Books to Add to Your Summer Reading List

People are always asking us for book suggestions, so I figured I would make a blog post with some of the other paranormal/fantasy books that Jayme and I both recommend. If you're looking for another werewolf series to get hooked on, you should check out the Grey Wolves series by Quinn Loftis if you haven't already. It's a really fun read and most of our other readers seem to enjoy it. Some other great picks are the Significance series by Shelly Crane and the Kiera Hudson series by Tim O'Rourke. But chances are you've probably already heard of all these series, and you may have already even read them, so this blog post is going to focus on a few other books that you probably haven't heard of yet.

#1. Awakening Hope (the Trials of Hope series) by Charlotte Kuchinsky
Charlotte Kuchinsky, a close friend of mine, has published the first two books in her Trials of Hope trilogy, Awakening Hope and Extinguishing Hope. The 3rd  book will be out at some point this summer, so now's a great time to dive into this series. It involves angels and while it's intended for adults, I think it will appeal to young adults as well. Here's the blurb for Awakening Hope:
 
When a dream awakens a past that Nadia Merrick had forgotten, her world is forever changed. She must leave her home and family behind to respond to a call she cannot deny. As the Angel of Hope, she's tasked with training children to fight the demons threatening her world.

Along the way, she'll learn that  someone she loved more than life itself has betrayed her. Sadly, he won't be the  last one to break Hope's heart before her trials are finally completed.

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#2. Nightfall Gardens by Allen Houston

Our cousin-in-law, Allen Houston, just published his first book. It's a YA fantasy that will make for great summer reading. Here's the blurb:

What evil grows in Nightfall Gardens?

Vain Lily Blackwood and her shy brother Silas wonder if their  family will ever settle in one place long enough to lead a normal
life. When a  mysterious stranger in a wolf-hide cloak arrives claiming to be their uncle,  they discover their parents have been hiding a secret that turns their world  upside down.

The two are kidnapped and transported to Nightfall Gardens,  the family’s ancestral home, a place shrouded in fog and ancient mystery, where  they meet their dying grandmother and learn of an age-old curse placed on  Blackwood females.

Lily must take over as protector of the house and  three haunted gardens that hold mythical beasts, fairy-tale nightmares and far  worse. If she doesn’t, the evil trapped there will be unleashed and bring on a  new dark age.

While she deals with malevolent ghosts, murderous dolls and  killer insects inside the house, Silas is put to work in the gardens, a hothouse  of terror, where one wrong step means death.

Along the way, they search  to unlock the riddle of the curse and to stop the creatures in the gardens  before time runs out and the world is destroyed.

#3. Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan

Lois Duncan was one of my favorite authors growing up, and I would read her book, Down a Dark Hall, every summer. The exciting news that Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight Saga, will be producing the movie adaptation of Down a Dark Hall came out last year, so you should read it before the film comes out! Here's the blurb:

Why does the exclusive boarding school Blackwood have only four students?

Kit walks the dark halls and feels a penetrating chill. What terror waits around the next corner?

Happy reading!! And Happy 4th of July! :-)

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