader with, which I think helps. So I usually know my beginning (though sometimes it takes fine-tuning to find the actual beginning), I know the ending note, and my billion outlines help me figure out the steps between.

2.  How do you come up with your ideas for your stories? 

 Music, as hokey as it might sound, is incredibly inspiring for me. CHARM was inspired by a song (Coin-Operated Boy by the Dresden Dolls), and I always make up a playlist for whatever I’m working on. Though I will say, I listened to my playlist for CHARM so much that now I skip those songs when they randomly pop up on my phone.

3.  How long have you been writing?  

Not quite ten years. I wrote a YA (that is SO bad I cannot even begin to explain it depths of its clichéd cheesiness) for fun and my best friend convinced me to join her critique group. After that, it became something I needed to do.

4.  What tips do you have for aspiring writers?  

I think that persistence and resilience is so important. My writing group critiqued that terrible YA within an inch of its life until I made it something better. And then I queried it and received over two hundred rejections. Then I wrote CHARM and got my fabulous agent, and after we polished that manuscript we sent it out and receved even more rejections. But it’s so important to not take those rejections personally or to let them discourage you. There’s almost always something to learn from a rejection, but you can’t let them drag you down.

5.  What are your favorite:

Books/authors/genres Too many! I love speculative fiction, fantasy, and thrillers. Right now my favorite authors are Leigh Bardugo (everything, just put it all in my grabby hands), Lisa Maxwell (The Last Magician is stunning), Nic Stone (Dear Martin wrecked me!), M.R. Carey (The Girl with All the Gifts, obviously, but Fellside was fab, too), Kelley Armstrong (her Casey Duncan series is awesome!), and Julie C. Dao (I will follow her to the ends of the earth after Forest of a Thousand Lanterns).

Movies/TV Shows How to Get Away with Murder is like a wacky, murdery rollercoaster that I never want to end and I have to watch Fresh Off the Boat, Black-ish, and Bob’s Burgers every week. I basically love almost all the Marvel films, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier is amazeballs. And I am a sucker for cooking competition shows like Top Chef, Chopped, and Cutthroat Kitchen.

Music I’m a little all over the place with my music, but one thing that it all has in common is that it has to be upbeat. My BFF jokes that I listen to all the upbeat stuff and she listens to all the quieter, sad stuff, and our tastes in music are each other’s kryptonite. My current faves are DNCE, Bruno Mars, Beth Ditto, Andra Day, and New Politics.

Food/Writing snack Sushi if I can get it, or if I’m limited to stuff that’s in the house, something that’s salty and sweet. I think I drive my family nuts with that combo, because I’m the only one who likes it and they’ll pick up some candy I bought and wind up disgusted with it. But hey, it’s a great way to keep my snacks safe!

About the Author:

JAIME QUESTELL grew up in Houston, Texas, where she escaped the heat and humidity by diving into stacks of Baby Sitter’s Club and Sweet Valley High books. She has been a book seller (fair warning: book lovers who become book sellers will give half their paychecks right back to their employers), a professional knitter, a semi-professional baker, and now works as a graphic designer in addition to writing. Currently, she lives in the suburbs with her family, one derpy dog, and one imperious cat. If she had her way, she’d have an army of corgis, like the Queen of England.  (From Goodreads)

 

Website:  http://jaimequestell.com 

 

Okay, I don't always come back and make anymore to my post at this point, but I have to point out how much I love what she says in her bio about how book lovers who become book sellers giving half their paychecks right back to their employers.  Yeah, that describes me at my bookstore job.  I pretty much work there so I can buy books, even though I really should be working there to pay off bills.  

 

  
 

Can't Wait Wednesday #12: Strange Alchemy by Gwenda Bond

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.  This week I've picked something a little different.  This is actually a book that I read several years ago.  It is the book that introduced me to one of my favorite authors, Gwenda Bond.  But shortly after it was published, it soon became almost impossible to find a copy of it. Well it seems the author has found a new publisher, and they're bringing it back under a new title, and I hear a few changes to it.  I'm excited to have another chance to read this story that I so enjoyed, and am eager to see what changes the author has included.  The original title was Blackwood, and it had to do with the whole Roanoke tale, one that has been given the spotlight again after the last season of American Horror Story used it as its setting.  You can read my original review HERE, and see what the original cover looked like.  Here is the new, improved blurb and cover from Goodreads:

Gwenda Bond's first book Blackwood has been reimagined and brought back to life with new vision.  On Roanoke Island, the legend of the Lost Colony - and the 114 colonists who vannished without a trace more than four hundred years ago - still haunts the town.  But that's just a story told for the tourists.

When 114 people suddenly disappear from the island in present day, it seems history is repeating itself - and an unlikely pair of seventeen-year-olds might be the only hope of bringing the missing back.  Miranda Blackwood, a member of one of the island's most infamous families, and Phillip Rawling, the sheriff's son, who has demons and secrets of his own, find themselves at the center of the mystery.  

As the unlikely pair works to uncover the secrets of the new Lost Colony, they must dodge everyone from authorities to long-dead alchemists as they race against time to save their family and friends before they too are gone for good.

So, did you read this back when it was called Blackwood?  Have you read any books by this author?  Does this sound like something you'd like to read?  What book or books are you eagerly awaiting this week?

Blog Tour - Review and Giveaway: Girl in the Shadows (Girl on a Wire #2) by Gwenda Bond

Girl in the Shadows
Gwenda Bond
(Girl on a Wire #2)
Published by: Skyscape
Publication date: July 5th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Eighteen-year-old Moira Mitchell grew up in the shadows of Vegas’s stage lights while her father’s career as a magician soared. More than anything, Moira wants to be a magician too, but her father is dead set against her pursuing magic.
When an invitation to join the Cirque American mistakenly falls into Moira’s possession, she takes action. Instead of giving the highly coveted invitation to its intended recipient, Raleigh, her father’s handsome and worldly former apprentice, Moira takes off to join the Cirque. If she can perform alongside its world-famous acts, she knows she’ll be able to convince her dad that magic is her future.
But when Moira arrives, things take on an intensity she can’t control as her stage magic suddenly feels like…real magic. To further distract her, Raleigh shows up none too pleased at Moira’s presence, all while the Cirque’s cocky and intriguing knife thrower, Dez, seems to have it out for her. As tensions mount and Moira’s abilities come into question, she must decide what’s real and what’s an illusion. If she doesn’t sort it out in time, she may forever remain a girl in the shadows.

Goodreads / Amazon

My Review:
I am so glad to get to be a part of this tour.  I have been a huge fan of Gwenda Bond since the first book of hers that I read, Blackwood.  And when I read the first book in her circus series, Girl on a Wire, I couldn't wait to get back to this world.  I don't know if there will be any more books in this series, but I can only say that I really hope so.  I love all the characters, both from the first book, who we get to see again in this book, as well as the new ones we follow in this one.  Now, you don't have to read the first one in order to read this one, but having read it, you will be really excited to see where those characters have gone on in this world.

What's great about this book is that the main character, Moira, is into magic, a part that you don't normally see women big in. But having been raised by a single father who is a magician, it is all she has known, and she has fallen in love with it.  When she runs off to try out for the circus with a stolen invitation, she tells her father she is checking out colleges.  Once at the circus, something strange happens.  Her magic tricks/sleights of hand, don't quite seem to go the way she wants them to. But as she was doing them, there was a strange heat/power that she felt in her hands.  And all of a sudden it seems that there might be actual magic, as the deck of cards have changed.  As she talked about them being a rainbow, or saw them as a rainbow in her mind, the backs of the cards change to rainbows.  One of the members of the circus, Nan Maroni, notices that there is actual magic.  And she speaks up for Moira, and then pulls her aside and fills her in on what Moira was never aware of before.  

So we get real magic, the coin is back from the last book in a new way.  I loved getting to spend time with Remy and Jules again.  And I kinda liked Dez, the love interest for Moira, even though there were times you weren't sure whether to trust him.  And his friend Brandon, man, I'd like to smack him.  Moira will also find out that she  needs to find her mother, it's the only way she can figure out what is going on with these magic powers she's developing.  But it will turn out that her mother may not be quite who she thought she was, and it may have been a good thing that her mother left.

Another great story, great characters, and some incredible magic tricks.  Especially the big one at the very end!  All I can say is if the author just happens to read my review, please, please, please give me more of this world!  Give Dita her own story maybe!  Or maybe Brandon could get a story so that I can like him a little better.  Oh yeah, and I love that the author had them stop in Kansas City for one of the stops.  If only a real circus like this would come here, I'd be there for sure!

Author Bio:
Gwenda Bond is the author of the young adult novels Lois Lane: Fallout and Girl on a Wire, among others. Lois Lane: Double Down and Girl in the Shadows, a companion novel to Girl on a Wire set in the Cirque American, are next up in 2016. She’s also hard at work on some secret projects you don’t know about yet.
Her nonfiction writing has appeared in Publishers Weekly, Locus Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. She has an MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in a hundred-year-old house in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband, author Christopher Rowe. There are rumors she escaped from a screwball comedy, and she might have a journalism degree because of her childhood love of Lois Lane. Visit her online at www.gwendabond.com or @gwenda on Twitter.

Website / Goodreads / Twitter

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Waiting on Wednesday: Girl in the Shadows (Girl on a Wire #2) by Gwenda Bond

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  This week I've picked a book that is by a favorite author of mine. An author that I think deserves some extra love as she doesn't seem to be as well-known as I think she should be, because I just love her writing.  The first book in this series, which I was so glad to see there was going to be more, was called Girl on a Wire, and I really loved the characters and can't wait for more of the world, and hopefully some more of those characters along with these new ones.  Here's the blurb for this new book from Goodreads:

Eighteen-year-old Moira Mitchell grew up in the shadows of Vegas’s stage lights while her father’s career as a magician soared. More than anything, Moira wants to be a magician too, but her father is dead set against her pursuing magic.

When an invitation to join the Cirque American mistakenly falls into Moira’s possession, she takes action. Instead of giving the highly coveted invitation to its intended recipient, Raleigh, her father’s handsome and worldly former apprentice, Moira takes off to join the Cirque. If she can perform alongside its world-famous acts, she knows she’ll be able to convince her dad that magic is her future.

But when Moira arrives, things take on an intensity she can’t control as her stage magic suddenly feels like…real magic. To further distract her, Raleigh shows up none too pleased at Moira’s presence, all while the Cirque’s cocky and intriguing knife thrower, Dez, seems to have it out for her. As tensions mount and Moira’s abilities come into question, she must decide what’s real and what’s an illusion. If she doesn’t sort it out in time, she may forever remain a girl in the shadows.

I loved reading about the world of the circus.  Especially as when I was a kid and went to the circus I always used to dream about being a trapeze artist.  Coming from a family that had spent their whole life as part of the circus.  So that's what I'm excited about this week. What book are you eagerly awaiting? 

Review: Lois Lane: Cloudy with a Chance of Destruction by Gwenda Bond

This was a VERY short novella to go with the book about Lois Lane by Gwenda Bond that comes out this month.  I was very excited to see this on Netgalley and immediately downloaded it thanks to Capstone Publishing.  Of course then I was disappointed to find it was just a short story.  It is still a good one, one that makes me very eager to read the book.

It's about Lois Lane as a teen, she's just moved with  her father who is in the military.  She's used to being new and not having a lot of friends right away.  But in Chemistry class she is at a table right near a couple that is bickering. And in order to get his girlfriend back, the boy brings a box from his dad who is a scientist at the nuclear facility.  A box that turns out to be something that could be the solution to cold fusion.  And he sets it off in class.  So Lois has to figure out a way to stop it and save the class, and the school.

It's short, sweet, and to the point.  She is talking to SmallvilleGuy online as a friend.  Doesn't know who he is, even though she talks to him and asks him every day.  They met through an online board that was about unexplained happenings like UFOs, or similar.

Very excited to read the full length book, Lois Lane:  Fallout.  I have loved this authors other stories, so am really even more eager after this teaser.

Waiting on Wednesday - Lois Lane: Fallout by Gwenda Bond

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  This is a first in a new series by an author that I enjoyed the one book of hers that I've read so far, Blackwood.  I think it will be interesting to see the Superman story done in a different way, from the viewpoint of Lois Lane.  Now I'm sure there are probably comic books out there that have already done this, but I'm excited for this book.  Here's the blurb from Goodreads.com:

Lois Lane is starting a new life in Metropolis. An Army brat, Lois has lived all over—and seen all kinds of things. (Some of them defy explanation, like the near-disaster she witnessed in Kansas in the middle of one night.) But now her family is putting down roots in the big city, and Lois is determined to fit in. Stay quiet. Fly straight. As soon as she steps into her new high school, though, she can see it won’t be that easy. A group known as the Warheads is making life miserable for another girl at school. They’re messing with her mind, somehow, via the high-tech immersive videogame they all play. Not cool. Armed with her wit and her new snazzy job as a reporter, Lois has her sights set on solving this mystery. But sometimes it’s all a bit much. Thank goodness for her maybe-more-than-a friend, a guy she knows only by his screenname, SmallvilleGuy.


So that's what I'm waiting on this week.  How about you?

Review: Girl on a Wire by Gwenda Bond

First, thanks to Amazon Children's Publishing and Netgalley for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  The book actually was published at the beginning of October, but I did get an e-galley of it right after that I believe.  I was very interested in it for several reasons. First, I really enjoyed the other book that I had read by this author, Blackwood.  Second, there was a time when I was younger that I really wanted to be trapeze artist, so a story about a girl who was a high wire walker in a circus was definitely interesting sounding.  And of course, with American Horror Story being set in a kind of circus/freak show this season, it has really been something that is on my mind lately.  And can I say, that I enjoyed this book a lot!!  It was a really great story I thought.

The main character is Jules.  She is 16 years old and her family has always been a part of a circus, but kind of in a small setting on their own.  She and her father are wire walkers, while her mother does tricks with horses.  The reason they have worked on smaller shows is because of an old feud between their family and the Flying Garcias.  This feud dates back to the time when Jules' grandmother, who she calls Nan, was a circus performer in the same show as the Garcias.  There is a new "big" show called the Cirque American that has asked her family to join.  But because the Garcias are a big part of the show, her father tells the man in charge, Thurston, no.  Jules decides that's ridiculous, and she wants to be a part of something bigger than the show that they will probably not be able to keep going much longer.  And so she sets up an ultimatum by running away and demanding her father make a deal and take their family to the circus. 

When they get there, they get a cold reception from all the other performers.  You see, Jules' grandmother was blamed for several accidents that happened back then, to the point where she was chased out of the show.  Upon arriving, Jules goes exploring, and wanders into a tent where she sees a cute boy practicing on the trapeze.  And then she realizes that this boy is one of the Garcias, so she leaves quickly.  At the big welcome party the owner throws from them, this boy is the first to ask Jules to dance.  And she finds that he may not be as bad as the rest.  That he may be willing to give her and her family a chance.  His sister also seems to be intrigued by Jules' cousin Sam.  But it is their brother Novio that picks a fight with Sam that first night.  And when they get home after the fight, it seems their trailer has been ransacked.  Soon other things keep happening, symbols of bad luck appear as Jules is doing her act, almost causing accidents.  Remy, the first Garcia she met, has found a board, what would be called a murder board on a detective show.  And on it there are pictures of the items that seem to be showing up causing the bad luck.  And there are lots of clues. 

I won't say who, but one character that you will love will have a disaster happen during one of their acts because of these bad luck tokens.  And now Jules and Remy really must figure out who is behind this before anyone else gets hurt.  But they must also figure out if there can truly be feelings between them when they come from families with such bad blood between them.  They are basically a Romeo and Juliet story, down to their names even.

I loved this story. I feel like the love wasn't insta-love, but there was the instant attraction, and that's okay.  I think the relationships between the people in the story were portrayed pretty realistically.  I love all the stuff about the circus that was in the story.  And the disaster I mentioned?  Well, if I hadn't been at work on break when I read that part, I would have been in tears.  Instead I had to hold them in and go back to work, still wondering who was behind the sabotage, and how in the world Remy and Jules would solve the mystery.  Not to mention, what magic might her grandmother have.  And was it really all Nan's fault what happened in the past, with Remy's grandfather.

Another great story from Gwenda Bond.  Now I must get ahold of The Woken Gods soon, because I'm sure I'll love it as well.  Also she has another book coming out next year that will be one of my WOW posts coming up in the next few weeks.

The Friday 56 #12

I am not having much reading time, and so I'm only about halfway through my current read, and then I'll have to start another one tomorrow for a tour post on Monday.  So, once again this week I'm going to participate in Friday 56, sponsored by Freda's Voice.  Here are the rules:

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

Here is my post for the week:

 

 "I've never seen her like that.  It was scary, Jules," he said. "She told us we had to throw the trunk in the water, and when we told her we couldn't do that, she sent me to go get lighter fluid from the supply trailer.  We carried that thing way back behind a bunch of Dumpsters.  Where she made us torch it.  The smell of the leather...it was awful.  And she was chanting something weird under her breath.  I guess in Italian.  Or Latin maybe."  He shivered in the fan's breeze."

You can probably tell there is a bit of superstition in this book about the circus.  And something bad had to be destroyed because of it.

Stacking the Shelves - August 11th, 2013

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected. Another slow week, but again, needed as I have a ton of books on my TBR piles to read already!  I did actually buy one book, but it was not for me, so that doesn't count, right?

Books won:

I was lucky enough to win the book Joshua's Folly by Taylor Dean sponsored on the Lazy Days of Summer Giveaway Hop at Christy's Cozy Corners.  Along with the book, I got the cool bookbag and two packets of hot chocolate.

Books purchased:  

I only bought one book, but I'm showing you both sides, because the picture on the back is the reason I bought it in the first place.  You can see the big red dot on the front, that is one of the clearance stickers from Barnes and Noble, meaning it went to 50% off, then 75% off, and when I finally bought it, it was $2.00.  I got it for my step-mom, because I'm going to ask her to make the little wiener dog that you see on the back cover.  

Books from Netgalley:

The first book, The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond, is one I'm interested in because I am fascinated with Egyptian mythology, as well as I enjoyed another book by that same author.  The second book, The Troop by Nick Cutter, was advertised in an email from Netgalley in a way that made it sound really interesting, so while it is not one I might have normally requested, I did to give it a try.  It's advertised as Lord of the Flies meets The Ruins, two of my favorite books!

That's my haul this week.  And actually, as I started doing this post, I realized I had more than the 2 books I originally thought was all I'd be able to talk about.  So tell me what books you added to your TBR shelves this week.

Blackwood by Gwenda Bond

First I have to thank both Netgalley and Angry Robot publisher for allowing me to read this e-galley in June.  I was intrigued right from the description because the story is based on the mystery of Roanoke.  Something that has always fascinated me.  There have been many theories over time, of course first is that they all died, but then where were the remains, or any people left to tell what happened?  The Native Americans there should be able to tell something, but nothing was ever learned.  Then the word Croatoan carved into a tree there.  This is a topic that has been explored on many of my favorite tv shows, including the X-Files, and Supernatural.  And this book has a new, unique take on the whole thing.
The main character is Miranda, and she is the town "freak".  All her life her family has been treated as if they are the causes of anything bad that goes wrong.  She is a Blackwood, the only possible survivor of the original colony was an ancestor of hers.  Or so she learns later from the crazy scientist on the island that she calls Dr. Roswell, after the tv series, and his crazy theories about what happened.  She works on the town's big summer play about the whole disappearance and what is known about that original colony.  At the beginning of the story we are with Miranda watching the play's performance, and all of a sudden she sees a giant ghost ship flying above the area, and she thinks it will crash into the stage!  But no one else notices it, and she disrupts the play, embarrassing herself.  When she goes home that night, she thinks it is following her, in fact all the dogs begin to act funny as well.  That night, her father goes out, but never comes back home.  And he's not the only one, 114 people have disappeared.  The exact number of the original settlers that disappeared.
Our 2nd main character is Phillips, a boy Miranda's age who was sent away for causing trouble, and even accused Miranda of what her family had always been blamed for, and he did it in a humiliating way.  Yet, he has his own issues.  He can hear the voices of the dead.  And he sees this story, and has this feeling he must get back to help Miranda.  Even though by going away he has stopped the voices in his head.  When he was on the island, before he got sent away, Dr. Roswell had been his therapist, so he looks to him for help, using what Miranda has seen to try to help.  Not too long after, the missing return, except Miranda's father who has been murdered.  Miranda and Phillips must figure out what is going on, the returned people seem different.  Miranda is soon accused of helping to kill her father.  They must fight an evil force to get back their family, and friends, and save the island and themselves.
I have to say the theory behind this story is a new one, and a very interesting idea!  I liked it a lot.  The whole story got very intricate and detailed, there was a bit of confusion for me, but it wasn't enough to keep the story from making sense, and me enjoying it.  I'll let you read and see if it is confusing for you at all.  A great stand alone story for teens for a change.