March 1, 2025
Grades 9-12 Cam has never really cared that he was normal, whereas his best friend, Al, is a witch. And he's had no qualms about crushing on a werewolf, Mateo. In fact, he was pretty excited about the new school, Central Shady Hollow High, redistricting students--from sprites to vampires--all over town. What Cam does care about is all of the unwanted attention he receives from Shady Hollow's supernatural town factions after unexpectedly having a psychic vision. While the town factions vie for his attention, Cam assembles a group of friends to help solve the murder of the mysterious woman in his first glimpse. When the only clue he has is the victim's face from the perspective of the killer, he's in for quite the challenge. In a similar vein to Lukens' previous works Spell Bound (2022) and Otherworldly (2024), this speculative novel is more about the complications of fitting in and finding oneself than anything else, with an added sweet romance and intriguing mystery at its core.
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March 15, 2025
At a school for both human and paranormal teens, a human starts displaying clairvoyant abilities. Cam and his best friend, Al, are finally at the same school again for sophomore year. Despite his mom's disapproval of Cam's interest in all things paranormal, Cam's loyalty to Al, who's a brown-skinned nonbinary witch, is steadfast. Cam also has a crush on werewolf Mateo, who's cued Latine. But when Cam, who presents white, has a terrifying vision of a stabbed woman, he's no longer a human on the periphery of paranormal society--he's the first clairvoyant in the area in a century. Suddenly, a local psychic guild and a coven are courting him like he's a star athlete choosing a college. As Cam explores the possibilities, he befriends members of each organization in a sweet chosen family arc. But can his friends help him figure out the details from his first vision and prevent a murder? In this universe, queerness is accepted without question. Instead, anti-paranormality acts as a metaphor for homophobia, manifesting as forced outing, systemic oppression of paranormal people, and even conversion therapy. The novel also explores the problematic nature of stereotyping by humans, who label werewolves aggressive, sprites mean-spirited, psychics detached, and witches immoral. A fun, twisty mystery with deep undertones.(Paranormal mystery. 14-18)
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March 28, 2025
Gr 7 Up-On the first day of his sophomore year, Cam wakes up as a perfectly normal human, albeit one whose new school is full of magical creatures and whose best friend is a witch named Al. At the end of the first day, Cam comes home with inadvertently activated psychic powers. Navigating his magic-phobic parents complicates Cam's life just as much as being wooed by all the different magical factions does-wooing that includes conflicts with Al and new friends with questionable motives. As the date of the murder Cam saw in his first vision approaches, the newly assembled group of magical misfits has to work together to find answers about Cam's rare gift and prevent the vision from coming to pass. In addition to the high school murder mystery, the relationship between Cam and Al is an excellent, relatable plotline for younger teens who are going through the sort of friendship changes that come with growing up. As with most Lukens novels, there is romance present but it remains mild and secondary to the plot. The race to save the girl from Cam's vision moves quickly and is easy to follow, with each character's strengths and weaknesses remaining plot-relevant throughout. There is diversity of race, gender, and sexuality among the main characters. VERDICT A must-have where fantasy is popular, especially for collections accessible to younger teens.-Austin Ferraro
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