#Kristin Cast

[ruindunburnit]

Uhhhh, guys?

It's happening.

The Film of Night is HAPPENING.

[afterblossom]

Book cover illustration for Draw Down the Moon by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Graphic Designer: Kerri Resnick

[bookaddict24-7]

(New Young Adult Releases Coming Out Today! (April 1st, 2025)

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Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know!

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New Releases:

Deadstream by Mar Romasco-Moore

The Coven Tendency by Zoe Hana Mikuta

Run Away with Me by Brian Selznick

Meet Me at Blue Hour by Sarah Suk

All the Stars Align by Gretchen Schreiber

Sunlight Playing Over A Mountain by Selina Li Bi

Beasts by Ingvild Bjerkeland

Messy Perfect by Tanya Boteju

Payback Girls by Alex Travis

Renegade Girls by Nora Neus & Julie Robine

Into the Light by Claudia Gray

The Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton

Where Shadows Meet by Patrice Caldwell

Blood Moon Bride by Demet Divaroren

New Sequels:

Holy Terrors (Little Thieves #3) by Margaret Owen

Lady Knight (The Diamonds #2) by Amalie Howard

Give Up the Night (Moonstruck #2) by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Huda F Wants to Know (Huda #3) by Huda Fahmy

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Happy reading!

[books-in-a-storm]

February 2025 JOMPBPC: Day 15 Love Yo'Self

[richincolor]

Interested in adding to your summer reading list? Check out these five books that are out today:

The Color of a Lie by Kim Johnson Random House Books for Young Readers

In 1955, a Black family passes for white and moves to a “Whites Only” town in the suburbs. Caught between two worlds, a teen boy puts his family at risk as he uncovers racist secrets about his suburb. A new social justice thriller from the acclaimed author of This Is My America! Calvin knows how to pass for white. He’s done it plenty of times before. For his friends in Chicago, when they wanted food but weren’t allowed in a restaurant. For work, when he and his dad would travel for the Green Book. This is different. After a tragedy in Chicago forces the family to flee, they resettle in an idyllic all-white suburban town in search of a better life. Calvin’s father wants everyone to embrace their new white lifestyles, but it’s easier said than done. Hiding your true self is exhausting — which leads Calvin across town where he can make friends who know all of him…and spend more time with his new crush, Lily. But when Calvin starts unraveling dark secrets about the white town and its inhabitants, passing starts to feel even more suffocating–and dangerous–than he could have imagined. Expertly weaving together real historical events with important reflections on being Black in America, acclaimed author Kim Johnson powerfully connects readers to the experience of being forced to live a life-threatening lie or embrace an equally deadly truth.

Dancers of the Dawn by Afzal Zulekha Rock the Boat

Dancer. Warrior. Executioner. Deep in the desert a storm is brewing. Under the blazing sun, an elite troupe of dancers are trained to harness their magic. They are the queen’s most formidable assassins. Aasira has one of the rarest talents – for she is a flame-wielder. Feared by all and envied by some, she uses her power to execute enemies of the crown. Aasira’s greatest wish is to serve her queen. But on the eve of her graduation, with tensions rising among the dancers and secrets stirring in the shifting sand dunes, she begins to question whether she was truly born to kill…

Hearts of Fire and Snow by David Bowles and Guadalupe Garcia McCall Bloomsbury YA

Award-winning authors David Bowles and Guadalupe García McCall reimagine a beloved Aztec tale of star-crossed lovers with one last chance to reunite. Blanca Montes wants to make a difference in the world, to do more than her wealthy godfather and spoiled boyfriend think her capable of. So when Greg Chan shows up as a new student at her Nevada school, she is more than intrigued by this handsome, brilliant stranger. But Greg and Blanca are drawn to each other by something stronger--their fates entwined centuries ago. In his first life, Greg was Captain Popoca, and Blanca is the reincarnation of Princess Iztac, who took her own life after believing her beloved Popoca was sent to his death in battle. Greg has spent a thousand years searching for his lost love, and now the fates have given them one more chance to reunite. Will their hearts finally beat as one?

Icon and Inferno (A Stars and Smoke Novel, 2) by Marie Lu Roaring Brook Press

Spies meet romance meet popstars in this thrilling follow up to Stars and Smoke by bestselling author Marie Lu. A year has passed since superstar Winter and secret agent Sydney Cossette went undercover - on a dangerous mission to bring down the baddest man in London. Winter hasn't stopped thinking about Sydney since, and she's been trying not to think about him Family secrets and nasty newspapers has Winter desperate to re-enter the secret world. And it's not long before he gets his chance. Sydney is back, and this time the mission goes right to the heart of the United States of America. A rescue gone wrong, an assassination attempt - and the return of an old flame - puts Winter right back into the action . . . and into a country on the brink of chaos. And when a murder accusation has Sydney on the run, suddenly it's not just a life at stake, but all-out war.

Seasick by Kristin Cast & Pintip Dunn Delacorte Press

There's a killer on board a luxury yacht, and two former friends must team up to figure out which of their privileged classmates has a penchant for murder before they become victims themselves. Don't miss out on this gripping thriller from New York Times bestselling authors Kristin Cast and Pintip Dunn! Ex–best friends Naya Morgan and Yana Bunpraserit have always felt like outsiders in their small Oklahoma town. But this year, everything changes when they’re inducted into an exclusive society of Yatesville High’s top recent graduates. Unimaginable opportunities await them, starting with a celebratory yacht trip to Bermuda. Despite the likely onslaught of microaggressions and backhanded compliments from their peers—in addition to their own rocky past—Yana and Naya are ready for an epic voyage. Then one of their classmates is brutally murdered, leaving them stuck at sea with a killer. Yana and Naya may have avoided each other for years, yet as the body count rises, rekindling their friendship might be the only way they’ll both survive.

[xdarkeningkrystals]

House of Night's movie adaptation is in development.

It's based on the first 2 books, Marked and Betrayed.

Kristin looks forward to the director because of her work with colors and describes it like a "Vampire Fashion Show."

PC Cast is involved in production, including the script.

Nobody who worked on Vampire Academy is working on this.

It will be modernized and translated into film but will still have House of Night's Heart with "Love".

Casting is already under way.

[proceduralbob]

We all have bad things inside us, and we all choose either to give in to those bad things or to fight them.

Untamed, P.C. & Kristin Cast

[haveyoureadthismgyabook]

Series info

Book 1 of House of Night

Book 2: Betrayed

Book 3: Chosen

Book 4: Untamed

Book 5: Hunted

Book 6: Tempted

Book 7: Burned

Book 8: Awakened

Book 9: Destined

Book 10: Hidden

Book 11: Revealed

Book 12: Redeemed

[semper-legens]

36. Redeemed, by PC and Kristin Cast

Owned: No, library Page count: 310 My summary: It's the final showdown. Zoey is sitting in a lockup, accused of murder. Neferet is on the loose, ready to complete her ascension to godhood. The forces of Light and Darkness hang in the balance. But can Zoey and her friends stop Neferet's plans? Or is this the end of the House of Night? My rating: 1/5 My commentary:

It's over! It's done! The evil is defeated! The House of Night has not broken me, and I return the conquering hero! Okay, okay, there are other House of Night books, but they're novellas and a spinoff series, so for my purposes they don't count. Because if I had to read any more of this, I think I would actually go insane. Anyway, it's over, and surprise surprise, I have proved my initial thesis by discovering that they were, in fact, just as bad as I remembered them, if not worse. I'm glad to be putting this series behind me, and I'm especially glad to not have to order these books through work and probably be judged by my coworkers for my choices. So. Finale. Let's do this.

Zoey, as our protagonist, should come first. The last book left us on a cliffhanger where she was being arrested for lashing out with her Seer Stone and killing two men. She's horrified by that - and I thought it was trite and came outta nowhere. The other thing, however, is that it was so obviously going to be overturned. The Old Magic was using Zoey, the Seer Stone did it and not her, and the two guys were creeps anyway. Well, I wasn't wrong, but it was even worse than that! Neferet actually killed them, and confesses as such readily to the police. Zoey doesn't need to be racked with guilt, and the whole thing blows over in a handful of chapters. It's laughable how quickly this gets brushed under the rug. The character arc is meant to be that Zoey grows up into a true High Priestess - that she chooses Light, learns compassion, and ultimately becomes a fair and true leader. The problem, as ever with this series, is twofold. The first is that nothing Zoey ever does has been wrong. Like in this instance; her actually killing those men unjustifiably (or semi-justifiably) would have shown an actual character flaw, but she's exonerated in seconds. If anything, it's used as proof that she's too critical of herself, too good. Her instincts are always right, and she never fails to make the right decision when she listens to them. There's no tension, no growth.

But second is the fact that she doesn't do anything! Most of the ways things are resolved in these books are to do some vague magic, listen to a prophecy, or channel Nyx. This one's in the former category, Zoey needs to cast her circle and channel magic and cast spells (why the fuck are these books not about witches!) in order to save the day, but magic's never been something she's had to work at. It's always come easy to her. All she needs to do is follow her instincts, and she can do magic that other characters will exclaim has never been done before by a fledgeling. She doesn't struggle, she doesn't have to work at anything, she doesn't gain skills. She just stands there and says some prayer rhymes and then the problem is solved. There's no tension, because there's no work being put in. Zoey can just do everything she needs to as soon as she realises that she needs to do it. Oh, and she fully goes through the Change at the end. Which is functionally meaningless, because she already had way fancier tattoos than any adult vampire. It's basically an afterthought.

And then there's the Cherokee thing. Zoey has Cherokee descent, and it's revealed that that's why she was chosen and gifted in the manner that she was. She needs an ancient connection to the land alongside being one of Nyx's chosen vampires in order to channel old magic and become a powerful priestess. Except…the setting of this book is Oklahoma, a place the Cherokee didn't live until they were forcibly evicted from their home in Georgia in the 1830s. Hardly an ancient connection to the land. And furthermore, this is the only way in which Zoey's Cherokee lineage affects her character. What's her opinion on Cherokee customs and legends? We don't know, because the only context in which she will discuss them is her grandmother - it's less respect for a culture and way of life and more love for a single person. The only things Zoey does that reflect her heritage is occasionally smudging as part of her magic practice. She is described the same as the white characters. It feels less an integrated part of her background as a character and more just some 'exotic' flavour that Cast put in to make Zoey more special. And, of course, there's a lot to unpack in the automatic assumption that having Native blook inherently makes one more connected to the land in a magical sense while being largely divorced from any actual Cherokee beliefs and practice, and in fact only bringing up Zoey's Cherokee heritage when she can use it to solve a problem. I may not know much about Cherokee practice, but I'm willing to bet that Cast didn't either.

Also, there's weird worldbuilding stuff going on here. First, linked to the above point, is Zoey the only person with Native heritage to ever be Marked? It's not mentioned that there are any other Native vampires - we see a few black people who are vampires, but no other Native people. How is this possible, demographically? The vampire population is said to be quite small, but it's incredibly vague as to what that means. Secondarily, the humans are weirdly accepting of the fact that magic is real, the vampire goddess is real, and beings like Rephaim and Kalona exist. Sure, they do live in a world where vampires are an accepted part of life, but at the same time the average human is consistently depicted as being largely ignorant of anything to do with vampire culture and history. Many are seen as being dismissive to vampire powers. But here, they're just like 'yep that sounds correct don't let me stop you', and it's jarring.

And there's an overwhelming flavour of copaganda to some of it. After being released, Zoey and co work closely with the police, who are presented as being reasonable and helpful - their leader, Marx, even having the same gut-instinct sixth sense that the main characters share. Zoey's little prison stay is largely forgotten except as a quirky side-note. That, plus the fact that Damien's new reporter boyfriend is from Fox, leads me to strongly suspect some conservative leanings on the part of the Casts. Let's be real, a real-life police department would be literally useless in this situation - and yet, their presence on Zoey's side seems to be legitimising her goodness, as though having the police behind you automatically means you're right. Ugh.

Okay, time to talk Neferet. Or rather, Lynette. See, most of Neferet's part of the story is taken up by her new minion Lynette, an events organiser who pledges herself to Neferet out of self-preservation after Neferet starts possessing and/or murdering people. She has never shown up before, and in a series with this many characters, it's kind of egregious how much time is spent with her rather than literally anyone else. What happened to Neferet's connection with the red fledgelings, where did that go? Anyway, Neferet continues to be femme-fatale evil in a way that is wholly uninteresting. She's flirtatious and sexual, she murders people all the time for no real good reason, and her plans are shaky at best. How exactly she thinks that anything she's doing will make her a goddess is a little weak. And she's one-note the whole way through. Flirty villain, control freak, murder murder murder…her takedown is less satisfying than inevitable, and thoroughly uninteresting at that.

As I've alluded to before, the fact that there were so many plot threads and so many characters established in the earlier books leads to a situation where nothing but the main plot is resolved effectively. Shaylin and Nicole are dating in the background, pointlessly. Aphrodite remembers she has issues from her upbringing for one chapter, wherein those issues are resolved seamlessly. Minor characters like Lenobia are just sort of there. Ex-boyfriend and sidelined character Erik gets like two chapters where he's said to be less of a douche and gets pair-the-spares'd with Shaunee, with uncomfortable remarks made about how she's a black girl dating a white guy. Prophet/poet Kremisha shows up for essentially a cameo. Nobody seems to remember all their dead friends - given how short a timescale this is, they surely deserve more than a token mention? Kalona gets to die heroically and pointlessly. Rephaim…still turns into a bird sometimes. Some of the threads, like the evil red fledgelings or the conflict with humans and specifically the church, are dropped outright. It really feels like Cast didn't have a plan going into this and was just making things up as she went, which doesn't lead to a satisfying narrative overall.

So, that was House of Night. It was bad! It was beyond bad! How this shit ever got published is honestly beyond me. But it's done, it's conquered, and I am never looking back. So long, terrible vampire books. You are exorcised from my life now.

Next, something mercifully different. Villains!

[the-final-sentence]

After all, Naya had proved she and Yana could handle getting a little seasick.

Kristin Cast & Pintip Dunn, from Seasick

[ashleysalcove]

Am I the only one who misses book trailers and when authors had websites that were super fun to visit? Like say what you want about the HON series but the Casts’ had an amazing website for that series. The yearbooks. The trailers. The merch. The wallpapers. I also loved the way they would put posters behind the covers of the hardback editions. It made me want to collect them all. It was so so fun back then. I wish authors would bring stuff like that back.

[mxphoebesviewpoint]

Audio Review: Draw Down the Moon by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

New York Times bestsellers P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast return with a new duology set in a dark and magickal world filled with incredible danger and irresistible romance. Wren Nightingale isn’t supposed to have any powers. Born of magickal parents but not under a moon sign, she was destined for life as a Mundane—right up until she starts glowing on her eighteenth birthday. In a heartbeat, Wren’s…

[bonafiedbookworm]

So excited!!

I read the series in High school, I found my copies and I am going to reread the series!!

[bookaddict24-7]

NEW YOUNG ADULT RELEASES! (APRIL 2ND, 2024)

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HAVE I MISSED ANY NEW YOUNG ADULT RELEASES? HAVE YOU ADDED ANY OF THESE BOOKS TO YOUR TBR? LET ME KNOW!

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NEW STANDALONES/FIRST IN A SERIES:

Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens

Hearts Still Beating by Brooke Archer

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

The Misdirection of Fault Lines by Anna Gracia

The Black Girl Survives this One by Various

Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew

The Break-Up Lists by Adib Khorram

Trajectory by Cambria Gordon

Darker by Four by June C.L. Tan

Draw Down the Moon by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Something Kindred by Ciera Burch

No Going Back by Patrick Flores-Scott

Fate be Changed by Farrah Rochon

Call Forth a Fox by Markelle Grabo

Every Time You Hear that Song by Jenna Voris

What if...Loki was Worthy? by Madeleine Roux

NEW SEQUELS:

Wrath of the Talon (Talon #2) by Sophie Kim

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Happy reading!

[books-in-a-storm]

March 2025 JOMPBPC: Day 22 Bored To Tears

[libertyreads]

Book Review #3 of 2024--

Seasick by Kristin Cast and Pintip Dunn. Rating: 3 stars.

Read from January 2nd to 6th.

I kind of have a bone to pick with this book. I purposefully pick up YA Mystery/Thriller novels because, to me, they're just better than the ones in the Adult age range. But this one fell into some Adult Mystery/Thriller traps that made me mad. I wanted Rich People Drama and Murder and some impressive plot twists. But I was met with plot points that made no sense...over and over and over again.

The first trap that this book fell into was coming right up to the point of some interesting themes and then backing off without ever going into it. How many times in this novel were we coming so close to discussing the blatant racism throughout it (actions from characters, not intent from authors) and then just veering off? (SPOILER WARNING) Spoiler: The whole reason people start getting murdered on the yacht is because a rich, privileged white girl found out that she has a cousin of mixed-race and that she's going to have to share her inheritance with whenever their grandmother dies. The girl doing the killing specifically says at one point: "It's time for you to be put in your place" right before telling the girl to get on her knees to die. Like, what? What are we doing??? And then we never discuss that again?? End spoiler. The second trap that this one falls into is two fold: a) telling emotions instead of showing and b) inappropriate emotions/actions for what literally just happened in the story. We read a lot of "Naya was so scared" or "Naya could not contain her grief." I want to see the fear in their actions or have grief described in physical feelings. Just saying these words does not evoke these emotions. Multiple times throughout the story it felt like the love stories were intruding on the murder elements of the book. They will have just seen a new dead body but then they're gushing over a boy. Girl, no. I would NOT be kissing a boy five feet away from a dead "friend"--what is happening?

Oddly, this was still a kind of fun and quick read for me. It's what I've head described as a "popcorn read." It's easy to read but it is not filling. None of my higher thinking was really necessary for this one. Which I guess I kind of needed. I think I would have enjoyed it more after a dense Fantasy or something but the post-holiday craziness at my work is always exhausting so shutting off my brain was good. I saw someone say that this would make a good movie and I completely agree with them there. I could see this being a kind of B-list movie that runs like 90 minutes. We get in and out and all have a good (not great) time.

Overall, this was a mid-range Mystery/Thriller in my opinion. Lower than I usually rate YA Mystery/Thriller novels, but still a fun time. This just didn't scratch my "Rich People Drama with a touch of Murder Mystery" itch.