While Brenna Yovanoff’s The Replacement was not one of my favorite readers, this is a book that will have wide appeal to fans of the macabre, horror, and folk legends. Think of your Edgar Allen Poe fans with this one.

Mackie has always felt like an outsider, and perhaps his sister’s insistence that he was a replacement — a baby put in the place of a human baby’s bed — doesn’t help. But when Mackie finds out that what his sister tells him is true, well, perhaps he feels even more like an outsider than he did before. But when he descends into the underworld from where he came, he comes to realize that fitting in isn’t as easy as he thought it would be.

In addition to the dark elements (and the very human elements of fitting in), Mackie has a little bit of a romance budding with Tate. Tate and Mackie have a unique bond in that Tate’s sister has been a replacement, as well.

The Replacement is full of lore and builds a world that many readers will fall right into. Although the book’s pitch of being “Edward Scissorhands meets Catcher in the Rye” seems really far fetched to me (in no way is Mackie any Holden Caulfield), I think fans of Edward Scissorhands and similar stories will enjoy this tale. Fans of Catcher in the Rye might want to skip this one if they are expecting a similar main character.

Although fitting in is a big theme here, other themes tend to center around legends and folk lore. I found some big plot holes in this novel, as well as some weak development among characters (Mackie and Tate never once seemed like they were into each other, since Mackie had a huge crush on another girl the entire time), but readers who go in for the darker aspects will easily appreciate this story, the world building, and the ending.

Pop this into your Halloween displays this year but don’t expect it to stay too long!

*Review copy received from the publisher.

Hilda and Benji are best friends forever. Maybe. Their interests seem to match perfectly, as both have a passion for haunting the most notorious places in Los Angeles: sites where celebrities have been murdered or where celebrities have taken their own lives. This fascination, while dark, is actually quite therapeutic for Hilda, who has had a lot of loss in her young life. Her mother and father were killed in a car accident that almost took her life, too.

Everything changes, though, when the pair end up investigating a suicide in the apartment of an old man named Hank. Although initially put off by the two crazy kids, one with pink hair, knocking at his door and asking to take pictures of his bathroom, Hank agrees and it takes little time for Hilda to realize there’s something special about this man. And soon after, he’ll begin calling her and she’ll find a connection with an adult in town.

Although Hilda and Hank begin growing closer, Hank’s downstairs neighbor Jack becomes concerned and tries to break it to Hilda that Hank has a lot of secrets and history that should make her wary. It won’t be until tragedy strikes Hank and Benji nearly kills himself that Hilda begins to understand her fascination with death means something deeper.

John Belushi is Dead was one of my favorite reads so far this year. This engaging, edgy, and boundary-pushing novel brings together the ideas of life and death in a city of lore and lust that just works. Hilda is a likeable character from the get go: we know she’s had a tough life, living with her aunt because of the death of her parents, and we know she’s a little wild, as seen from her romps around notorious LA places. She and Benji are quite a pair, and while outsiders to the rest of the world, they come into their own together and don’t quite feel like outsides, recluses, or losers. In the end we will find out that Benji isn’t quite what he seems, but since this story is told from Hilda’s perspective, this is a realization we will come to with her.

After Hilda and Benji initially meet Hank, I couldn’t help but draw the comparisons between this book and Paul Zindel’s classic The Pigman. While they aren’t perfect readalikes, I think that the quirky relationship building between generations is somewhat similar, and the realizations that happen between Hilda and Hank are similar to those John and Lorraine have with the Pigman.

Enter Jack.

Jack is the propulsion in this novel that really drives Hilda to think about who she is and what she loves. Her budding relationship with Hank is completely innocent, though much of it is based around death, much like her relationship with Benji. When Jack comes in and begins to push Hilda’s perception about Hank, though, things change. Hank, as it turns out, has a greater history in the world than he’s letting on, and it’s one that revolves around death. Big death — something greater than the death of John Belushi or Chris Farley. No, this is the death that changes history, the world we live in, and Hilda.

Kathy Charles’s novel was well paced and plotted, and the character development is absolutely spot on for me. That, in conjunction with the setting, came together to leave a not just a pretty story, but a strong message about life and living. This book published initially in Australia titled Hollywood Ending, and when it published in the US, the title changed to John Belushi is Dead. Both titles work, and they work for different reasons.

This is the kind of book I would hand off to fans of Perks of Being a Wallflower. The feeling of being an outsider and an insider simultaneously and the growth of the main characters are similar in both titles. Both push the boundaries of the reader’s expectations, and both convey quite an important message without being books that are about delivering a message. The quirky factor will work for fans of Steffan Piper’s Grayhound, Joe Nemo’s Hairstyles of the Damned, and other similar titles.

Because of the issues brought up here and the edgy factors (and let me tell you – calling anything edgy really bothers me, but it’s the best word to use here), this book is best for high schoolers and adult readers. This is the kind of book perfect for college students. While reading this title, I couldn’t help but think of my best friend from college the entire time who would eat this up in no time. She’s a huge fan of Francesca Lia Block, and I think it would be interesting to hand a book like this to a fan of hers. I suspect there would be a lot to like because of the language, the setting, and the character development. And of course, try this one who liked Zindel’s classic. They aren’t perfect readalikes, but the comparisons that could be drawn are great.

* Thanks to Kathy Charles for sharing this one with me. It’s going to be passed around!

There is something to be said about a book that is ultra contemporary: it is fun! I picked up Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick on a recommendation and rave from dear Alea and am so glad I did.

Tweet Heart follows four friends, Claire, Lottie, Will, and Bennett through their series of Tweets on Twitter, as well as a few blog posts and emails. There is nothing more to it in terms of story plotting, as it all unfolds through social media. Claire is crushing hard on a guy named JD while Will is seriously crushing on Claire but can’t get her attention. Enter his plan to pretend to be JD on Twitter and you have a romance that you don’t expect will happen and will leave Claire tricked and disappointed.

You wouldn’t be too far off on that for plot, but there is a lot more to it — JD DOES end up giving Claire the time of day, but it won’t be the same JD she was tweeting with. When the bomb drops about who the “real” JD is (“real” as in the one playing him on Twitter and the one who is a boring, one track minded jock in person), things among the four good friends will shift . . . and it might be to everyone’s benefit.

Tweet Heart was a cute, fluffy read that I really found worked well with the Twitter platform. The quick bursts really gave each character a distinct voice and made their personalities work well; in fact, I found some of the additional stuff — the emails and blog entries — almost distracting. I think the book would have functioned well completely without them.

This book made me think a lot about the studies that come out, oh, about daily, stating that teenagers aren’t using Twitter. Whether or not that is true, I think that this book will reach a teen audience easily, as teens understand how the social media platform works, and I think they will connect with these completely plugged-in teens. Besides that, they will also connect with the trick Will plays as they recognize themselves in either his position or Claire’s position; if not themselves, they likely know someone who has been in either of those places.

We have four unique characters, too: the girl who wants a boy who she believes is out of her league; the girl who has no problem meeting and dating boys (she meets one while on a family trip in Europe but it fizzles out from distance, but no fear: soon after, she’s found another guy while at a department store); the guy who has a mad crush on the first girl; and the guy who is a big, lovable dork. I think Bennett, the unabashed geek, was my favorite character.

It’s a clean read, too, with no language or adult situations. This is the kind of book any teenage girl could pick up and enjoy without having to worry about reading something uncomfortable. There’s enough thrust to the story line and the format to interest a wide variety of primarily female readers — from those preferring Jenny B. Jones and Cindy Martinusen-Coloma to those who prefer Simone Elkeles.

While this one won’t have huge staying power, I think it’ll get a nice readership for a few years. I hope Rudnick publishes more titles, though not necessarily in just this format; I think her style and her true-to-life dialog will resonate with teens. Though I didn’t initially plan on purchasing this one for my library, I ended up purchasing a copy for both branches because of the wide appeal, unique format, and relatability that readers will have to these four likeable and flawed characters.

Remember when you were a kid, and you would wait patiently (excitedly) for that toy you just knew you’d get for Christmas or your birthday and then when you got it, it wasn’t what you had wished for in your mind?

For me, that was Heidi Kling’s much anticipated debut novel Sea. That’s not to say it was bad or that there isn’t a readership here, but that’s to say for me, it didn’t work and I was quite let down.

Sienna Jones lost her mother in a terrible plane accident a few years ago, and the thought of flying terrified her. But, since her dad worked for a non-profit that helped children in overseas countries, she knew it was a part of her world and she’d need to confront this fear sooner or later. It’d be sooner, though, when dad surprises her with a plane ticket to Indonesia to help him with his efforts in preparing children orphaned by the Asian Tsunami become more independent.

She was, of course, not interested, but after a talk with long time friend/crush/boyfriend Spider, she decides she’ll go with her dad and his friend/crush/girlfriend/”mom replacement.” When they land and are welcomed to the orphan house, Sienna locks eyes over the drumming with a local boy with whom she will fall madly in like with. Yes, in like.

In her crush-like manner, she will do anything to be with him, including hop a plane to another part of the country in order to help him locate his father (he’d heard rumors he was still alive). Bad idea, of course: there is no dad, but someone else from his past has crept in and suddenly, Sienna is much more alone.

What worked well in this story was a unique foreign setting. There are so few mainstream books written for teens set in a foreign country. This, paired with the contemporary issue of the Asian Tsunami, kept me compelled and forced me to continue reading this title. I loved the setting, and I thought that Kling did a good job of weaving in cultural norms and discussions of how customs in other countries are just as valid and important as those in America. Sienna was a bit of a brat, and I think Kling did a good job of setting her straight.

But for me, that’s about where the good ended. I found there was more for me to dislike than like here. Sienna is an irritating character, who I wanted to smack more than one time. She was full of herself and bratty in a manner that reminded me more of an adult writing what they perceive as teen angst rather than a teen who sometimes is moody. I found the ancillary characters completely flat, particularly the boy she meets and falls in love with in the most cheesy manner. I can’t even remember his name.

Moreover, the writing itself left much to be desired. What may have sounded unique or may have been included to set a scene was clunky and confusing. There is a recurring statement about the “orange popsicle haze” of the sky, and it never once really resonated with me. I get the orange popsicle coloring, but the haze? It didn’t work for me. A number of other similes or metaphors used through the book came off more as confusing than effective, and the use of the drum beat for love came off more as cheesy than cute.

That said, Sea has a built-in readership that will find the characters and storyline compelling, and they will get a lot out of the setting here. It’s a fluffy read, perfect for summer, and because it has little in the way of language or sex, it’ll work for younger teen readers and those who prefer their stories clean. I wish it had a little more heft to it, since there was so much to work with from the setting, but I’ll have to wait a little longer.