(Image from Barnes & Noble)

(Note:  While this review will not contain spoilers for The Shadow Cabinet, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from previous Shades of London novels.  As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.)

When Stephen Dene dies, Rory Deveaux doesn't think.  She just acts.  As a human terminus, the American teen has the power—well, she's pretty sure she has the power—to save a dying person.  Not to bring him back to life, but to turn him into a ghost.  It's a desperate action, the only way Rory can keep the man she loves in her life.  The question is:  did it work?  If Stephen is one of the many spirits who wander the streets of London, why can't she find him?  And, what if her plan failed?  How will Rory live with her grief and guilt if Stephen is really, truly gone?

While keeping an eye out for Stephen, Rory and the other supernatural detectives have another problem.  Charlotte, Rory's boarding school classmate, is missing.  She was last seen in the company of Jane Quaint, her therapist.  As Rory has come to realize, Quaint is more than just a psychiatrist.  Also a possessor of "the sight," she recruits teens who are likewise gifted into what Rory suspects is a cult.  The group may, in fact, be responsible for a number of deaths.  Whatever power Jane may possess, though, pales in comparison to that of a dangerous pair of ghosts recently arrived in London.  It's up to Rory and her team to stop them all from hurting anyone else.  Can the "ghost squad" stop Jane and her cohorts before it's too late?  Or will they, like Stephen, go missing in action?

I've loved Maureen Johnson's Shades of London series since it began (with The Name of the Star).  It's not the most original YA supernatural series out there, but it's one of the only ones that combines all of my favorite things—intriguing characters, an atmospheric setting, vivid prose, and pulse-pounding action—in one elongated story line.  Each of the books brings something new to the table, which keeps me anxious for sequels.  Since The Madness Underneath ended in such a torturous cliffhanger, it felt like I waited a decade for The Shadow Cabinet to come out.  This third book in the series begins where the last one left off, answering the question of Stephen's fate, while adding in lots of new thrills.  Like its predecessors, The Shadow Cabinet is a perfect blend of creepy and funny.  It's compelling, thrilling, and satisfying.  My only complaint is that I now have to wait another decade for the fourth and final book in the series.  Waaahhh!

(Readalikes:  The Name of the Star and The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson)

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My kids have been out of school for a couple days now and, let me tell you, parenting just got a lot more real around here!  For the past ten months, all four of my children have been spending most of their day at school.  Now that summer break is here?  They're home.  All day.  With assorted friends in tow.  My quiet halcyon days are no more—now they're filled with the sounds of video games, cartoons and whines of "I'm bored" and "Mooommmm, he/she's teasing me!"  Every summer I wonder if I'm going to survive the next couple months, let alone the remainder of my parenting career (which, as you know, is pretty much a life-long thing). 

Enter Julie K. Nelson, a blogger, college professor, and (most importantly) the mother of five children.  Her new book, Keep it Real and Grab a Plunger, offers some tried-and-true, down-to-Earth advice about how to maintain your sanity while working "the toughest job you'll ever love."  Parenting isn't for wimps, after all.  Nelson's 25 Tips for Surviving Parenthood are a little random—they run the gamut from how to soothe your child's fears to inspiring kids through learning their family history to controlling Internet use at home to the importance of having a pet.  Each section offers expert advice pulled from Nelson's own experience, quotes from prominent members of society, and suggestions from other moms who have spent some time in the parenting trenches. 

Keep It Real and Grab a Plunger doesn't say anything new or revolutionary.  You've heard it all before.  But, Nelson says her piece in an upbeat, encouraging manner that makes her book very readable.  Truthfully, I wasn't expecting any big a-ha moments while reading it, so the chapter on yelling (Keep It Real ... and Take a Time-Out) surprised me with its aptness.  It offered some great tactics that I hadn't necessarily considered (Let your kids record your tirades with a cell phone?  That would be sobering.)  As parents, we need all the help we can get (even if we've been on the job so long we think we know everything), and Keep It Real and Grab a Plunger offers that.  Maybe you won't learn anything new from it, but maybe you'll find a nugget or two of useful information.  I did.  So, while this book won't revolutionize the parenting world, it's definitely worth a read.  

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Cora Mason is supposed to be on the slopes skiing with her family.  In fact, the last thing the 16-year-old remembers is composing song lyrics in the passenger seat while her brother drove to the ski resort.  But what she sees now isn't snow.  She's alone in a vast sea of sand.  Cora's a senator's daughter—maybe this is a kidnapping?  Except her surroundings don't even seem real.  There's something off about them, something surreal and dream-like to the whole situation.  The more Cora explores the land around her, the more confused she becomes.  A patchwork landscape like this can't exist.  Farms don't sit next to jungles, nor tundras next to deserts.  Where in the world has she landed?  And why is she here?

Soon, Cora discovers other teenagers, all wandering the strange terrain in various states of astonishment and fear.  As they learn to regard each other with a wary trust, they also discover the chilling truth about their new living quarters:  the odd habitat has been designed especially for them, the newest exhibits in a human zoo run by a highly intelligent alien race.  To remain in the safety of the zoo, all they have to do is obey—they must eat, sleep, exercise, and procreate.  If they do not comply, they will be auctioned off to private collectors who use captured humans for their own murky purposes.

While some of her comrades agree, preferring known horrors to the unknown, Cora refuses to be controlled so easily.  Her new-found friendship with one of the alien guards may be the key to escape.  But, as the human captives turn their backs on Cora and her otherworldly captors grow more suspicious of her intentions, life in the zoo is becoming increasingly dangerous.  Can Cora find her way home?  Or will she be forced to live like a caged animal, kept alive only as long as she does what she's told?  

Megan Shepherd, author of The Madman's Daughter trilogy, must have a stomach of steel.  In her debut series, she addressed the bloody art of vivisection in all its fascinating goriness.  Her new YA novel, The Cage (available May 26, 2015), is no less horrifying with its vivid and disturbing depictions of humans being kept as exhibits and pets.  As disconcerting as the idea is, though, I have to admit it makes for an intriguing premise, one that pretty much guarantees an intense, nail-biter of a story, which The Cage certainly is.  Pulse-pounding action isn't the only thing the novel has going for it—mix in interesting, complex characters; thought-provoking philosophical questions (What is real?  What does it mean to truly be free?); and a taut, survivalist adventure tale; and you've got yourself an edge-of-your-seat, can't-put-it-down thriller.  My only real complaint is I wish the kids hadn't met the Kindred quite so soon.  A more anonymous antagonist (a lá LOST or The Maze Runner) would have made the story even more suspenseful.  Despite that small annoyance, I couldn't look away from this one.  It kept me totally engrossed and completely mesmerized.  I'm already dying to read the next book in the series.  

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of The Maze Runner trilogy [The Maze Runner; The Scorch Trials; The Death Cure] by James Dashner and a little of the t.v. show LOST)

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