FIVE GIRLS. AN ISOLATED CONVENT. A SUPERNATURAL PRESENCE. A DARK SECRET.SHORTLISTED for the 2017 Dante Rossetti Awards for Young Adult Fiction!I can’t believe it has come to this. The way things have blown out of proportion. I only wanted to contact my dead father. Ask his forgiveness.Seven months.Seven months isn’t that long, is it? I’ll go through the motions, no need to make friends that I’ll … the motions, no need to make friends that I’ll never see again. When you get close to people, you end up getting hurt.
Puerto Rico, 1973
17-year-old Paloma only wanted to hold a séance to contact her dead father. She never thought she would be kicked out of school and end up in an isolated convent. Now, all she wants is to be left alone. But slowly, she develops a bond with a group of girls: kind-hearted Maria, insolent Silvy, pathological liar Adelita, and their charismatic leader Rubia.
At night, the waterfall’s dark music haunts her dreams of drowning…
When Paloma holds another séance, she accidentally awakens an entity that has been dormant for years. The body count begins. Someone doesn’t want the secret out…
Are the ghost and Paloma’s suspicions real—or only part of her growing paranoia and delusions?
If you love the vibes in “The Craft” and “Pretty Little Liars,” you’ll enjoy this mess-with-your-head, YA supernatural/psychological thriller!
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Chameleon by Zoe Kalo
4 Stars
The cover of this book caught my attention first. It’s beautiful. It has nothing to do with the book but it’s forgivable. It’s breathtaking. I think the title is perfect for the story found within. I read the synopsis and became immediately intrigued. A seance, a convent, ghosts and mentally unbalanced teenagers. Maybe there will be an exorcism? Well there wasn’t an exorcism but I did find a very interesting, well written story filled with secrets, trauma and teenage angst.
There are moments that feel surreal and others that are downright creepy. This is not a horror story though. You must remember that the story takes place in Puerto Rico in 1973. There are situations that families couldn’t deal with so the “problem “ was hidden away in a convent. Hoping God will take care of it. Mental illness and victims of sexual assault needed to be kept hidden.
Paloma is sent to the convent and becomes friends with a group of ragtag misfit girls. She connects with them all differently and doesn’t know if she can trust them. She’s seeing a ghost and hearing things. She feels like she is going crazy but she knows that there are secrets hidden within the walls. People are dying. Can she uncover the truth?
The author has a way of telling the story which constantly keeps you guessing. The complex characters and mystery will have you quickly turning the pages. For me, the only disappointment was the ending. The last couple of chapters felt rushed. Paloma was trying to figure it all out. I turned the page and the book ended. I needed to go back and reread the last chapter because I felt like I had missed something but I didn’t. I feel confused and I don’t know what happened.
I have never read a book by this author previously, but I found it to be very intriguing once I got into the first few chapters. I thought that her way of developing the characters was different but in a positive way. There was a lot of mystery, secrets and lies. No one could be trusted and just when you thought you knew what was about to happen a curve in the road lie ahead to throw you off course. It was a mystery. A puzzle that you had to put together and the last piece wouldn’t be put into place until she was ready. I really didn’t feel a huge connection with any of the characters but could sympathize with them with their dark pasts. If you love books that will keep you on the edge of your seat right up until the end, then this is the right book for you.
This book had me hooked from the first page. I love psychological thrillers, and I love spooky things. This brought both of them in glorious fashion for me. The girls at the convent were mysterious and intriguing- i loved reading more and more as their stories were becoming more convoluted. The only reason I am giving this 4 stars is the ending – it felt rushed to me, like hitting a brick wall. Overall though the book was amazing.
3.5 stars
Chameleon by Zoe Kalo is a dark and eerie YA paranormal (or is it?) story. We are faced with the usual angst that YA’s go through plus each of them have very dark secrets. Please be aware that there are trigger issues such as mental health issues, rape, and psychological manipulation.
I found myself confused and I struggled to read some parts due to the way it was written and had to go back and re read them. The premise is good, but it felt like at times we needed a little more detail to make this story and the characters really shine and make this a great story. However, the mystery and suspense keep you wanting to know what is going on.
First off, the title to this book is spot on! I read the whole book in one night. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. There were so many twists and turns that you never knew what was going to happen next. It was thrilling.
The author shined some light on some metal illness which as someone who also suffers from mental illness was very captivating for me. It helped me to connect to the main character Paloma. She was struggling to understand what was real and what was in her head which just added to the darkness of the book.
It was very well written and easy to connect with the characters.
I would highly recommend reading this title if you are looking for a mysterious and dark quick read!
Five stars, good grief, five stars. This books was full of twists and turns and I loved every one of them! Paloma is a great character and this book was very well written, I wish it were longer! Also was my first book from this author. Very impressed!
I thoroughly enjoyed Chameleon. A fast read that engaged me early and kept me reading. Excellent world-building and descriptions. I struggled a little with some of the Spanish references I’d not encountered before (thankfully I could easily look them up on my Kindle!). I would have given this book five stars except I was so disappointed in the ending. It felt as though the author had a word count to stick to and rather than sparing a few extra hundred words to wrap things up it felt like it ended abruptly. On the plus side, I have spent the day since re-writing the ending in my head and so the story has truly not left me. Absolutely worth reading.
Chameleon by Zoe Kalo is a young adult paranormal story that will leave you questioning your own surroundings.
Paloma is sent to a convent because she was trying to contact her dead father, though this doesn’t stop her. After trying once more to contact her father, strange things start
happening. Is she imagining things, or is there something more going on here? Are her new friends people she can trust, or are they half the problem? Just how far would you be willing to go in order to talk to the deceased?
Chameleon is a gripping tale that will grab your attention from the start. 17-year-old Paloma is sent to an all-girls Catholic boarding school for unclear misbehaviour, and is befriended by a group of girls that are by turns empathetic, helpful, and strange. There is an underlying tension in her relationship with these teens that only adds to the intrigue of this haunting book. The supernatural is everywhere in this tale, from the waterfall that Paloma is oddly terrified of, to seances contacting the dead, to ghost sightings in the corners of peoples’ vision. This book definitely elicited some creepy vibes, and I felt increasingly unsettled as the story wound on. Zoe Kalo is great at allowing spaces for readers to fill in the blanks, which adds to the air of suspense in this book.
I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked up CHAMELEON by Zoe Kalo, but I loved the cover and I knew I wanted to know more. I am so glad I picked it up! This sucker took me on one heck of a ride. I was up well into the night cuddled up into my covers and constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure I was actually alone lol. This sucker scared the crap out of me at times and that is saying something for me, a seasoned ghost hunter. I loved it and was sad to see it end. I loved how this wove like a true story and as if I was right there with the characters. Hence the scare, when the scenes are set in convents and mental institutions. This isn’t one you want to miss if you love a good scare and a true mind boggle treat!
I loved this spooky thriller book. One character that I didn’t like was Rubia the ring leader. Something about her just rubbed me the wrong way. The rest of the characters were well written. I wanted to hide Amelia away from everyone just so she could have a break from being picked on. I loved the spooky thriller parts and some made my skin crawl. Definitely a good read and will be going on my personal bookshelf!
This is a Young Adult Ghost novel and is 252 pages. This story follows a 17-year-old Paloma as she unleashes a ghost that has been dormant for years. This story takes place in the early 70’s. She held a séance to contact her father and that got her kicked out of school and she ends up in a convent. All she wanted was to be left alone. She made a few friends there and decided to hold another séance which awoke an entity and the body count is building. Good character building and research.
This book was a page turner. I was hooked from the very beginning. I loved how Kalo keeps you in suspense from the first to last page. It was a great way to introduce myself into more supernatural reading. With all the twists in this book, I was on the edge of my seat. So many emotions while reading this, which makes me want more and more.
“Chameleon” is a paranormal/gothic YA suspense novel by author Zoe Kala.
Puerto Rico, 1973: After being kicked out of her old school for performing a séance (and other “illicit” acts), Paloma finds herself abandoned by her mother and stepfather at an isolated convent. Completely alone, 17 year old Paloma decides to survive the seven months until the end of the school year, and to try her best to avoid everyone and everything. But when a popular girl named Rubia is assigned to be Paloma’s mentor and tour guide, Paloma is soon immersed in a small group of friends who are intrigued by the paranormal and encourage Paloma to attempt a séance at the convent. As soon as the séance is completed though, tragic accidents begin to plague the campus, and one of their own is dead. But is a ghostly force to blame? Or something far more sinister?
“Chameleon” is creative, and it has a “Madam” (by Phoebe Wynne) or “Prep” (Curtis Sittenfeld) kind of vibe, in that a group of young girls at a boarding school (of sorts) get together and trouble ensues. In “Chameleon” though, the trouble is of a paranormal sort, or at least that is what is implied.
The characters in this novel, in pure teenage fashion, are not what they seem. All of them are likable, in their own angst-y ways, but it is obvious that all of them have some deep, dark skeletons in their closet. Paloma was especially relatable, and her relationships with her peers played out in a very realistic way.
A few sections of the book play out like ‘dream sequences’, where things happen in rapid succession, and the sequence of events is portrayed in a very disjointed way, almost as if in a delusional state. It reads like a dream, and I expected it to be such, but then it is discovered that the events are actually happening, and I was left struggling to catch up. Some major details were skimmed over in these sections, and although I understand what Kala was going for, I desperately wanted those spaces filled in in my mind.
I am not sure if this novel is part of a series or not, but the ending sure reads like another book may be forthcoming. Although most of the unanswered questions receive satisfying answers, there is a dangling carrot at the end that is not completely resolved.
“Chameleon” is well-told, with dark, gothic settings and disturbed young female characters who are somehow still likable. Kala does a great job bringing a reader along for the ups and downs of the plot, and I was thoroughly invested in seeing how this novel would end.
Paloma, 17 years old, is forced to leave behind her family and spend the remainder of her senior year of high school in a convent. Wanting to do nothing but read and make it through the next seven months, Paloma quickly finds herself forming a friendship with a group of long time residents of the convent. But what is really happening at the convent? Are the girls and the nuns all what they claim to be? Filled with heart pounding suspense, Chameleon is an edge-of-your-seat supernatural thriller that keeps the reader guessing until the last page. Murder, ghosts, paranoia….all wrapped up into one novel. A must read that was impossible to put down!
There is no literary experience like “Chameleon.” Zoe Kaloan takes the reader on a spellbinding, supernatural thriller of intense emotions involving loss, grief, and terror. It is with a broken heart that a 17-year-old Paloma holds a seance to contact her deceased father and ask him for forgiveness. The contact didn’t go as planned and the forgiveness never extended. Instead, Paloma was sent to a secluded convent where her desired solitude is interrupted by well-meaning girls who befriend her. Against better judgment, the girls hold another seance and instead of contacting Paloma’s father, they awaken a sinister entity. The bodies start to be found and no one can be sure if the supernatural is entirely to blame. Written for young adults, it is an enjoyable read for an older audience as well. Easy to understand why Kaloan was SHORTLISTED for the 2017 Dante Rossetti Awards for Young Adult Fiction and she is one to be on the lookout for in the future!