Okay, this time the original cover looks way better and secretive than its counterpart. Nonetheless, I got curious while reading the blurb and asked the publisher for it. And what a great read it was! Holy smokes. The mixture of paranormal fantasy, thriller, and mystery gave me the chills – but in a good way. If you don´t know the author yet, go and get her books.


Sleep No More*
by Aprilynne Pike
Charlotte Westing Chronicles #1
Publisher Harper Teen on April 29, 2014
Genre Children 13+
Pages 352
Format Hardcover
Source Publisher*
✶✶✶✶✶

Charlotte Westing has a gift. She is an Oracle and has the ability to tell the future. But it doesn´t do her much good. Instead of using their miraculous power, modern-day Oracles are told to fight their visions – to refrain from interfering. And Charlotte knows the price of breaking the rules. She sees it every day in her wheelchair-bound mother and the absence of her father. But when a premonition of a classmate´s death is too strong for her to ignore, Charlotte is forced to make an impossible decision: continue following the rules or risk everything – even her sanity – to stop the serial killer who is stalking her town.
Story
Charlotte has been haunted by visions since early childhood. Nothing bad, if they would not be incredibly painful and most of the time very cruel. One of them gets her as a little girl to break one of the most important rules and thereby kill an innocent person. From then on, her aunt Sierra introduces her to the life of an Oracle – for that is Charlotte. And her aunt demands nothing less than that Charlotte not only gives her best but also outgrows herself. But when a powerful vision simply sweeps away her protection and shows her that a schoolmate will be cruelly murdered, Charlotte begins to doubt the inexorable rules and regulations. 

Style
Aprilynne Pike has a great way to bring a novel to life. Charlotte is an Oracle but she´s forced to deny that. Her aunt taught her as long as she can remember that whenever she feels a vision coming, she needs to block her - because visions are dangerous in many ways. But one day Charlotte isn´t able to do so and has no other choice but to let them unfold. That´s painful and rips her off her feet. She knows it´s totally against the rules, but when she sees that a girl, she knows will be brutally murdered, she decides to let the visions unfold their power and hopes that she can save a life. Her struggle with the following incidents shows the author in a beautifully written and very sensitive way. This captivating thriller is written from Charlotte´s point of view and puts the reader in a world where love is one thing but bringing that love into danger is a completely different story.

Characters
It´s not easy to be an Oracle at all – even when you haven´t discarded the test yet. And certainly not when you get involved with the evil and don´t know it. But Aprilynne Pike uses that to her advantage and created with Charlotte a character who learns from her mistakes and who puts the strong bonds of a family above everything. When she starts to realize what she´d done by dropping her shields, she no longer obeys and starts to work out a plan to bring evil to justice. The way how she begins to understand why her aunt lives the life she lives, why she is the way she is, and what she does to prepare her family to prevent them from harm – all that shows a strength which is just incredible. 


Conclusion
The author uses a great legend in her story and puts that with wonderful words on paper. This paranormal thriller that lays between children and YA fiction is the first one I´ve read from this author, and it was worth every minute I spend with it. 



Happy reading













*I read the German edition by cbj on March 30, 2015. Now, see what I mean with the cover?


Aprilynne Pike
Aprilynne Pike ©Georgina Cranston Gypsy Rae Photography



Aprilynne Pike has been spinning stories since she was a child with a hyperactive imagination. She completed her BA in creative writing at the age of twenty at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho and later joined the same group of writers as Stephenie Meyer. Before her literary debut, she has worked as a waitress, a restaurant manager, a slush-pile reader, an editor, a childbirth educator, and a doula. Aprilynne lives with her husband and their four children in Utah, Arizona. 

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2 comments:

  1. Vi I don't often read the YA genre anymore, but must admit you have me curious. The paranormal fantasy, thriller, and mystery aspects all speak to me

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That book made me a fan of the author. Guess, you will like it. Thanks for visiting my blog, Kimberly.

      Delete

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