“The exceptional narration of Vicki-Ann Bush ties readers to the story with the promise of an unimaginable twist. And the sensitivity with which the plot presents the concerns of a transgender teenager is praiseworthy. Alex McKenna & The Geranium Deaths by Vicki-Ann Bush has just the right blend of paranormal activities, family love, complicated romance, and realistic characters.” -Ankita … -Ankita Shukla for Readers’ Favorite
For Alex McKenna, high school is just a distraction from the love of his life, Margaret, with whom he can’t wait to spend more time once they get to college.In many respects, Alex is just an average seventeen-year-old boy…except for the fact he’s a transgender medium born from a long line of Strega witches, possessing the ability to communicate with ghosts.
With the help of Margaret and his talented Strega great-grandmother, Alex will learn how to strengthen his abilities. The dead need Alex to help them reconcile issues they left behind—and he finds that he needs them, too.
As his abilities multiply, assisting the dead becomes an outlet to channel his new energy, giving him the strength to come to terms with who he is as a transgender male, and how far he will choose to go.
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Alex seems to be a regular seventeen boy, but in reality, he is “the next generation” of a powerful line of witches of whom duties are to help blocked souls to cross over to the light and stop the evil ones from harming the alive and dead alike. With the help of his family and (girl)friend he also appears to deal with a more personal issue.
The story of Alex McKenna & The Geranium Deaths starts quickly without delays, the background information being inserted here and there where and when necessary. Interlaced within dreams and reality, the past and present events offer new pieces to complete the ghostly puzzle. A puzzle that does not form a clear image as the face of the culprit is not easy to be seen. The danger is lurking and looming in the shadows, keeping the heroes and readers alert if not prepared for what is to come next. The author nicely dosed the gore intensifying the emotions as it sits well when fighting evil. The confrontation scenes are dynamic and visual without unnecessary delays or tricks.
The characters are nice, they and their dialogues are plausible and efficient. Vicki Ann-Bush has succeeded to make the reader feels that in a world in which everything is wanted to be changed, understanding the value of a (traditional) family and community is important.
The rhythm is good, the pages fly quickly. Maybe, in the first part, the traditional culinary mentions, albeit interesting (yummy!), hinder the pace a little. Also, I think that Alex’s gender transition does not have any relevance for the story or the character as the reader would expect from the blurb. It does not influence his decisions or his personality, there is no evolution of the character from this point of view. He is a boy from the first page to the last. Or maybe that is what matters.
Keeping short, Alex McKenna & The Geranium Deaths was a pleasant read and I’m confident that many YA readers will like the danger and challenges that Alex’s special abilities bring. I’m curious now about what Vicki-Ann Bush prepared for us in the next two volumes.
Enjoy!
https://mythicalbooks.blogspot.com/2021/11/review-alex-mckenna-geranium-deaths.html
Alex seems to be a regular seventeen boy, but in reality, he is “the next generation” of a powerful line of witches of whom duties are to help blocked souls to cross over to the light and stop the evil ones from harming the alive and dead alike. With the help of his family and (girl)friend he also appears to deal with a more personal issue.
The story of Alex McKenna & The Geranium Deaths starts quickly without delays, the background information being inserted here and there where and when necessary. Interlaced within dreams and reality, the past and present events offer new pieces to complete the ghostly puzzle. A puzzle that does not form a clear image as the face of the culprit is not easy to be seen. The danger is lurking and looming in the shadows, keeping the heroes and readers alert if not prepared for what is to come next. The author nicely dosed the gore intensifying the emotions as it sits well when fighting evil. The confrontation scenes are dynamic and visual without unnecessary delays or tricks.
The characters are nice, they and their dialogues are plausible and efficient. Vicki Ann-Bush has succeeded to make the reader feels that in a world in which everything is wanted to be changed, understanding the value of a (traditional) family and community is important.
The rhythm is good, the pages fly quickly. Maybe, in the first part, the traditional culinary mentions, albeit interesting (yummy!), hinder the pace a little. Also, I think that Alex’s gender transition does not have any relevance for the story or the character as the reader would expect from the blurb. It does not influence his decisions or his personality, there is no evolution of the character from this point of view. He is a boy from the first page to the last. Or maybe that is what matters.
Keeping short, Alex McKenna & The Geranium Deaths was a pleasant read and I’m confident that many YA readers will like the danger and challenges that Alex’s special abilities bring. I’m curious now about what Vicki-Ann Bush prepared for us in the next two volumes.
Enjoy!
https://mythicalbooks.blogspot.com/2021/11/review-alex-mckenna-geranium-deaths.html
Having the gift of sight would probably be helpful, but would it be scary? Imagine you are sleeping and you suddenly wake up to find a ghost sitting on your bed or standing over you, just waiting for you to open your eyes. That would be pretty terrifying for some. For others, it might be entertaining. Who knows. In this world filled with paranormal activity, Alex McKenna is the lead character and Bush has added a little bit of spice to his character. He sees ghosts! Who doesn’t love that?
Alex lives with his mom and his younger brother. His mom’s family has the gift of sight, the ability to see into the spirit world, but Alex frets that his brother won’t possess the gift since he hasn’t yet shown any signs. His grandmother helps where she can, but things are starting to fall on Alex’s shoulders now seeing as his mom tries to avoid the sight. All he wants to do is help them. When a dead body with a frozen head is found in his small town, he knows immediately that he has to become involved. This is definitely not natural. He enlists the help of his best friend, Margaret, and his mom. Getting his mom involved would only be possible if he gave her no ultimatum; he knows she seems them too, but she can’t hide from it. Looking into as much research as possible, it slowly leads them to the past…which happens to have a great deal to do with the house that he lives in. His beloved home once had a wicked past, filled with hate, that he never saw it? How is that possible? When another body is found the same way, Alex knows he is just barely scratching the surface and needs to find something fast. As if on queue, his grandmother reveals a pattern between murders. The killings seem to occur every six days leading up to Halloween. Wicked! Knowing a timeline helps, so Alex sets out to find as many answers as he possibly can before its too late and another death is on their hands. What awaits him, Margaret, and his mom is nothing more than the insatiable lust for revenge. Who’s revenge is the question? And once they’ve invited it in, how will they survive?
Bush has an interesting take on this YA Paranormal story. She’s included some mystery, suspense and a bit of a romance. From the narration, it is a bit hard to tell whether the story has been written well, as the narrator stumbles over a few words and repeats himself a few times throughout. These errors are few and far between, and should not hinder enjoyment of the story. Rothenberg does show his skill in his ability to captivate his audience by drawing personalities into the characters that Bush has created with his voice. His narration is entertaining and suits the story quite well. The pace appears to be well kept and steady during voice relay, while the tone of story switches back and forth between a light and more serious setting in the appropriate places. If you are interested in reading YA Paranormal, supernatural mysteries, and suspense, you may want to pick this one up.
An audiobook was provided to Turning Another Page by Audiobookworm Promotions and in no way affects the honesty of this review. We provide a four-star rating to Alex McKenna & the Geranium Deaths by Vicki-Ann Bush.