"We must repent and repair, and tread with care, for the Devil is running amok in Massachusetts" (47).

The last thing on Earth 12-year-old Deliverance Trembley needs is more problems. She's already nursing her frail older sister, completing all the chores around the farm while her uncle's away, and doing her level best to convince the nosy citizens of Salem Village - as well as herself - that she and Remembrance haven't, in fact, been abandoned by said uncle. When rumors of witchcraft sweep through the town, it makes Deliverance shudder. Hysteria's taken over people's good senses, and there's no telling who will be accused next.

Unlike a lot of girls in the village, Deliverance knows how to read and write. When she finds a blank book in her uncle's farmhouse, she starts journaling as a way to vent all the feelings she holds inside. It becomes her solace, her haven, a place to record not only her own emotions, but also her exhiliration and fear as witch hunting fever takes over the town. Deliverance has never been tight with the accusing girls. Crossing them now means risking a hanging. But as careful as she is to watch her step, Deliverance has never been good at holding her tongue. Will her skepticism about the girls' "ability" put her own head in the noose? With her uncle gone, her older brother training with the militia, and her own sister caught up in the witch hunts, Deliverance has no one to turn to, no one to protect her. Only in her diary can she express her true thoughts - dangerous thoughts, thoughts that could get her in trouble if anyone ever read them ...

Not all blended families work as well as Willa Coffey's. She's lucky and she knows it. Her stepfather Jack is a kind, involved parent who treats Willa like his own daughter. His girls, 17-year-old Brooke and 14-year-old Alyssa, might wear designer clothes and fly off to Europe whenever they feel like it (all courtesy of their mother), but they're down-to-Earth enough to be likable. Willa's mom runs the household, making sure things stay organized, calm. And it does. Most of the time.

It's no secret that I love Susan Beth Pfeffer - just take a gander at my left sidebar and you'll see she's one of my favorites. I adore her dystopian "Moon" series, her blog, her silly cats, and just ... her. Still, I'm not sure how I feel about Blood Wounds, her newest YA novel (available September 13). The structure of the book surprised me since it took the story in a completely different direction than what I was expecting. Because of what happens to Willa's father after he leaves Texas, what should be the most exciting part of the novel becomes rather anticlimatic. In fact, the first third feels too rushed. I would have liked a more intense, detailed setup before Willa starts searching for all her family secrets. That being said, I did enjoy Blood Wounds. It's an honest, thought-provoking novel full of interesting characters, skilled prose, and mostly realistic plot turns (I still think Willa should have run off to Texas without telling anyone - I don't get why her parents let her go with so little protest). So, I didn't like the book as much as I wanted to, but that's okay. I won't be taking Susan Beth Pfeffer off my favorites list anytime soon, especially seeing as how she just finished writing a new Moon book. Squee!

(Readalikes: Um, I can't really think of anything. Can you?)

Grade: B-

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 for language (no F-bombs) and violence

To the FTC, with love: I received an ARC of Blood Wounds from my wonderful book blogging friend, Amanda, who presumably received it from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Thanks!

Lucia Ewing learned a lot of things from the Christian Science religion in which she was raised: She learned that she was created in God's image, she learned to love Him, to feel His presence all around her, to learn of Him by studying the Bible, and to pattern her life after that of Jesus Christ. She also discovered that because God made her, she was perfect. Germs and disease were man-made problems that should be "cured" not with doctors or medicine, but with faith and prayer. It's this last issue that bugged her. Especially when it meant suffering excruciating pain after a nasty fall off her bike or battling her father over something as ordinary as a pair of eyeglasses. So glaring was the hypocrisy surrounding the issue that Lucia could no longer stand it - for that and other reasons, she left the church, even though it tore her parents' hearts out.

Some girls pretend they are princesses. Or rock stars. Or supermodels. Not my daughter. She plays "famous author." I had to smile when I spied her sitting at a high counter recently with her like-minded cousin, the two of them sipping hot chocolate, nibbling on muffins and writing in their notebooks, a la J.K. Rowling. Mark my word, those two will be bestselling authors some day. What has made the two of them so keen to write? How have my sister and I fostered this love for the written word in our girls? Um, yeah, your guess is as good as mine. Okay, there are things I've done - reading to her since she was little, making sure she was always well-supplied with books, praising her writing, etc. - but I never set out to create a writer. A reader, yes. The writing? It just kind of happened.