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What do you do when you are born to sing, yet, suddenly silenced? Stella finds herself in a world without sound. The challenge follows to find beauty in a silent world. It's Hayden, a teen boy who stutters, who will be her guide as she simultaneously leads him to find his true voice by looking at his past.

Deborah Lytton's YA release of Silence from Shadow Mountain is told from two incredibly honest points of view. The growth and truth discovered by the characters is inspirational. As Stella concludes:

"I know that dreams are for today, not for someday. They are for here. And now."

"Music is the silence between the notes." says Claude Debussy. We will be waiting for Lytton's next release, listening to the music resonating from Silence to her following work.

Silence
by Deborah Lytton
Shadow Mountain, 2015

Marianne Daventry will do anything to escape the boredom of Bath and the amorous attentions of an unwanted suitor. So when an invitation arrives from her twin sister, Cecily, to join her at a sprawling country estate, she jumps at the chance. Thinking she’ll be able to relax and enjoy her beloved English countryside while her sister snags the handsome heir of Edenbrooke, Marianne finds that even the best laid plans can go awry.

From a terrifying run-in with a highwayman to a seemingly harmless flirtation, Marianne finds herself embroiled in an unexpected adventure filled with enough romance and intrigue to keep her mind racing. Will she be able to rein in her traitorous heart, or will a mysterious stranger sweep her off her feet? Fate had something other than a relaxing summer in mind when it sent Marianne to Edenbrooke.

My Ridiculous, Romantic Obsessions. Becca Wilhite. 2010. March 2010. Shadow Mountain. 176 pages.

Mom pulls her new toy, a talking GPS directions-thingie up close to her eyes.

My Ridiculous, Romantic Obsessions is just too much fun! Sarah, our heroine, can't see herself starring in her own romance, and there is the problem! When Sarah meets Ben, she swoons. He is wow-worthy. But everything she's picked up from reading romance tells her that Ben wouldn't, couldn't be interested in her. Yet he's there. Again and again and again, Ben is there for her. Will Sarah open up her eyes and realize the truth in time?

This one works because of the humor. And because it's such a light, satisfying read.

Walking home with Ben . . . (Time out. Let's just take a second to enjoy the novelty of that phrase. Walking home with Ben. As in I Am Walking Home with Ben. If this moment were in a book, I'd be willowy and graceful, and he'd be smitten with my charm and dismayed at my appropriate distance. Things like this do not happen to me. Ever. I am not the girl who walks home with Ben. Or with anyone else, really. But for right now, I'm going to act like that girl. Okay, ready?) Walking home with Ben, I wonder if he's going to keep up a steady stream of chatter all the way back to my place. No such luck. (25)

This moment could be from a romance novel. Except there's no heavy breathing. And I'm not wearing a corset. And Ben isn't a pirate or a prince in disguise or a wealthy European landowner or a dashing older gentleman with a crazy wife locked in a tower. (39)

There's no use pretending that I'm some fashionably waiflike girl who doesn't anything but celery and bean sprouts, so when Ben asks if I want to get another cone with him, I get all shivery with anticipation. For the ice cream, too. (47)

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Now that alliances have been exposed, Kendra and her Fablehaven bunch are deciding whether or not to try to find the remaining artifacts that are needed to open the dreaded prison before the Sphinx and his followers do, or whether they should just leave everything be.

The decision is made when Kendra is taken and her sting bulb doppelganger is left in her place. She is being held by the Sphinx's minions and finds out that they have stolen the Oculus; the artifact from the Brazilian preserve that allows users to see everything at once. Kendra knows that the Sphinx can use this to find all of the artifacts needed to open the dreaded prison Zzyxz. She needs to escape and try to get to the artifact that Patton told her about in his journal before the Sphinx figures out how the Oculus works.

Once she is reunited with her grandparents and her Fablehaven family, it is quickly decided that they must venture to Wyrmroost, the dragon sanctuary where humans are NOT welcome, in order to get the artifact. The team is assembled and includes Kendra, Coulter, Tanu, Gavin, Warren, Trask, Mora, and Dougan. All have gifts that will help with the mission, but Kendra is still scared. She is happy that Gavin is coming, and not only for his dragon taming abilities. They have been exchanging letters, and Kendra is still harboring a bit of a crush.

All feelings have to be pushed aside once they reach Wyrmroost. It is a very dangerous place, and everyone has to be on his/her game to survive, let alone succeed.

Brandon Mull has written another fast paced, twist and turn filled adventure, where people aren't who they seem, and death lurks around every corner. The pacing is perfect and will keep readers on they edge of their seats as they expect the worst but hope for the best. In this installment, Seth is exploring his dark side, and is developing a depth that he didn't have before. He is quickly becoming a favorite character of mine.

I have always thought that Fablehaven would translate well to screen, and it is about to! It has been optioned, and I for one, can't wait to see the film version. Head on over to Brandon's site to find more information.

Mangum, Lisa. 2009. The Hourglass Door. Shadow Mountain. 416 pages.

It is the counting that saves him.

I love how this one starts. The prologue is intense, but in a good way. Full of promise. I'm not sure I can say it lives up to the prologue. Don't get me wrong, I really really enjoyed elements of The Hourglass Door. The last hundred (maybe hundred and fifty) pages were good. But in a four hundred page book, I wanted all of it to be good. I wanted to care about the characters sooner. I wanted to be swept up and away earlier. The heroine of this one is seventeen year old, Abby, (Abigail Beatrice). And Abby's life is fairly uninteresting. She has a drab-of-a-boyfriend, Jason, who lives across the street. He's perfect in that mundane, monotone way. (I think even the most novice of readers can guess by the second chapter that Jason is going to be history. Not that she breaks up with him then, but all the signs are there. His fate is sealed and he's clueless.) She's got a best friend, Valerie, who is mostly underdeveloped and more than a little annoying. But what saves Abby's life from being so helplessly boring is her connection with a new boy, a new "exchange" student named Dante. Dante whom we first met in the prologue is both Italian and mysterious. He disappears half the time. But when they're in the same room together--Abby is so feeling him--an awareness of his presence, the desire to know him better, to find out what makes him different. She doesn't know what it is about him, why it's so intense, but she knows that she is thinking about him way more than she should...you know, since she has a perfectly fine boyfriend, Jason.

Abby is assistant director of her school play, Much Ado about Nothing. Jason is on the stage crew, one of the builders of the sets. Dante is an extra who is anything but extra (he's so "essential" to her though they've just met.). The novel is set in the winter and spring of her senior year of high school. And for the parts set in high school, well, I hate to say this. But I had trouble caring. Is that awful of me? I knew Dante was the guy from the prologue. And I knew that eventually he'd make a big reveal about who he was and spill all his secrets in an oh-so-dramatic way that would make Abby swoon. And I cared enough about wanting to know Dante's secrets that I stayed with it. But quite honestly, until the climax starts really building there towards the end, I was bored with all the high school drama. All of the elements that grounded it in "realistic fiction" were boring. All of the elements that taunted me with it being fantasy kept me going. I wanted the fantasy. So as soon as Abby's reality begins shattering and splintering, once the good stuff starts happening, then I was there, I cared.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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If you're reading this on a site (other than Becky's Book Reviews or Becky's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission..