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From Booklist

The second Hex Hall novel follows young demon Sophie Mercer to a huge, gorgeous English country estate with her powerful warlock father, where she can learn more about her heritage and decide whether to go through with her decision to remove her magical powers. Sophie is surrounded by handsome boys: her crush, demon-hunter Archer Cross, and the hunky but taciturn magical healer Cal. Although this second title lacks the plentiful humor of the first, narrator Sophie's delivery is still delightfully brash, and the many action scenes lend a cinematic feel. An abrupt ending sets up readers for at least one more title. Grades 7-11. --Debbie Carton

About the Author

Rachel Hawkins(www.rachel-hawkins.com) was a high school English teacher before becoming a full-time writer. She lives with her family in Alabama, and is currently at work on the third book in the Hex Hall series. To the best of her knowledge, Rachel is not a witch, though some of her former students may disagree....

Jamie Carpenter's life will never be the same. His father is dead, his mother is missing, and he was just rescued by an enormous man named Frankenstein. Jamie is brought to Department 19, where he is pulled into a secret organization responsible for policing the supernatural, founded more than a century ago by Abraham Van Helsing and the other survivors of Dracula. Aided by Frankenstein's monster, a beautiful vampire girl with her own agenda, and the members of the agency, Jamie must attempt to save his mother from a terrifyingly powerful vampire.

Department 19 takes us through history, across Europe, and beyond - from the cobbled streets of Victorian London to prohibition-era New York, from the icy wastes of Arctic Russia to the treacherous mountains of Transylvania. Part modern thriller, part classic horror, it's packed with mystery, mayhem, and a level of suspense that makes a Darren Shan novel look like a romantic comedy.<

Fifteen-year-old Reggie loves all things scary. When she finds a mysterious journal about wicked creatures that inhabit the bodies of children on Sorry Night, the eve of the winter solstice, she just considers it fun bedtime reading. The journal says that once inside a human, these creatures, the Vours, assume the victim's personality, banishing their soul to a dark netherworld called a "fearscape." Wonderfully frightening, but Reggie assumes they are just the musings of an anonymous lunatic. . . . until one extraordinary night, when she learns that Vours are indeed real, and that she must fight them to save the people she loves. With help from her mentor Eben, a bookstore owner, and her best friend Aaron, Reggie traces the owner of the journal to an abandoned house, where she comes face-to-face with a Vour and learns to devour her fear before it devours her. With suspense, surprises, and its share of gore, The Devouring will please both thriller and horror fans.<

Suspense/Thriller/Romance. 56642 words long.<

Drink with the Devil opens during 1985 off the northwest coast of England, where an audacious hijacking by Irish Protestant paramilitaries results in the disappearance of one hundred million pounds in gold bullion. The haul and hijackers are last known to be en route to Ireland on the seagoing barge Irish Rose, when it goes down in a fierce, sudden storm, leaving only two survivors - Michael Ryan, the mastermind behind the plot, and his mysterious accomplice, Martin Keogh. Ten years later, with the peace process faltering in Ireland, the president of the United States receives information about the whereabouts of the Irish Rose and her golden cargo - riches that may be used by terrorist powers to finance an Irish civil war. When an unexpected, sinister force becomes involved in the plot to retrieve the lost gold, it quickly becomes clear to British and American authorities that swift and desperate measures are necessary to resolve the crisis. Inspired by the old principle "Set a thief to catch a thief, " the British prime minister assigns the task to Sean Dillon - once the most feared IRA enforcer, now in the employ of British intelligence. Step by step, a deadly cat-and-mouse game unfolds, as increasing odds and old allies from a deadly past confront Dillon. Anything less than his complete success will be disastrous.