The Suburban Strange

The Suburban Strange #1

by Nathan Kotecki

Shy Celia Balaustine is new to Suburban High, but a mysterious group of sophomores called the Rosary has befriended her. Friends aside, Celia soon discovers something is not quite right at Suburban. Girls at the school begin having near-fatal accidents on the eve of their sixteenth birthdays. Who is causing the accidents, and why? As Celia’s own birthday approaches, she is inexorably drawn into an underground conflict between good and evil—the Kind and the Unkind—that bubbles beneath Suburban High. Plentiful references to music and art—along with the intriguing underworld mythology—make this supernatural series debut a page-turner.

Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Fiction, Supernatural

368 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2012

Reviews

[Giselle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mysterious accidents the day before girls turn 16, a peculiar group of socialites, a unique paranormal aspect - The Suburban Strange was very promising. It started very intriguing too, with a very sophisticated, high-on-life feel that I found quite refreshing, though my excitement for it came to an quick halt when this high school clique started sounding like 100 year old teenagers, and the cultural references in the book were more persistent than door to door salesmen. Among other things.

A group of worldly teens spending their time in an underground indie bar scene creates a very sophisticated, hipster vibe in this book that I initially found very refreshing. We get teenagers who like to dress to the nines and act like they're older, more cultured than the average. I liked the attitudes and personalities that it brought out in the book. However, after a while, I'm not sure if it got progressively worse, or if I simply got over my initial enchantment with it, but it became a little too unnatural for me to picture actual teenagers talking and acting like this. I'm certain there must be some in the world that share these personalities, but I was put off by it come half way through. I was also disappointed that their strange behaviour was not linked to the mysterious happenings in the plot which is what I initially assumed. I was expecting them to really be 300 year old demons or vampires - anything but extreme hipsters who are simply just... weird kids.

Have any of you read The Awakening by Kate Chopin? I hadn't heard of it until this book. It's apparently a classic, and if the meh reviews on Goodreads hadn't put me off it, hearing about it 8271362153 times in this book would make it certain that I never want to hear about it ever again. I don't mind cultural references in a novel, in fact I often find them very enjoyable, Gilmore Girls is one of my all time favourite TV shows because of the infinite cultural references--among other things--, but when a conversation unnaturally halts so the protagonist can fangirl for the 3rd time about a book she just read, it becomes grating. Especially when combined with the already considerable music and art references scattered throughout.

Instead of focusing on these grandpa teens with a marketing agenda, I decided to let myself enjoy the plot which I found fairly interesting and unique. I liked how the paranormal aspect was woven into the plot. While it didn't go into great lengths, the Kind and Unkind mythology is a creative concept of good vs evil. There is one aspect of it that I found a bit obscure as I'm not sure of its purpose or relation to the plot: the fact that only girls who are virgins become a victim of this pre-birthday curse. Is it supposed to add relatable teenage dilemmas in the plot? I'm not quite sure but it felt very backwards 80s horror movie with no real significance. Then when it came time to the final twist--the big reveal--I realized just how predictable it all was. Even my two year old son knew who did it. And he thinks B comes first.

I was expecting a fun mystery with creepy happenings and an eerie school setting, instead I got a very slow paced read that was more an exposition on teenage social influences and common peer pressures than anything. I would only recommend this if you love books filled to the brim with very obscure indie music and art references, drab teenage "messages", and unusually sophisticated teenage characters.

--
An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.

For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ask yourself this question:
Do I really want to read a book about pretentious teenagers who act like pretentious 40 year olds?
If your answer is Yes, then this is the book for you!

Shockingly, there's not much in the way of a plot. Unless you count the numerous references to music, art, books, and clothing.
It opens with Celia getting into a car with a girl, and then heading to her new high school. There were quite a few things I found confusing, because nothing these kids in this group do is remotely realistic.

1. They ride to school in what appears to be a funeral procession. For some reason, they feel the need to arrive at school at the same time. So, one car picks up Celia, then drives to the next person's house, where they get into their car and follow the original car to the next house...and so on.
Evidently it helps them cultivate an air of mystery about the group.

2. They have named their clique The Rosary.
Do I need to say anything more about that? Probably not...but I will. These high school kids refer to themselves as The Rosary. What?! And apparently everyone else at the high school is so awed by their mysterious persona, that they somehow avoid the ass-beating that would await anyone else in high school stupid enough to do this.

3. They all go to this weird club on Friday nights.
Hey, kids at a club! At least that's normal, right?
Bzzzzt! Wrong!
Not a normal club. Nope. You have to have discriminating taste to gain entrance to this place. In other words, if you listen to (God Forbid!) music on the radio, you just wouldn't understand how awesome this place is. Everyone and everything inside is amazing, eclectic, strange, and interesting!

4. The Leopard.
It's what Celia calls the boy she meets at the club. Yeah, he's got a name, but referring to the boy of your dreams mentally as The Leopard is soooo cool and sophisticated.
WTF?!

5. Insta-lurve between Celia and (gag) The Leopard. They stared at each other each Friday night for weeks, so I guess they really know each other, right? Then they met two more times (in real life!) before she realized that she was desperately and hopelessly in love with him.
Hey, at least they took it slow...

6. The Rosary doesn't drink, studies come before anything else, and they all must have a job.
Where the hell did these kids come from?! Were they part of some kind of a secret Stepford cloning project?

Unfortunately, the paranormal stuff had nothing to do with why Celia's friends were so freaking creepy and weird artsy-fartsy. In fact, it didn't have much to do with anything at all. It was boring. The whole book was filled with nonsense about how you can only be unique if you act a certain way, do certain things, listen to certain music. Mainstream friends, books, music, and clothes just don't cut it.
Guess what? Now you're a unique asshole!

In the end, I found Celia to be a wannabe loser who couldn't think for herself, and The Rosary to be a group of dysfunctional dorks who thought they were better than everyone else. The paranormal mystery could have been interesting, but it moved too slowly to salvage this book for me.

[Wendy Darling · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretentious, predictable, and overworked.

[Kat Heckenbach · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book that SHOULD appeal to me. I was an overly tall, artistically talented girl who became part of the alternative subculture when I was a teen. All the references to 1980s alternative bands should have made me feel connected to the story (since that was my era, even though it is obviously not the era of this story), as should have the description of Celia's transformation.

Instead, it drove me nuts. The descriptions were emotionless info-dumps. The author did nothing to make me *feel* I was in Celia's head, but rather told, told, told me stuff. And all the culture references just got on my nerves. The author is supposedly someone who was at least Goth as a teen--but I am wondering when that was. The book reads like a documentary on Goths rather than an actual portrayal. (Dude, I grew up listening to the bands you listed on every-freaking-other page, but you seem to have an affection for them that comes a generation later, like you're so culturally enlightened because you prefer oldies, and it was insulting.)

And the supposed *story*--a mystery revolving around bizarre accidents plaguing the girls at Celia's school--seems plunked in between long diatribes about how cool and intellectual and exotic and perfect the Rosary group is. The dialog was stiff and unnatural. I don't know any teens--Goth or otherwise--that talk like these kids. It reminded me a lot of Dark Companion by Marta Acosta (which I also rated 2 stars) because it's a complete disconnect from a true YA voice. Both this and Dark Companion feel like adults talking like children.

I read YA almost exclusively, and it seems to be a bandwagon right now. So let me please state, for the sake of the genre of my passion: If you could not relate to being a teen when you actually *were* a teen, it makes no sense to try to write a book that connects to teens now.

All that said, the cover is gorgeous.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I say word one about this book, I feel I must provide a few disclaimers.

1. I know the author. So naturally my real or perceived impressions of the author as an individual may come into play.

2. I am also a writer. As such, I may approach the story much differently. (I'm not being arrogant here -- I don't think a writer's approach to reading is necessarily better or worse than any other reader, just different.)

3. I typically do not read young adult fiction.

Now for the sub-disclaimers to the above to make things even more confusing:

- As an asterisk to both 1 and 2, my experience has been that I should not be friends or even play nice with other writers. We're notoriously harsh and envious and conniving and overly critical in non-constructive ways. In fact, I'd say that my initial reaction to discovering that Mr. Kotecki was also a writer was to make a mental note to be more cautious and distrusting towards him. Add to that the fact that he is a writer significantly further along in the game than I and you've got a recipe for professional jealousy like you would not believe. Before I'd even read the back cover I was relishing the myriad ways to cut him down and gleefully romp through my fields of petty biases.

- As for 3, when I say, "I typically do not," I really mean never. Or almost never. I try not to be a book snob, I really do. I just want people to read what they want. My shameless love of graphic novels can attest to that. But still, when I see typical teen fiction on shelves I judge it in ways normally reserved for the kind of men who watch porn on their iPhones on the subway. Modern young adult fiction usually represents, to me at least, a ridiculous escape. Not the good kind of escape that most books do, but rather an escape from privilege and into a world of even greater entitlement. In my mind's eye I see wealthy white suburban tweens wishing a sparkly vampire would save them from their dreadful life in a giant house in an affluent neighborhood attending a great school. Or lining up for 10 hours to see The Hunger Games, but having gained nothing in terms of political curiosity or activist spark that the book touches on repeatedly. (Or worse than proving oblivious to such messages, making manifest the worst in humanity by being annoyed that characters in the story are of a race other than caucasian.) But I digress. See what I mean when I say I dislike YA?

So here's the thing: these disclaimers may magnify my opinion in some ways, minimize (or trivialize) it in others, or just straight up cancel one another out. In short, there's a great thicket of psychology to get through here before even getting to the cover of the book itself. Suffice to say that whatever the final official scientific tally may be, the odds were stacked against The Suburban Strange with this humble reviewer.

...and yet, I still loved it. A lot.

Despite a block of negative disclaimers that are probably significantly longer than the average online book review itself, I came away from this book incredibly impressed. So without revealing too much, let me tell you what I loved and why you should read this book.

The protagonist, Celia, is a revelation. A strong, positive female lead unlike almost anything else you'll see in the genre. What makes her most impressive is that she is not a caricature or cliche. She's no damsel in distress with no willpower or personality of her own, a la Bella of Twilight, but she's also not a natural and confident warrior, a la Katniss of Hunger Games. She's not even a smart and quirky Hermione, a la Harry Potter. What differentiates her is that she CHANGES. In the course of a story that covers but one year, the reader truly watches and feels her change and grow. Most of all, it's in a realistic and organic fashion. One of the things I'm most sensitive to is the "deus ex machina" aspect of too many stories. I hate it when I can feel the author strong-arming his/her plot or characters into doing something that they don't want to do. I never felt that with Celia. I felt that she wanted to grow strong and find her own way and that the author let her.

The mysteries of the story -- and there are several -- were similarly revelatory. One of the things I hate about YA fiction (and many adult mysteries) is that the mysteries are either A) so obvious that only the most oblivious reader wouldn't figure it out, or B) intentionally designed such that NOBODY will figure it out until the author spells it out for you with clues that weren't really even in the story until just before the reveal (I'm looking at you, Rowling). Here, I feel like Kotecki keeps you guessing on pretty much every mystery of the story without condescending to the reader in any way. There was never a point where I had everything figured out confidently until it was revealed. Even on moments that I thought I had it, I was either totally wrong or remained uncertain enough that a reveal was still a surprise.

And that leads me to the last major appreciation: the characters as a whole. For a YA book, this story has a lot of characters. Good characters. Developed characters. Not just people who appear and do one thing or offer their contrived line and then disappear. Most characters come back again and again, seasoning the story with intrigue at just the right times from exactly the right angles. While I may not have "liked" every character in terms of wanting to have them as a friend or thinking they were good people, I did want to know more about every character. What was their background? How did they get to this point? Where were they going to go next? They all seemed so alive and real that I'd find myself hoping for even the bit parts to get their moment in the sun they were so vivid.

That's about all I can say without starting to spoil it for everyone. Hopefully I haven't already. But if you're wondering whether you should read this book, the answer is an unequivocal YES. It won me over so much that I'm currently brooding alone with a bottle of whiskey. (This is one of the reasons writers drink: the unfortunate existence of better writers.) I almost hate myself for how much I can't wait for the sequel. The Suburban Strange will restore your faith in the young readers of the future and the writers who work for them; go read it.

[Ifahh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Holy moly. The premise of this book looked oh so promising. But instead, the story's about as dull as a sack of potatoes.

First of all, Celia. I have no idea why, but this girl FURIATES me like no business. I cringe when she talks, and fortunately, that's not often. She's kind of creepy, too. I get it - you're shy, artistic. Woo wee woo. But I think the thing that made me NOPE was her first interaction with Regine. Drawing the girl when you just laid eyes on her. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING OH MY GOD THAT'S SO CREEPY. -rubs temples-

Anyone else feel that Celia, even though she's part of Rosary, was severely out of their league? The others are confident - albeit strange - but maaan. I get weird creepy vibes from reading about Celia. Don't know why.

I stopped reading because - hey! Wait! Where's the plot? I took a deep breath and plowed through the first 100 pages of the book, and guess what I find? A plot! No, I kid. I found no plot at all. What I really found was strange teens talking about 80s music, weird creepy Celia vibes, two (or maybe three) teens almost dying, oh... you know.

I gave it a chance. I really did. After reading what it seems like a thousand pages (I exaggerate) I did what I do not normally do -- I skip pages. Yikes. I'm a very strict no-skipping-pages girl. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME, BOOK?!

And guess what I found! No plot! Ha haa!

-shakes head sadly-

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars
This book had me at "Sisters of Mercy," which I still listen to religiously (BTW), but no longer on vinyl or cassette, but on my slim ipod. As usual, I find myself on the opposite end of loving a book, but I predict this series will develop a tightly loyal cult-lit following. Based on this assessment, I can see why The Suburban Strange has received some rather mixed reviews from advanced readership. One point that I disagree with is that this book will generally only appeal to kids around 15 years old. Yes, it is a young adult novel, but with a very grown up soundtrack. Those over forty will embrace the music selection. Okay...wait...backup, those over forty who were 'progressive,' will likely find themselves closing the cover and running to the computer to download all the favorites revealed in the book to their ipod so they can flashback all the way to work and back the next day. Now, if you were into radio 90's rock or pop, you might be left just as clueless as many other readers. Ahh, not hip then, not hip now...snark, pow, bam!

Despite the oldies but goodies, I think kids of the alternative music era will understand the classic, thematic importance of the playlist and characterization in the novel, if not, I bet they will look them up and become fans. Being a child of underground Seattle nightclubs and alternative 90's (yes, imports and record stores) I jumped up and down at the high school experience depicted because for me, it was truly relatable.

There is a bit of Twilight meets Buffy meets Harry Potter, meets a dozen other YA popular story lines here, but it does provide something new with a twist, being the 'scene' that is resurrected. Nostalgic? I suppose I am, but it was refreshing to have the modern, paranormal and old melded together in a page-turning series starter.

What else worked? Um....the fact that a YA novel with a female lead was written by a male author! Similar to the literary references, from the Awakening, Alice In Wonderland and Portrait of A Lady, (nope, they weren't lost on me!) made in the novel, Nathan Kotecki flawlessly channels a teen misfit turned heroine. The voice, emotions and characterization were spot on and left me completely believing the authenticity of the story and characters. Looking forward to the second book! Bring on the dancing horses!

[Giselle · Rating 2 out of 5]

A finished copy was provided by the publisher for review.

Celia's starting the tenth grade at Suburban high school. The shy and quiet teenager befriends Regine during an art class and she finds herself being welcomed into their clique called The Rosary. Eccentric, sophisticated and unique, their group strives to be different and goes out of their way to help Celia navigate the icy waters of high school. On the first day of school she witnesses a girl go into shock due to her allergy with bees. Then more girls start to get hurt. Celia's caught in the middle and doesn't understand what's going on.

The urban fantasy setting was wonderful. The club they hung out at sounded fabulous and every detail that Nathan wrote about was clear-cut in my head. The pacing on the other hand left much to be desired. I felt it was incredibly too long. Some chapters could have been edited down or even taken away because it didn't help the story as much as it did. It wasn't needed. Another thing that completely bugged me was the instant love. Her thoughts were completely one dimensional and I really wanted to shake Celia. You barely know the guy and you're in love? (Booo, girlie you need to slow down!)

The writing was beautifully done, and Nathan writes so well but I just needed something more. That extra push to fall in love with the characters. Plot development was lacking in several areas, and I found it to develop so very slowly that I wasn't even sure of I wanted to keep on going. Yet, I persevered and was immensely disappointed by the ending. I'm not going to rush out and find out what happens in the next book, because I felt this one could have been a stand-alone!

Pass on this one if you're not into magic or long winded chapters. Read it if you love Nathan's descriptive writing style.

[Amy Jacobs · Rating 1 out of 5]

90210? Gossip Girl? Melrose Place? These are just some of things that came to my mind while wondering about this book. Was it going to have the drama of 90210? Was it going to have the clique's of Gossip Girl? Was it going to be suspenseful and dangerous like Melrose Place? Or was it going to be something that I grew bored with halfway through like I did with each of those shows?

Well, I can honestly say that the shows had more appeal than this book to me. Too blunt and harsh? Well, I am sorry but I can't lie either. This book had the makings for something great. We had the new girl with discovering the mysterious group of girls at Suburban High. I can see the potential in this book just with the summary. The first few chapters were pretty good and kept me interested. Then about halfway -- or even slightly before that -- it just started to get boring and unappealing. This could have been my reading taste at the time, but after finishing this book I still find myself even remembering the main details of the book. It just wasn't impressionable and one I found wondering about afterwards.

[Kat]

*To Read*

Thoughts:
If covers told the story then I would already have read this and loved it a million times over.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celia Balustine is shy, unsure of herself, and new to Suburban High School. By chance, she meets a girl named Regine, who changes her life. At her new school, Celia is accepted into a small group called the Rosary who all act aloof, listen to music not on top 40 lists, dress in grey and black, and generally set themselves apart from the rest of the school population. Celia conforms to her group and has a good time at school for the first time in years. Then strange things start happening at her school. Every girl with who has a 16th birthday suffers some sort of misfortune on the day before consistently throughout the year. As her own birthday nears, she tries to investigate what is causing it. Could it be her chemistry lab partner Mariette, who seems to have odd, impossible things happen around her? Or is it someone completely hidden?

The Suburban Strange has a gorgeous cover that mixes mediums in a very cool way. Despite its beautiful trappings, the actual story is a mixed bag of good and bad. Let's start with the good. I like a lot of the characters, especially Celia. At first, I thought she was a mindless sheep that just cared about being cool, but as the novel goes on, she becomes a force to be reckoned with. She really comes into her own and becomes comfortable with herself, acting how she thinks she should act instead of how others want her to. Her strength and resolve near the end of the novel serves to support her friends and helps her in the main conflict with the villain. She also has amazing artistic talent, which I am always fascinated to read about because I just draw stick figures. Mariette is probably the strongest character because she always stands on her own. She doesn't conform to other people's views or style and accepts that not everyone will like her. For most of the book, I also liked the Rosary. They are basically pretentious, hipster teens who like 70's and 80's music and act like they are better than everyone else, which I know doesn't sound flattering at all. However, they lead Celia into an exotic world of indie clubs, new music, new literature, new clothes and style, and a new way of viewing the world. Kotecki recreates for me how enchanting things are when they are just discovered and how magical they feel.

There are also a lot of flaws in this book. Tomasi is a tolerable character, but the instalove after knowing each other for like two seconds is ridiculous. The pacing of the book is odd. Long stretches of the book have basically no action at all and are just ham-handed infodumps. I get that the world needs to be explained, but there's a better way of doing it through showing rather than telling. The buildup to the end where Celia is doubting herself and trying to find answers is way too long, making the actual finale and denouement rather short. Also, the references to music and art are cool, but made the story completely halt at times, stilting the pace further. It should be used as flavor and not as the substance of the story. I really enjoyed the Kind and Unkind supernatural world aspects. The Unkind are said to be mistaken for creatures like vampires and werewolves. This book doesn't delve completely into that world. Both sides are rather untrained and bumbling, not letting us see the depth and breadth of this very promising world. I did hope that the Rosary were enmeshed somehow in this world, but they proved to be normal, pretentious teens.

The Suburban Strange has a lot of good things going for it, but a lot of mediocre things hold it back. The writing is engaging and made me forgive a lot of these flaws. I would definitely read another book and give Kotecki another try because of his ability to capture emotions and build characters.

[WJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Opening Line: At the quiet beginning of a clear day, a black sedan rolled slowly down the empty street and came to a stop in front of Celia's house.

The Suburban Strange wasn't the book that I thought it would be, based on the blurb provided. Essentially the story is about Celia, a sophomore transferring into Suburban High. She's shy, quiet and artistic. By chance she makes friends with a member of the Rosary and soon joins their little group. However, strange things are happening at her school, where on the eve of a sophomore girl's birthday, bad things will happen to her. Things that endanger her life. It soon becomes apparent that something that's not right at her school. Is it her new friend Mariette causing the changes? Or is it someone else?

The premise of the book seemed to be totally what I was looking for. Some kind of paranormal/faeire story, mixed with high school drama and the angst of fitting in? Sure, sign me right up! HOWEVER, the description is kinda misleading. A lot of the book is devoted to the "alternative" lifestyle that the author seems to be promoting. I'm all for introducing songs/literary references in order to build up atmosphere and all that but honestly, there were just way too many obscure references that were just dumped into the book. I'm not even sure what the club Dablioque (not sure if I spelt it correctly) has to do with the rest of the story. The weird references really threw me off.

Secondly, the book was really boring. I mean, for a story that's got attempts on the lives of sixteen year old girls, there really ought to be more drama and concern surrounding it right? But nope. It seems like life goes on for everyone else. And the parents are only concerned when there's a rumour going around that it's only sixteen year old virgins that get caught in the mess. What the? There was no explanation given of why the Bad Guy was targeting virgins to begin with. It just seems so random and unnecessary to introduce the idea of Celia having to lose her virginity in order to prevent bad things from happening to her. The rest of the book is more concerned with the Rosary and the bands/lifestyle that they're interested in--which seems to be "alternative" to everyone else. The whole point of the group seems to be to behave as non-mainstream as possible.

I didn't really care about the characters in the book either. I wanted to feel for Celia. I mean, she's shy and artistic which seems like it should be easy to empathises with her. But I never got a good read on her personality. It's also stated that at the start of the book her father's passed away recently. But this plotline isn't really developed and at some points, it seems like Celia kinda forgot she used to have a dad? I don't know it was strange. And it never seemed that difficult for her to assimilate into the Rosary, she seemed to find a place in the group fairly easily but I didn't really understand why she wanted to belong to the group. You can also say that that's the main problem with the book. Nathan Kotecki has somehow managed to create the most pretentious/hipster book that I've ever read, with the Rosary being the most try-hard group in YA fiction that I've come across so far.

The only person that I did feel bad for was Mariette. But even then her characterization made her seem so kooky/strange that it was only until much later in the book that we finally understand her behaviour.

The Suburban Strange was just a really disappointing read on the whole. I will not be reading any of Kotecki's books in the future, if this book is any indication.

[usagi ☆ミ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I'm in the minority when I say that I thought this book was pretty awesome. Yes, the maturity of the Rosary was a bit over-the-top at some points in the book, but otherwise? I really enjoyed this read - surprisingly so. And I definitely want to read more. Anyone looking for the way out of a traditional paranormal or PNR read should definitely check out "The Suburban Strange".

What I think I liked the most about this book was the sheer originality of it - yet at the same time it was very familiar. It felt like a goth "Breakfast Club" updated for the current culture. The idea of having a group that actively liked to seek out old things in order to make them new again, in order to have inspiration, in order to better themselves was just a really nice breath of fresh air. I also liked that they purposely delineated themselves from the standard goth crowd, which was kind of a pleasant change from so many YA high school-centric novels.

I also liked that Celia allowed herself to be made over and kind of "baptized" into the Rosary counterculture that they built, and that she didn't seem to have limits when it came to that. She absorbed everything and kept what she liked. It seems like some reviewers have taken this to mean that she lets her friends use her as a doormat, but if this were the case, I don't think she would have been friends with Mariette, as she might have been afraid of retaliation from said friends. It feels like Celia was a lot stronger than many gave her credit for, and I felt a strange bond with her. True, I didn't have my own Rosary in high school, but I was constantly seeking out new things to immerse myself in to broaden myself.

The Kind/Unkind plot was interesting, but here's where I agree with other reviewers - the virginity clause in the curse (as in, if you stay a virgin, you'll die on your curse day) could have been explained and explored a bit better. Instead, it felt like one of those '80s horror movies where the virgins died because they were virgins, and nothing more. And while I feel like there was, happily enough, no slut-shaming in this book, I was still kind of uncomfortable the way the whole virgin/curse day relationship was approached. It could have been smoothed out in another edit. However, I will give Kotecki props for having a gay couple in the main cast - it feels like unless it's either couched in bullying, self-hatred, or depression, YA seems to be keeping its distance as a whole. There are exceptions, of course, but I'm glad that Kotecki brought this to the fore - as teenagers are always exploring themselves, all parts of themselves, all the time - including sexual identity. Good on him for this.

The sensory language and imagery could have been a bit sharper - again, I think another edit round could have been needed - but when he wanted to use it, Kotecki could really use it. Everything concerning Mariette's abilities and how flowers changed around her were gorgeous, as were the images of the uber-stylish Rosary going off to Diaboliques every Friday night.

Final verdict? If you're looking for something new and exciting within paranormal YA, definitely check out this book. "The Suburban Strange" is out now from HMH in North America, so be sure to give it a read - it definitely deserves it as it's made my best of 2012 so far.

(posted to goodreads, shelfari, and birthofanewwitch.wordpress.com)

[Willa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book a lot. I always think it's interesting to read other people's reviews of books and see why they liked it or didn't like it. In the case of this book, several people had written that they didn't like it because there was too much description of clothing, music, etc., and that's precisely why I *did* like it. It just proves that old saw that there is something for everyone.

This book reminded me a little of reading Francesca Lia Block. Celia is the new girl in school and she is adopted by a clique that call themselves The Rosary. They dress up every day, all in black, and drive to school in a funereal procession of black cars. They purposely set themselves up as different and apart from the regular school kids; there are both boys and girls in the group, including a gay male couple.

Starting on the first day of school, girls are having accidents -- broken bones, bee stings, chemistry lab explosions. It is eventually figured out that the accidents are happening on the day before each girl's sixteenth birthday, but only to girls who haven't had sex. There is a paranormal element to the story, but it's almost incidental to the plot, as it is something that must be kept secret.

I enjoyed the moody atmosphere. I noticed quite a few reviewers said that the teenagers in the book weren't like normal kids; it's been a long time since I was in high school, and while my friends and I didn't dress up every day like these kids did, they actually did remind me a lot of my circle of friends and the way we behaved.

[Brownie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as the back cover so adequately points out, Nathan Kotecki knows exactly what points to cover when illustrating the worries of a high-school sophomore. His character, Celia Baulastine, has just enrolled in Suburban High, and a girl once wishing to disappear into the background now has a group of mysterious friends who try their best to gain the curious eyes of their classmates. They carry a nonchalant and darkly cultured air about them but immediately embrace Celia as a sister.

With this new courage, Celia's "average" life is portrayed, worried about school, romance, clothing, and her image. Her beautiful gift as an artist takes center stage. Soon, however the strange occurrences happening in Suburban, where girls on the eve of their sixteenth birthday are being hurt, distract her from any of this. As she discovers supernatural powers in the people around her and maybe even in herself, Celia must learn what is happening to her classmates before her own birthday comes...

With imagery and metaphors, Nathan Kotecki's style of writing pleasantly sets up the dark mood needed for this story without suffocating readers. I appreciated Kotecki's last comment to his readers the most, writing that he would be more than overjoyed if we would look up the names of his chapters, stating that they were in fact the albums that played as Suburban Strange's soundtrack.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The rating is closer to a 4 than a 3, so like a 3.5. This was a good book to begin a series for many reasons. The writing is great. The characters are well developed and show a great deal of empathy. I have to say that in choosing the names of characters, it was right. The names were not all ones you are used to hearing everyday and that's refreshing. The amount of detail in the storyline was in high amounts. It was in the characters well as in the environment they were in. The reader could connect to both without being too overwhelmed. It is hard to write a book appealing enough to stand out from the rest of the books within the young adult genre. This genre has gotten rather large. Bringing in an extra element is always a good idea and I believe Kotecki did it with the music. The aspect of the music in the story was a great way to view things in a different way.
The reason for the 3.5 is mostly because the introductions seemed to be a little long winded, but one must remember that it is the first book of a series. Many authors go through the same thing. Other than that there was nothing wrong with this book and I am excited to read the next one.

[Samara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this book.
I know there were mixed reviews of it getting slow, seeming to go nowhere, etc, etc. But, being that this is a debut novel, I thought the characters were really strong. The dialog could get a bit awkward, but was appropriate and foretelling, which I enjoy. The story was interesting, and yes, a bit slow in spots losing it a star but very, very good.

[Kimberly Hirsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celia Balaustine is entering her sophomore year of high school, but it’s her first year at Suburban High. She’s all set to spend the year trying to be as invisible as possible, with only her sketchbook for a friend, when fellow artist Regine takes her under her wing and introduces her to a clique called The Rosary. The members of The Rosary are interested in dark alternative culture, including literature, fashion, and music. They pride themselves on being different from the other kids in their school. But as different as her friends are from the rest of their classmates, Celia can’t help but be drawn into the school’s drama as young girls begin to be gravely injured on the eve of their sixteenth birthday. She wants to stop these incidents from happening, as well as protect herself from becoming the curse’s next victim. But can she?

My relationship with the author:

Before I jump into telling you what I loved about this book (and there’s a lot), I need to tell you how it came to my attention. My former supervisor Emily (whose old job I now hold) contacted me and told me that her friend was having his first book released soon and would love to get a big name to be present at his book release party, and she knew I had connections in the YA lit world and thought I might have some suggestions. After some back and forth, Emily and Nathan and I sat down for lunch so he could pick my brain for my expertise as both a kidlit blogger and a school librarian (by training if not position). Over the course of the conversation it came out that we are both seekrit goths, me coming at it more from the fashion angle and him from music, with both of us crossing over into the other interest some. I confessed my lack of education on the music part of things, and he assured me that he could fix that. So, yes, I do have mix CDs that serve as, essentially the soundtrack for this book. Yes, the author treated me to lunch since I am helping him with publicity. Yes, I felt like it would be good if I liked this book.

So know all of that, because I don’t want to deceive you about my relationship with this book.

What I loved:

Celia’s friends in The Rosary are darkly glamorous. They discuss music, art, and literature in ways that some reviews have suggested aren’t realistic for teenagers, but as a former high school teacher, I found this eminently believable. Kids are into all sorts of things, and some of them are beautifully pretentious. Mostly they grow into pretentious but self-aware adults, the kind of people I like to spend time with.
This book has a gay couple in the most stable relationship in the whole book. And it’s not a huge deal. They’re just a couple, who both happen to be guys. And they’re probably two of the most fully-realized characters in a book full of interesting people. They’re my favorites.
The curse has a component whereby girls who are virgins seem to be the only targets. This leads to a lot of frank but not vulgar discussions of sex, its importance, when you should do it and who you should do it with. I think books that model this kind of conversation are far preferable to those that ignore it or make it all gross.
The members of The Rosary are immensely studious. Yes, they do party at Diaboliques (described in Colleen’s review as a fairytale goth club and I can’t put it better than that) until three in the morning, but they also encourage Celia to do her homework as soon as she gets home from school.
There’s a romance in here that is a slow burn, which is exactly my kind of thing (both in my own love life and the stories I like to read). There won’t be any flailing and crying, “I love you, but also I want you to be my dinner!” here – the obstacles to romance are external reactions to internal circumstances and I kind of love that.
The decadence of description of the clothes, atmosphere, music, and Celia’s emotions. I spent a good chunk of this book being a little sad that I didn’t have a tightly-knit group of goth friends to shepherd me through school. (I had a tightly-knit group of diversely-interested friends who were wonderful, but I was one of only two of us you could categorize as goth, and not at all aware of it as a genuine subculture rather than just a cruel label folks gave spooky kids.)
The quiet menace of the supernatural. You know the whole time that supernatural stuff is going on, but it’s not the focus until far into the book.
The subtle way in which this fits the mold of a classic Gothic novel, going as far back as The Castle of Otranto and Jane Eyre and as recent as Rebecca or even The Thirteenth Tale.
What I’d like to see more of:

The school setting as a menace itself. This is definitely present here, but I have hopes that it will be even more present in future books in the series. I was lucky enough to hear Nathan speak to a young adult literature class at UNC’s School of Information and Library Science(my alma mater!) and he mentioned that the school itself would serve as a unifying thread throughout the series. I hope he explores the relationship of this place with the supernatural mythology he’s building more as the series goes on.
More supplemental materials (appendices, maybe?) consolidating the myriad cultural references. But I’m a librarian, so it’s likely I’ll do a re-read and pull together literary and musical references (perhaps even create a Spotify playlist) and share that here.
What I need to warn you about:
This book is deliberately paced. There was definitely a point at which I thought, “Okay, I see why the Amazon reviewers complained about it being slow.” That said, it’s all leading somewhere and it’s all valuable. If I were doing reader’s advisory, I wouldn’t hand this to somebody looking for fast-paced action. I would hand it to somebody looking for atmospheric spookiness.

The big climax and resolution of the mystery are not why you want to read this book. They are of course very important to have, but what’s going to keep you interested is the mood and the world-building. Don’t jump in here expecting a typical suspense thriller. If you ran the numbers, I suspect you’d find mystery resolution takes up a very small percentage of pages or words here. But the supernatural element is woven throughout.

My favorite quotes:

“We’re a set of small black shiny beads who string around together, finding beauty the rest of the world has overlooked.” (p. 5 in the ARC)

“We’re in high school. Of course we’re egocentric,” Ivo replied matter-of-factly. (p. 83 in the ARC)
Who should read it:
I would recommend The Suburban Strange to readers who like books with a lot of atmosphere, a little mystery, and a slow but sustained reveal of supernatural elements.

[Yancy Craft · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite enjoyable a high school/YA novel, without overdoing teen angst and without the melodrama replete in those other Adolescent Angst/Romance books that blend them together as no different one from the other. This one, however, makes a nice remarkable niche in the genre just by keeping its dramatic elements in check and using them to make the story identifiable as separate. The characters are likable, too, and, with the exception of one character, formed and distinct without mindless setting of an arbitrage amongst them.

[chels marieantoinette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cruel intentions vibes, for sure, but doesn’t live up to the hype of all the snobby references and oh-so-cultured names. A great and interesting premise, though.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was so boring. Even though plenty happens, it felt like absolutely nothing happened.

[Ally Peyton]

read it read it read it!!! SO GOOD

[Wandering Librarians · Rating 3 out of 5]

Celia is starting her sophomore year at Suburban High School. Celia has always tried to remain unseen, observing life from a distance with her sketchbook for company. This year will be different, however, since she's been adopted by an interesting group of students: The Rosary. Celia is beginning to find her confidence, but things aren't quite right at Suburban. The day before a girls' sixteenth birthday, she has a terrible accident. No one knows why it happens or how to avoid it. Celia begins to notice things others don't seem to see, and it seems to involve her Chemistry lab partner and the mysterious boy at The Rosary's favorite club, Diaboliques.

It took me a little while to get into this. At first I was like, "Is this going to be like Gossip Girl for the alternative set?" because there was a whole lot of detailed clothing description going on. It was getting a little draggy and boring. Luckily, as the book went on and the plot picked up, the clothes and music descriptions went to the background, which I liked a lot better.

Not that I didn't enjoy hearing about the clothes and music and the club The Rosary went to, it was just a little heavy at the beginning. I understand that a lot of that was setting the scene and making it clear how different the kids in The Rosary were from the regular old high school kids. It wasn't just their taste in music or their carefully selected black and gray clothes. It also had to do with a level of confidence and how they carried themselves.

At first Celia feels like an impostor, but she grows in her own confidence. This was a story as much about Celia coming into her own as it was about the supernatural occurrence at her high school. At first Celia is just going through the motions, still afraid to be seen and in awe of these coolly aloof people who all seem so interesting. Gradually Celia comes to see she has quite a bit to offer herself. This is all going on, of course, while strange things are happening to the girls of Suburban High.

Celia learns that there are people know as the Kind and the Unkind who have powers. There is an Unkind in the midst of the high school, who is trying to fulfill an admonition that involves killing a girl before her sixteenth birthday that will grant him or her more power. Luckily, Celia's chemistry lab partner, Mariette is one of the Kind, and is trying to figure out who it is and protect the girls.

Another of the Kind Celia encounters is Tomasi, the gorgeous, mysterious stranger she meets at Diaboliques, who then disappears for a period of time. Tomasi, of course, becomes the romantic interest, but he wasn't much of a character. He seems like a nice guy. Literary. But his character doesn't get looked at very much. He's just sort of there, and honestly, doesn't add a whole lot to the story. Did there just have to be a love story, or will perhaps Tomasi become more important in later books? I hope it's the latter. He has a cool power.

Celia is strangely tired to the Kind. She notices them when no one else does. She keeps showing up in their admonitions. Both Mariette and Tomasi are convinced that Celia is also one of the Kind, but Celia doesn't think so. She doesn't have any powers and she hasn't received an admonition. But if she's not, what is she?


I wonder if The Rosary will be in the next book, and if so in what form. Several of the members graduated, and of the three who remain, two of them weren't developed very much. Perhaps they will fade away, but I hope they get their chance to shine. It could be interesting.

In Nathan Kotecki's author blurb it says he "...has DJ'd at the largest goth club in New York City..." I wonder if that would be Batcave. When Diaboliques was first being described, it kind of reminded me of Batcave, with it's three separate dance floors and multiple levels. I think that's the biggest goth club. Or at least it was. I wonder if it even still exists.

The Suburban Strange came out October 9, 2012.

[Chapter by Chapter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, when I first started reading the Suburban Strange I judged the book by its cover and assumed that because of how pretty the cover is that the rest of the novel would follow off from there. Was I correct? Definitely, in some areas. But honestly, the one thing that had me wanting to even give the story a try was the bit of titling that tells readers about how Celia’s sixteenth birthday could be the end of her life as she knows it. Dun, dun, dun! That being said I expected the story to be this action filled thriller and what I got was something else entirely. The Suburban Strange was an entertaining and gothic read.

And I mean that in a literal sense, the characters are Goths but stray far away from the clichéd view of Goths. They don’t wear white face paint or black lipstick. The characters in the Suburban Strange wear black clothing and music that is very dark and somewhat ethereal. The novel itself throws us into the life of main character Celia Balaustine who is entering a new school and a new life for herself. Instead of being the outcast she was last year, Celia becomes a member of an elite clique known as the Rosary. Celia now has friends, an interest in darker clothing and music and is thrown into the realm of the supernatural!

Whoa! The supernatural? Yes the supernatural because if you’re going to have gothic characters, gothic club going and punk music you need to have some supernatural elements to make the story awesome-sauce. At Suburban High (which already sounds like it would be stuffed with the supernatural) sophomore girls are dying the day before their sixteenth birthdays. While Celia does witness most of the “accidents” she knows that they hold deeper and meaning and begins involving herself in the Kind and the Unkind.

The simplest way to define the Kind and Unkind is by saying that the Kind are people who have a natural affinity for white magic and the Unkind are people who have a natural affinity for black magic. And one of the Unkind is trying to kill an innocent teenage girl the day before she turns sweet sixteen. I have to admit that there was a lot of hype built up on the topic and I was highly disappointed by the turn of events that unfolded on Celia’s sixteenth birthday.

All I’m gonna say without spoiling the story. All in all, I really did enjoy the story. It didn’t have over the top romance and stuck to the plot rather than ramble on aimlessly on the subject of romance. This novel was a lot darker than most of the YA novels that I’ve read lately and I have to admit that I’m happy I enjoyed the story. Celia is a character who isn’t afraid to put herself in danger to save others and beneath her skin she is still afraid of becoming an outcast again. My only complaint is that I found the pacing to be inconsistent. It was up, down, swirl it around and that would cause my mind to wander away from the story and to the internet. A lot.

I would recommend the Suburban Strange to fans of the YA supernatural, teen-fic and of thrilling reads.

[Klaudia Janek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly Recommended [return][return]Celia Balaustine transferred to Suburban High at the start of her 10th grade year. She wants to reinvent herself and not be the same person she was at her old school. Celia is a highly talented artist, who catches the attention of a girl named Regine. Regine introduces Celia to her tight knit group of friends who call themselves The Rosary. Celia become part of this group and for the first time in her life, has a place to belong. The Rosary wants everyone in the group to do their homework, study, have an after school job, look sophisticate and expand their artistic horizons. They hang out at a club on weekends to listen to music and dance. Then weird things start to happen at school. The story takes on a paranormal twist and every 16 year old girl is at risk of getting hurt at Suburban High. The Rosary may have the answers to this school curse.[return][return]One of the first things to catch the readers’ attention in this series are the character names. They are definitely unique. The cover gives off a dark, eerie, gothic vibe and the reader can expect the same from the writing. I think readers will be introduced to new music and artists that inspired parts of the writing. The characters were really into discovering new music (being the perfect outlet for the author to share the music he likes). I would like to know the reaction of today’s high school students to the music references. Most of it seemed to be 80s-90s dark alternative music. I enjoyed it because I was familiar with most of it…but I am not sure about the average 16 year old. I love that some of the setting takes place in a used bookstore and the conversations about visual arts. Unusual for a YA book. I think this book can be classified as an urban fantasy. There are elements of romance, mystery, intrigue and the paranormal. I like how the story did not end with a huge cliffhanger, but hints at the future. I am looking forward to the second book.[return][return]I think this book is appropriate for a school library. It will appeal to the visual arts/music students and those interested in the gothic or indie scene. I would promote this book to both boys and girls. I don’t see it fitting into the curriculum directly, but it’s definitely a good pick for fun reading. I think it’s the perfect book during a school break (I’ll put it on my Spring Break books display). It would make for a good book club pick. The book made me want to go listen to the author’s playlist. Overall, it was a unique and intriguing story. I’m rather surprised that I was not able to find professional reviews of this book.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Suburban Strange was an odd but pleasurable reading experience. I didn't really know what to expect, having not seen many reviews of it before reading but I suspected that it was not your typical YA paranormal romance. This suspicion is quite accurate. I feel like the best way to approach this review is to divide it into the two main parts of the book: the contemporary and the paranormal.

The contemporary falls main character Celia falling in with slightly older kids (junior and senior to her sophomore status) who are very sophisticated, consciously striving to be more cultured and open to new experiences, holding themselves apart from the rest of the student population. This can be seen in their clothing to their carpooling practices to their outside pursuits to the music they listen to. This could have easily led to some kind of horror story where they were inducting her into a dark secret society but no, they were more instruments of her gaining confidence and undergoing a transformation to figure out who she wanted to be. Actually they helped make a rather good high school experience for her. I appreciated the music recommendations in this section as well as a shout out for The Awakening by Kate Chopin which is on my to-read list. I guess I felt I got a bit of education along with Celia in that respect.

The other section, the paranormal part, is almost entirely separate because Celia runs in the two different circles. This relates to the synopsis of girls almost dying on the eve of their sixteenth birthdays. Who could be acting in such a malicious way? Well, Celia teams up with the brightly shining Mariette (a really fun character) who is one of the Kind. That is, she is kind of a witch but you should not use that word. There is also a love interest but certain circumstances prevent him from playing too big of a role in the story. One disappointment in this regard was the final confrontation over the person responsible for attacking those girls-I thought it was over way too fast and easily.

Overall: I can definitely see this book being kind of divisive. It's a book I would classify as paranormal but it's not really like most other paranormals I've read. The characters aren't necessarily ones you'll strongly connect with but the writing is exquisite and I found the plot incredibly intriguing. I never considered putting it aside; I had to know how it would end.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little story was definitely different. For the most part I found it enjoyable. The story is about a girl named Celia who goes to a new school where she is taken under wing by a group of students who call themselves The Rosary. Suddenly accidents start to happen at school to girls on their 16th birthday. It soon happens so many times that no one can pretend its just a coincidence anymore. Things really start getting strange when Celia meets a boy at a gothic type dance club and then he disappears.

So the plot peaked my interest. However all through the novel I kept waiting for some secrets to start unraveling with these mysterious Rosary teenagers, but to be honest they had very little to do with the mysteries. Looking back, its almost like they didn't have much to do with anything except giving Celia a few friends and talking about their cool indie music. Unfortunately even that was stale because the music was all cool indie music, but it was almost all from the 90's and real teenagers today would have also been referencing cool indie music from today. This just read like the author was paying homage to the indie music he grew up on which is beautiful but didn't fit into this story in a realistic way. (For the record I am an avid Tori Amos fan and loved his reference to 'Crucify').

The mystery was interesting and I didn't completely figure out the whodunit before all was revealed which is a huge plus in my book. I also was shocked by a turn of events with a character I thought was far more interesting than the Rosary kids. The love story was also somewhat unusual and I liked Tomasi and his backstory. Celia herself was a take her or leave her character and even after her 'growth' in the story I feel like I maybe would have liked the old Celia better.

Despite any criticisms I don't want to turn away potential readers because this is a different story from a lot of what is out right now and I think the author has a nice style. The tale was slow to take off but I was never bored by it and never wanted it to just move along. It was definitely worth reading and I think anyone who finds the plot appealing would probably enjoy this tale.

[K.D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard Nathan Kotecki speak at a local bookstore in NC. I think the best thing I can say about his debut novel is this: I’d already bought the Kindle version when I went to the reading, but forgot to bring my Kindle. I got so wrapped up in reading a display hardcover while I was waiting for the author to begin that I ended up purchasing it again.

YA is a very, very crowded genre. There’s such a glut, that I rarely follow a YA story through to the end, not unless it has more substance than a popular plot. I also want to see quality writing, and an attention to detail, and solid character-building, and consistent and creative world-building. THE SUBURBAN STRANGE, absolutely, has a depth and weight that most YA novels lack.

I’m not going to recount the plot; others reviews have done that. I just wanted to tick off a couple bullets that stood out for me:

* Some genuinely funny, clever lines: “Celia wouldn’t have known what to do with a boy even if he had been delivered to her in a shipping crate with breathing holes cut into the top.”

* Some beautiful description: “Hearing that music had been like seeing a color she never had seen before, or finding a new room in the house where she had lived for years.”

* Since the novel takes place over a high school year, the author invests a lot of time in slowly developing the central characters. Their individual tastes really stand out -- like Marco’s fashion sense, or Celia’s knowledge of art, or Brendan’s taste in music. Even better, the author is adept at sharing a love for these. I felt that I really learned a little bit more about fashion, and alternative music, and artwork.

* The novel is sort-of a YA Urban Fantasy, if such a genre exists; but the use of magic is sparing, which adds to the sense of wonder when it appears on the page.

* The end of the novel leaves the story wide open for a series, but doesn’t end on a cliffhanger --- which I appreciate. And I enjoyed the book enough that I’m looking forward to reading more.

Altogether, an incredibly well-worded and compelling story.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celia Balaustine is a new transfer to Suburban High, where she is befriended by a mysterious group of students called the Rosary. Plentiful references to contemporary music and art are incorporated into Celia’s orientation to the exclusive Rosary group. As Celia embarks on a journey of self-discovery and forges new relationships, she becomes aware of a supernatural conflict between good and evil -- the Kind and Unkind. When her lab partner becomes a fatality in the curse that has been cast on girls who are turning sixteen in her school, Celia must confront the malicious Unkind responsible for the situation.

Two elements will rivet the reader’s attention and compel the reader to read Nathan Kotecki’s debut novel. One is the Rosary. Readers will devour details of what is like to be an insider of an exclusive coterie that is more clever, more edgy, more attractive, and more sophisticated than any other social group. The references to music, art, and literature will stretch readers’ horizons as they (inevitably) explore and sample new possibilities woven into the text. Although storytelling would generally have the Rosary dabbling in the supernatural, instead this is a group of cognoscenti teens pushing their intellectual and creative boundaries. Readers will also long to find a chic haven like Diaboliques. Secondly, Every intellectual outcast who has longed for an elite group of sympathetic allies will be drawn into Kotecki’s spell-binding tale of the underground conflict between good and evil. Even if no supernatural powers were involved, it would appear that most people fall into one category or the other. Due to the curse affecting girls about to turn sixteen, virginity is a recurring topic in “The Suburban Strange;” the subject is handled deftly. A same-sex relationship is also no cause for fanfare.

Since the story has an open ending, fans are going to demand to know what happens in Celia’s junior year at Suburban. Be prepared to buy the sequel, “Pull Down the Night.”

[Jasmyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Suburban Strange is going to be a fantastic series - the first book has me hooked to Celia's life and I NEED to know what happens next. The first book follows her first year at Suburban High and her adjustment to living as a member of the elite clique The Rosary. It's the first time she's felt included and important and she hopes to make a whole new life for herself.

She does that and then some. Learning about the Kind and Unkind and finding out it's all true and part of her life. It's not just part of her life, it's threatening to take her life. When the time comes for the curse to find her she needs to make a very tough choice.

Celia's group, The Rosary, seemed to have the potential to be a bad influence at first. But you quickly discover that they are true friends for her. They introduce her to music, art, and literature that blows her mind (in a good way). There is actually a playlist in the back of the book that I will be checking out this weekend. Her cultural horizons expands as does her self-confidence. Now they aren't perfect by any means, but they were amazing friends throughout the story. She has a couple other friends outside this close knit group and they all play very important roles in the story as well - sometimes even more important than The Rosary.

The story itself unfolds in a way that makes you keep reading. There was no "down time" just times where it slowed down to an easy jog so you could catch your breathe. I did figure out who the bad guy was early on, and it made me want to scream at Celia a few times for not seeing things that seemed obvious to a reader. Nathan Kotecki isn't afrad to shock you a little or make you feel. There are a lot of highs and some very deep lows in the story that only made it more enjoyable and easy to fall in love with all the characters.

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