Girl of Lore

Mina is not a clean-up-after-others kind of girl. To avoid indentured servitude in her adoptive mom’s yoga studio, Mina invents a club on the spot. Mina is a dark spirit with OCD and intrusive thoughts, so she creates the Lore Club, which will research and discuss the legends and stories of their town, London, Georgia. Throughout the town’s history, there have been strange occurrences such as sinkholes and decapitated bodies. When she goes to meet with one of the town’s oldest residents, she finds Grace sitting in her chair, dead. Were those bite marks on her neck? Recruiting new friends and old, Mina learns more than she bargained for about her town and her unexpected and strange role in it.

This is excellent. The writing is quick and explosive, the characters are likable, and the backstory keeps growing, allowing pieces to fall into place like dominoes. Highly recommended for spooky season, this includes all the best baddies from history – vampires, red eyes watching in the woods, and monsters. A little bit of friend drama and love interests relieve the story of its seriousness. Readers who like Dan Poblocki and Katie Allender will love this one.