SYNOPSIS:
THE SUMMONING: There is a right way and a wrong way to summon her. Jess had done the research. Success requires precision: a dark room, a mirror, a candle, salt, and four teenage girls. Each of them-Jess, Shauna, Kitty, and Anna-must link hands, follow the rules . . . and never let go. A thrilling fear spins around the room the first time Jess calls her name: "Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. BLOODY MARY." A ripple of terror follows when a shadowy silhouette emerges through the fog, a specter trapped behind the mirror. Once is not enough, though-at least not for Jess. Mary is called again. And again. But when their summoning circle is broken, Bloody Mary slips through the glass with a taste for revenge on her lips. As the girls struggle to escape Mary's wrath, loyalties are questioned, friendships are torn apart, and lives are forever altered. A haunting trail of clues leads Shauna on a desperate search to uncover the legacy of Mary Worth. What she finds will change everything, but will it be enough to stop Mary-and Jess-before it's too late? UNLEASHED: Mary in the mirror. Mary in the glass. Mary in the water. Mary lurks in the emptiness, in the darkness . . . in the reflection. That is, until Jess unleashes her into the world. Now Mary Worth is out, and her haunting is deadlier than ever. No one is safe. Shauna, Kitty, and Jess must band together to unearth the truth about Mary's death, to put her soul to rest for good. Their search leads them back to where it all began-Solomon's Folly, a place as dangerous as the ghost who died there a century and a half ago. Quicksand, hidden traps, and a phantom fog are the least of their worries. To stop Mary, they need to follow a dark string of clues and piece together a gruesome mystery that spans generations. But time is running out. As chilling facts come to light, Mary inches ever closer to her prey. Can Jess, Shauna, and Kitty break Mary's curse before it's too late? Or will history repeat itself until there is no one left to call her name . . . ? I grabbed this set immediately after reading one of Monahan's stories in the collection Hex Life, and it was a great decision. I love urban legends, and this was a fun take on Bloody Mary. The characters are realistic, sometimes heartbreakingly so, and I loved the humor. Quotes/Lines (spoilers below!) THE SUMMONING: -- I love the intro about Mary Jane in the school bathroom. Folklore <3 -- 'I would be content so long as my ardent gentleman gifted me with flower and had the good sense to leave immediately afterwards.' Mood. -- "While Ms. Worth has a pleasing disposition, I cannot say the same for her youngest daughter." Yeah, God forbid she give you a look for staring at her mom. In church. Where you are the pastor. -- 'I loathe the privilege money affords some people. I rest well knowin gthat you will never struggle, but if you become an inflated harpy like Elizabeth, I will strangle you in your sleep, Constance.' I love this grumpy sassball. -- 'I love you and miss you. Mary' Oh. Ohhhhh nooooooo -- 'She'd always had a talent for being the biggest ass in the room. I loved her, but that love came with a great responsibility, like whacking Jess whenever she got out of line.' <3 -- I love that this starts with Bloody Mary appearing, rather than building up to it through several failed attempts. -- "There is no way that should have worked. How? How did it work?" Kitty nodded her agreement from inside the tub.' Kitty = me. -- "But it did happen," Jess said gleefully. Um, Jess, honey, you might want to read the room. -- "One more time. What can it hurt?" NO. BAD PLAN. -- "Fine! But if something happens to me, I'm going to come back and haunt you. I will haunt you while you pee.' The cackle I let out -- "Not 'whatever'. It wasn't so long ago that you were throwing tantrums, and you'd better believe we didn't treat you like you just treated your brother. Check the attitude." Well-played. -- "Your friend still has better table manners than you, Jessica." That, however, was unnecessary. -- "Want some waffles? They're frozen, but I'm a little short on time." "You worked a double yesterday. I can get them myself," I said. "You're still my kid. Let me pretend I'm good at this parenting thing." I love them. -- "It's been three weeks. Three weeks!" Jess got up from her seat to sit down across from Kitty. "We love you--I love you--but this has got to give." This entire conversation should be happening in private. I'm glad the boys left before she got too far into it, but this isn't Concerned Friend behavior; this is someone who's after drama. -- "I'm not so sure I want to do this again. I don't want to be afraid of my bathroom forever," Anna said. "Do you want to be the one to tell Jess that?" I think we all had that friend whose force of personality and hair-trigger temper just made it easier to go along rather than turn what should be a simple 'no thanks' into a huge fight. Monahan writes Jess so well-- she's charismatic and can be sweet and charming, but man. Manipulative friend flashbacks ahoy. -- Jess, she isn't a zoo exhibit. -- "Talk to us, Mary. Tell us your story." She's coming out of the mirror and you're looking for an interview?? Ladies, throw Jess to the ghost and go. -- Poor Mary. She's dead and trapped, and now she has this asshole taunting her. -- 'They were coming to help, and had I not been so terrified, I'd have appreciated exactly how brave that was.' I love Anna and Kitty. -- She's using bath salts to fight Bloody Mary; I love this kid. -- Jess you ASSHAT -- "Today was a real bi-- bear." I love Shauna's mom. -- Seeing Mary's face in her dinner plate, YIKES. (seriously, so many reflective surfaces you don't necessarily think about) -- I'm really glad Bronx can see her, too-- I know that stories like this come with a dose of 'nobody will believe me!' but it kinda makes me uncomfortable when everybody thinks the protag is seeing things or lying. -- 'Then I saw the locks on teh lockers. The shiny locks.' GAH -- Ughhhhhh this pastor needs thwacked with a mallet. -- So does Elizabeth. -- 'She (Jess) screwed up a lot, but she always made good on it later. Maybe she would make good on this, too. Maybe she would help me survive the ghost.' I think you're giving her waaaay too much credit, but for your sake I hope you're right. -- 'Cody said to keep salt on hand at all times and, unlike Jess, I tended to listen to the people who were trying to keep me alive.' OHHHHH -- "But you keep saying you're sorry, but you've never actually apologized to us. And that matters. This is scary stuff. ... Either apologize to us, instead of at us, or I'll figure out this stuff at my place." Shauna. I love. -- "I was thinking we could get someone to take the tag for you. Someone who deserves it, though, so we don't feel bad." JESS. NO. *fetches rolled-up newspaper* -- The damaged church looking like 'a hulking wood tick feeding from the ground' is a great description. -- "I'm not sure I can make the Jess friendship work. I know she apologized, but each time she reveals something she knew, each time something bad happens with Mary, I can't deal with it." Aww, Anna. I think it's a good call. -- Kitty with the epic amount of the salt in a leather purse is wonderful. -- "I'm not letting you ditch me. Us. We got into this together, we're getting out of it together." That's about the first thing Jess has said that I agree with. -- 'Jess wrapped her bat with the tape strip, the salt facing out.' Niiiiice -- 'Working to get u unhaunted and ur ignoring me. Don't b a bitch.' I'm gonna go into this book Bloody Mary style and slap Jess myself. -- 'She could have chided me because I hadn't forced Anna out of my life like she'd told me to do twice already, but she didn't. There was nothing except sympathy in her face.' I really like Cody, and hope she lives to be in the sequel. And lives through the sequel. -- 'There was a crack at the corner of her lip where the pustules had been the last time I saw her. They'd erupted, and now her smile extended up too far, into her cheek like someone had taken a razor to the edge of her mouth.' GYAHHHHHHH -- "I've got this under control." Bullllllshiiiiiit -- "If Mary cuts her, she gets her scent. It'll buy you time. We can save Kitty later." omfg shove this asshole into the mirror world please -- 'Sugar instead of salt. ... For a second, I almost let Bloody Mary have Jess for all the pain and hurt Jess had caused, but I couldn't be that person. I couldn't be Jess.' You're better than I'd probably be in that moment. -- "Go home, Jess." "But, Kitty--" "Leave. Please." Good job standing up for yourself! -- "Or the next group of girls who don't know what they're getting into." Yeah, Jess'll definitely pass on the target on her back without a qualm. -- ...I am so glad I have the sequel right here UNLEASHED: -- 'I hope this letter finds you miserable (blissfully happy) and that Joseph snores in his sleep.' Aw, Mary. I hope she finds some peace by the end of this book and her spirit gets to rest, because she never chose this. Also, that pastor needs a one-way ticket to hell, and I want Mary's spirit to be able to confront his. -- 'She (Jess) refused to fade into obscurity. Rapid-fire texts--sometimes apologies, sometimes accusations.' Naturally. Manipulators hate it when they start losing control over their targets. -- 'I bear no ill will toward your sister, so please understand that the things I put to page are for the purposes of enlightenment, not slander.' Fuuuuuuuck this guuuuuuy -- 'Whoever spares the rod hates their children' FUCK HIM TWICE -- 'If anyone had the right to rise up as an angry ghost, it was Mary Worth.' Yep. -- "I believe you." I love Shauna's mom so much, and it's great that the adults don't fall into usual uncaring stereotypes. -- "My hand reached into my pocket for my Tic Tac container of salt.' Smart. -- 'I rebuffed his late-night groping attempts. Jess had given me grief for it, saying I didn't give him a fair chance, that I'd put her in "an awkward position" because he was friends with her boyfriend. So many things I should have seen about Jess early on, so many symptoms that she was too selfish to be a good friend.' Oh boy do I understand this one. -- 'Then Jess arrived.' Of course she did. Probably to try and convince some drunk partygoers to play Bloody Mary. Creep. -- 'The pastor wished to show his contempt for the spiritually weak.' I WILL KILL. ((seriously, he needs to get a comeuppance somehow, either at Mary's hand or her poor mother's)) -- Constance. <3 I love that she held her hand, and fought to help settle her spirit. -- Oh no no no those bear traps are the WORST -- Mary's 'new' eye AUGH -- 'I recognize that he has a temper, Elizabeth, but I have faith you will comport yourself with dignity and decorum as befits a pastor's wife. He will have less reason to anger if you curb your barbed tongue.' Okay, I can't stand Elizabeth, but I hate you more. -- 'There was weight being in a person's house hours after she died. It was life put on pause, the living intending to return to her nest but denied the chance.' -- Because Jess didn't listen. Again. That poor woman could've killed herself reacting like that. -- "I deserve to talk to her!" Uhhh, no. Not if being around Mary's target makes her panic and hurt herself, you selfish little shit. -- Body horror + teeth = fuck no -- Aunt Dell is ridiculously badass and I love her -- 'I turned the corner of the house as Mary hurtled off the roof, crashing into the ground six feet away from me. The pile of dead girl twitched.' 1) AAAAAAAA 2) where is my movie -- If Mary won't go into the field, what is she scared of? -- "I salted her. It's fine." Why do I not believe you? -- 'I never told him she was alive.' oh god no wait I'm back to hating Elizabeth more ohhhh not the buried-alive thing -- The pastor, surprising no one, continues to be a dick. I adored both books for the most part; I really did want Mary to have a chance to honestly confront the people who'd abused her in life, but that's my need for a happy ending/resolution coming through even in creepy horror books. ;)
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A WORLD WITH A BLUER SUNMy reviews are set up a little like live-tweets: I write down lines I like/impressions as I read, and then transcribe. Reviews will contain spoilers, but I'll give a warning before they start. Archives
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