Oh hello my friends. How are we all doing this week? Great? I hope so. If not, make it good! You can always turn a frown upside down. I recommend Harry Potter.

Well, its that time of week again, its time for Book of the Week. If you missed last week’s Book of the Week, Bazingirl did a haunting and horrifying review of The Exorcist.

If you haven’t read this week’s book, I encourage you to read anyway. I keep it very spoiler free because I believe this book should be enjoyed without knowing anything. It ruins the story! And you’ll see why.

This week’s book is:

The Diviners by Libba Bray

For those of you who have never picked up a Libba Bray book before, you’re definitely missing out. The first book I ever picked up by her was Rebel Angels. That was really stupid because that was actually the sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty, the first of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy takes place at the end of the 19th century, in the Victorian Age, when all girls could hope for was making a perfect debut and securing a good marriage. Gemma, however, has spent most of her life in India with her parents until her mother’s death. Then she is sent to Spence Academy in England and meets her new friends Felicity, Pippa and Ann.  She soon discovers that she has a power and is the last remaining link to the Order, a group of women who the power of magic, of illusion and the ability to enter the realms, a beautiful and powerful place. These books are fantastic. I definitely recommend them.

Libba Bray also has the book Going Bovine, which is award winning and I haven’t read yet. Then there is Beauty Queens, a book where a plane of teen beauty pageant contestants crashes on an deserted island and the sort of hilarity and also sadness that ensues. Libba Bray is a self-proclaimed feminist and is a member of NOW and this shows in her satirical portrayal of the beauty queens. Another book worth the buy.

Libba Bray’s newest book, The Diviners, just recently came out. I was a little hesitant to buy it. One, it was 20 dollars. I mean, seriously? What is with book prices lately? That’s insane. Ugh. And also, because it was of a paranormal/fantasy nature and I just love the Gemma Doyle trilogy so much, that I was kind of scared at how good this one was going to be.

The story centers around Evangline O’Neill, or Evie, in the Roaring Twenties. Evie is your regular ol flapper girl who is out partying and drinking in speakeasies. She is all about the parties and the fun, but she’s hiding something. She has a gift. When she holds an item belonging to someone else, she can delve into their personal information and learn more about them. When her little party trick gets her into trouble, she’s sent to New York to live with her uncle, who runs a museum all about the supernatural. She’s in heaven, meeting new friends, buying clothes at the hippest stores and going to the most awesome clubs.

That is, until there’s a mysterious murder and her uncle is called in to help with the investigation. When Evie holds the victim’s shoe buckle and sees more than she should, she realizes its about time to reveal her secret and that maybe it could actually do some good…especially when the killer doesn’t stop.

The Good or the Bad:

I’m glad I bought this book. Libba Bray is an amazing author. She definitely should not stop writing.

In the Gemma Doyle trilogy, she was so great at making you believe in that era, the Victorian era, as if she’d live there herself. She does that again in The Diviners. I really believe that I’m in New York City, in the ’20s, going to speakeasies and bobbing my hair. She’s so good at getting into those time periods. She must do some serious research to do it because it’s just amazing. I’ve never even wanted to attempt a historical fiction because its so hard but she rocks it.

Evie is a great character. Gemma is very unsure of herself, which is relatable because I think a lot of times we are so unsure of ourselves. However, Evie is so confident and she walks around knowing what she wants and when she wants it. She has some serious sass. I love it! I also love that her confidence often times gets her into trouble. You want to smack her in the fact as she makes a mistake but you want to love her too because she’s so fun!

The story! It’s so winding and weaving. I had no idea what was going on. Its very supernatural and at the same, Biblical, and at the same time, not. I like that she bounced back and forth between Evie and the other supporting characters, like Memphis and Theta and even the killer. It gave you a nice twisting view of everything that was going on. I mean, you knew who the killer was, for the most part, and you knew where he was going and who he was going to kill, and Evie and her uncle and his assistant Jericho have no idea whats going on and its suspenseful.

Yeah! Its suspenseful! Thats one of the best parts of it. It has a suspense where you keep wondering who is going to be next and what is going to happen to each character, especially since they all seem to have these powers. Evie has her power, Sam Lloyd can convince people they can’t see them, Memphis once could heal, Isaiah can predict things, etc. Everything is so intertwined and sneaky. It reads very much like a murder mystery mixed in with that paranormal and supernatural.

I’m not going to give too much away. I feel like I give too much away, you’re not going to be able to experience that same suspense and edge-of-your-seat-ness that I experienced. And yeah, I just made up that hyphenated word. I definitely recommend reading this book. Its fantastic and Libba Bray nails it again. As always click the link above and it’ll take you straight to the Amazon page for the book, which is actually a lot cheaper than buying it at your local Barnes and Noble. :) Happy Reading everyone!

See you next week, for Book of the Week!

*     *     *     *     *     *