The Freedom Maze, by Delia Sherman

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Set against the burgeoning Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and then just before the outbreak of the Civil War, The Freedom Maze explores both political and personal liberation, and how the two intertwine.

In 1960, thirteen-year-old Sophie isn’t happy about spending the summer at her grandmother’s old house in the Bayou. But the house has a maze Sophie can’t resist exploring once she finds it has a secretive and mischievous inhabitant.

When Sophie, bored and lonely, makes an impulsive wish, she slips back one hundred years into the past, to the year 1860. She hopes for a fantasy book adventure with herself as the heroine. Instead, she gets a real adventure in the race-haunted world of her family’s Louisiana sugar plantation in 1860, where she is mistaken for a slave.  

President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation is still two years in the future. The Thirteen Amendment—abolishing and prohibiting slavery—will not be not passed until April 1864.

Muddy and bedraggled, Sophie obviously isn’t a young lady of good breeding. She must therefore be a slave. And she is.




This book feels a lot like Kindred for the Young Adult crowd: time travel; modern girl/woman turned slave; and two historical fiction books in one.

And it's SO good!

I've been trying to get my mother to read Kindred for over a year, but she has no interest in reading sad stories anymore, so she's sticking to Romance.  I think I could get her to read this one, though.  It's not as graphic as Octavia E. Butler's writing, and there's more of a happy ending.

There are definitely some creepy moments; you can't take a subject like slavery and make it all rainbows and unicorns.

This is the first book I've read by Delia Sherman; I will be sure to read more.

Seraphina (Seraphina #1), by Rachel Hartman

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Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina's tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they've turned the final page.




This was almost—ALMOST!—a five-star book.  I was quite displeased with the love triangle and felt that the end "revelation" was a cop-out.  

That being said, I do love this book!  Hartman has created a fantastical world full of dragons and humans.  The descriptions are captivating and I was drawn in to the story from the very beginning.  Seraphina is a strong heroine who will appeal to geeky teenagers.  It's always nice to find kick-ass women in fantasy and science fiction novels who wear more than skimpy lingerie.

I can't wait to read the next book in the series.  I just hate that I have to wait until next year!

(Blog Tour: Excerpt) Instinct, by Mattie Dunman

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To tell the truth...it doesn’t really matter if you lie.

It’s impossible to lie to Derry MacKenna. For as long as she can remember, Derry has been plagued by the extraordinary ability to hear, see, and feel the truth. But when Derry and her erratic, self-centered mother move to historic Harpers Ferry, she discovers she is not the only one with hidden talents.

As the newest reporter on the school newspaper, Derry learns of a high school student’s unexpected suicide and recognizes that the truth behind her death may still be hidden. When tragedy strikes, Derry is drawn into a deadly battle of wits with the only person whom her abilities don’t affect.

Driven by guilt and an obsession with bringing the killer to justice, Derry finds herself in danger from a vindictive murderer, a sadistic deviant who preys on the weak, and trapped in the middle of a treacherous triangle of attraction between two brothers whose abilities rival her own. Derry must trust her instincts to guide her to the truth and bring her enemies to justice even as she fights for her own survival.

INSTINCT focuses on a gifted, intelligent, and loyal heroine who must contend not only with the inherent dangers of high school bullying and backstabbing, but with loss, grief, and guilt. Against issues of sexual abuse, teenage suicide, and destructive relationships, the heroine learns to cherish the strength of real friendship, understand accountability, and experiences the healing touch of first love.



Oooh!  Intriguing!  And I like the fact that it's set in Harper's Ferry.  It's always nice to read about a location that you've seen before; it's much easier to imagine the surroundings.  Read below for an excerpt of Instinct.


    The sign over the doors reads “John Brown High School.” I don’t see anything else because there isn’t any truth to conceal. The building is exactly what is advertised, and my nerves calm their ragged dance slightly at this reassurance. Taking a deep breath, I put my hand out and get ready to open the door. 

    It swings open, nearly swatting me in the face, and I stagger back, almost tumbling down the stairs I just climbed. An angry looking boy in a black wool pea-coat and dark jeans stalks past me, not even glancing my way or noticing the way I’m cradling my arm where the door struck it. I consider saying something, but the hard set of his shoulders prevents me from forming words. I swallow my irritation and rub my forearm until the stinging passes. The boy runs down the stairs and halts before he crosses into the street. He glances around as though searching for something and then slowly pivots and locks his gaze on me.

    My chest constricts and I can’t breathe. An invisible hand is gripping my throat and deliberately tightening until my head is no longer connected to the rest of my body. The inside of my mind burns like molten lava being poured in my brain and my legs and hands start to shake uncontrollably until I almost cannot remain standing.

    Just as suddenly it stops and the vise on my neck is released. My mind clears with no residue of pain, as though the past few seconds never happened. I see the boy widen his eyes in surprise before he jerks abruptly and turns his back to me, crossing the pick-up lane and turning the corner, out of my sight. I am left breathless and stiff with terror.

    I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but I can’t help feeling that somehow that boy just nearly killed me with a look.

The Spindlers, by Lauren Oliver

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Evocative of Alice in Wonderland, this novel from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver is a bewitching story about the reaches of loyalty and the enduring power of hope.

Looking across the breakfast table one morning, twelve-year-old Liza feels dread wash over her. Although her younger brother, Patrick, appears the same, Liza knows that he is actually quite different. She is certain that the spindlers—evil, spiderlike beings—came during the night and stole his soul. And Liza is also certain that she is the only one who can rescue him.

Armed with little more than her wits and a huge talking rat for a guide, Liza descends into the dark and ominous underground to save Patrick's soul. Her quest is far from easy: she must brave tree-snakes, the Court of Stones, and shape-shifting scawgs before facing her greatest challenge in the spindlers' lair, where more than just Patrick's soul is at stake.




Are you a fan of Labyrinth?  What about Harry Potter or Percy Jackson?  If you are, I have no doubt that you will like this book, too.

Lauren Oliver did a fantastic job of creating this underground world and populating it with new life forms and memorable characters.  I almost can't believe that this is the same author who wrote Before I Fall (young adult contemporary, which I also loved), since it's such a different genre.  Color me impressed!

I highly recommend this book for middle grade students and their parents.