Dreaming Darkly

February 1, 2019
After her mother's suicide, 16-year-old Ivy Bloodgood is packed off to the foreboding New England island of Darkhaven, where secrets and skeletons overflow the closets of her new home.Ivy's long-lost uncle Simon is welcoming even if housekeeper Mrs. MacLeod is anything but. After a hand-to-mouth life with her grifter mother, Ivy just wants to graduate and head to California. However, waking up the first night in a rambling, decaying mansion covered in what she hopes is animal blood is horrific, especially when she finds out that someone called Neil Ramsey was killed in the woods. The Bloodgoods and the less upstanding Ramseys--the only two families on the island--have a Hatfield and McCoy thing going on, so fraternizing with the youngest Ramsey, Doyle, is a no-no, which doesn't stop Ivy. Ivy's nightmares get bloodier, and she's afraid she's inherited the mental illness or rumored curse that seems to plague her family, but as she tries to unravel their fraught history, with Doyle's help, she realizes something darker may be at work. Kittredge's (Grim Tidings, 2016, etc.) dread-soaked tale invokes the best of Victorian gothics, and the brash, street-smart, and resilient Ivy ably keeps her wits about her even when the you-know-what hits the fan. All main characters are presumably white.A twisty, haunting, and satisfying contemporary gothic that will enthrall readers. (Thriller. 14-18)

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April 1, 2019

Gr 8 Up-After her mother's suicide, Ivy Bloodgood is sent to live with a strange uncle, whom she previously never knew existed, on a secluded island off the New England coast. Mood is the driving element in this gothic suspense tale as Ivy hears rumors about her family's murderous past and tries to grapple with the mental illness that she is afraid runs in her blood. Readers will struggle along with Ivy as they try to determine what is real and what is in her head after she wakes from a nightmare clutching bloody objects. A long-standing feud between the Bloodgoods and their neighbors also creates a forbidden romance between Ivy and the mysterious boy next door. While some of the secondary characters and school story line are less developed, the tension of Ivy's family story propels this mystery. There are several satisfying twists along the way, and the climax leads to an action-packed showdown. VERDICT This is perfect for teens who want an entertaining dark thriller complete with a complex family curse and illicit love story.-Carrie Shaurette, Dwight-Englewood School, Englewood, NJ

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2019
Grades 9-12 Ivy Bloodgood has spent most of her life living a nomadic existence with her mother?the mother who once, when Ivy was eight, tried to kill her. Now, though, her mother is dead by suicide, and Ivy, with only a year to go before she turns 18, has been sent to live with the rich uncle she's never met before, on an island off the coast of Maine. But Darkhaven isn't just a rich person's paradise; Ivy soon finds herself caught up in an age-old feud between her family and their longtime rivals, the Ramseys. But even as Ivy tentatively gets to know one of the Ramsey boys, she starts having a series of brutal nightmares?nightmares that start to bleed over into the waking world. As more truths about her family's history come to light, Ivy starts to wonder?what exactly has she inherited? This might not transcend genre boundaries, but with its gothic undertones, sinister backdrop, and shifty cast of characters, it has all the pieces to ensnare thriller fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)