Another Little Piece

July 1, 2013

Gr 10 Up-Annaliese returns to her family in Buffalo after disappearing. She has complete amnesia, a terrible scar on her forehead, and brain damage. However, the teen seems no worse for it-until she finds herself craving human flesh. Little by little, memories begin to surface, but they are not hers. Rather, they belong to Anna, the being who has taken over Annaliese's body. Anna's memories are of living one short year in the bodies of many other teenage girls until it is time for the bloody ritual that allows her to transfer to yet another. The old body turns to dust as the new one is inhabited. Anna realizes that she is some sort of monster. She is determined to stop the horrifying cycle with the love and support of an outsider named Dex, who has his own dark secret. Her story is nicely written in short segments, each with a title, and independent poems are dispersed throughout. The author cleverly assists readers in mentally switching between the past and present as the story unfolds, while the poems allow them to get to know the real Annaliese. The mystery builds at a leisurely pace, giving plenty of time to plot and character development. The varied story elements also tie together neatly at the end. This supernatural romance will fit the bill for teens who like eerie mysteries tinged with grit and gore.-Mindy Whipple, West Jordan Library, UT

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2013
Is this a psychological or paranormal novel? Readers will decide as they explore the possible past lives of a girl who claims that she really isn't who or what people think she is. Missing for nearly a year, Annaliese remains certain that she is actually a razor-wielding monster who takes girls' lives and then their places until she moves on to another. Returned home to her stoic father and hysterically possessive mother, Annaliese stays so distant from her parents that she refers to them as "the mom" and "the dad." She connects only with Dex, the strange boy next door, who takes videos of people's deaths. She keeps finding intriguing poetry signed "Annaliese" that often connects to events she experiences, but she hides these. Convinced that she's actually a girl called Anna, an unpleasant boy named Eric stalks her, as does Logan, the popular jock Annaliese once loved but now finds annoying. Although the writing remains interesting throughout, the plot unfolds at such a glacial pace that readers may become frustrated. They identify scenes from Annaliese's possible past lives mainly from the changing character names, and these become so numerous that readers may need to chart them to keep track. Late in the book, the plot begins to cohere, but many readers may have given up by then. Nevertheless, fans of gruesome paranormal fiction may enjoy something this original. (Suspense. 14 & up)

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May 1, 2013
Grades 9-12 Seventeen-year-old Annaliese was last seen running from the woods during a party, screaming and bloody, before vanishing in front of her classmates' eyes. When she is found wandering far from her Buffalo home, she has no memory of the year she has been gone and no memory of being Annaliese. Her parents, her friends, and her longtime crush are all strangers to herbut if she is not Annaliese, who is she? Strange, violent memoriesnot just of being Annaliese, but of being other missing girls, toocoupled with periodic cannibalistic urges cement her fears that she may be a monster inside another girl's skin. Quinn's debut about the dark side of reincarnation mixes psychological mystery with the paranormal, slowly revealing hints of the violent cycle Annaliese is trapped within. Too many details are withheld for true satisfaction, and a bevy of side characters (a menacing figure called The Physician, a fellow skinwalker, a set of brujas, and a love interest who predicts people's deaths) sometimes obfuscate the story. Nevertheless, this gory, suspenseful thriller will appeal to fans of eerie fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2013
According to DNA evidence, the bloody girl who stumbles out of the woods after being missing for a year is Annaliese, accomplished poet and beloved daughter. But the girl herself has no memories and no idea who she is; the only thing she does know is that "I wasn't Annaliese. I never would be." Once the novel sets up this intriguing contradiction, it gets creepier. There's something sinister about the chubby redheaded boy at school; Annaliese's ex is unnaturally obsessed with her; the guy next door, Dex, has his own dark secrets; and most disturbing of all, the girl is struck by hunger pangs -- for her classmates. Well-paced flashbacks reveal that the girl, originally named Anna, took Annaliese's life, and the lives of many girls before her, by preying on their insecurities and secret desires. And she possesses their bodies through a grotesque (not for the squeamish) ritual. As the final puzzle pieces fall into place, Anna knows she is doomed to kill someone else. This supernatural story takes readers on a gripping, frequently bloody ride that is, in Anna's relationship with Dex, also strangely romantic. Author Quinn skillfully occupies the mind of a young woman who turns out to be a monster -- yet one who's not beyond redemption. rachel l. smith

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2013
According to DNA evidence, the bloody girl who stumbles out of the woods after being missing for a year is named Annaliese, but the girl herself has no memories and no idea who she is. This supernatural story takes readers on a gripping, frequently bloody ride that is also strangely romantic.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)