His death was ruled an accident by the police. Months later, one of them was found dead on the sofa the morning after their end-of-year party. In 1995, six university students moved into the house at 215 Caldwell Street. Murder on the Orient Express meets The Last Time I Lied in this gripping thriller set in a remote Scottish mansion. Author Tracy Deonn’s YA contemporary fantasy, Legendborn offers the dark allure of City of Bones with a modern-day twist on a classic legend and a lot of Southern Black Girl Magic.Book Description Hardcover. She soon learns about a secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.īut when a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” attempts-and fails-to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw, it unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory that may lead to answers about her mother’s death. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape-until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus: a flying demon feeding on human energies. After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. Mix together a concoction of secret student society, supernatural creatures, and Arthurian-inspired magicians at war, and you get Legendborn. A boy who still haunts Straitley’s dreams twenty years later.

But while Straitley does his sardonic best to resist these steps toward the future, a shadow from his past begins to stir again. With insolvency and academic failure looming, a new headmaster arrives at the venerable school, bringing with him new technology, sharp suits, and even girls to the dusty corridors. But every so often there’s a boy who doesn’t quite fit the mold. Oswald’s Grammar in North Yorkshire, England, Latin master Roy Straitley has seen all kinds of boys come and go. That’s the vibe you’ll get from this dark, psychological suspense tale about a sociopathic young outcast at an antiquated prep school and the curmudgeonly Latin teacher who uncovers his dangerous secret. Sure, Harry Potter has his fill of murderous mayhem at Hogwarts, but take it one step further and imagine a story more centered on the evil that is Tom Marvolo Riddle, sans magic.

They Did Bad Things by Lauren A. Forry