An impending apocalypse provides a compelling backdrop for romance in this page-turning first installment of a new YA series.
It’s almost the end of the world as we know it, and 17-year-old Ember Shay O’Meara feels fine. If anything, she feels a little too fine. A fiery car crash recently killed her parents but left her unscathed, without a single scar to show for it. Per her parents’ wishes, guardianship shifted to her family friend Ila, who lives in a small Tennessee town in the Smoky Mountains. There’s a reason Ila is in charge; it turns out that both she and Ember are Watchers: special, “half human” creatures descended from angels. Ember must learn everything she can about her kind from Ila, but her supernatural education doesn’t excuse her from having to attend high school. There, her good looks gain her the acceptance of the cool girls and the attention of the football team’s quarterback. However, Ember falls in love with a handsome, half-human “Demon” named Sawyer McCrae, who lives with other evil creatures in a high-walled compound in town. Sparks fly, sometimes quite literally, as Ember and Sawyer battle their impulses—and better judgment—to figure out whether they can be together. The question becomes more urgent as the apocalypse looms large in their future. Hopkins (Lamb to the Slaughter, 2014, etc.) expertly weaves her plotlines together in this compulsively readable teen romance. She peppers the novel with short passages from the Bible (including the book of Revelation) in order to craft a good-versus-evil morality tale writ large. For example, Sawyer, like others in his Demon group, must feed on human souls for sustenance, but he’s hesitant about it, especially after things turn more macabre and healthy humans, as opposed to infirm drifters, start getting killed. Such ethical issues are disquietingly uncomfortable and perhaps even beyond the scope of this story. Nevertheless, Hopkins delivers many successful elements of young-adult romance—appealing lead characters, high-voltage chemistry, repressed sexuality—which will win her ardent followers.
A paranormal YA tale that’s highly recommended for fans of the Twilight series; move over, Bella and Edward, there’s a new set of kids on the block.

A murder mystery that exposes the secretive world of an Amish community.

Serenity Adams has only been the sheriff of Blood Rock for a month when an Amish girl’s dead body is discovered. Hardened by a turn as a cop in the big city, Serenity suspects foul play despite some initial evidence that the girl could be the victim of a hunting accident. Serenity gradually learns that Naomi, the 18-year-old victim, was embroiled in two steamy romances at the same time, one with the Amish boy to whom she was engaged, another with an outsider who promised her the life of freedom she’d never known. The story is told from shifting perspectives: In flashbacks, both Serenity and Naomi get turns relating their tales, as does Daniel, the ruggedly handsome contractor who, having once been Amish, is helpful to Serenity’s investigation. Serenity finds herself constantly stymied by the insular Amish community, inhospitable to outsiders even if they carry the authority of law. Debut author Hopkins sensitively dissects that community’s inner workings, highlighting its struggle to resist influence from without, sometimes resorting to measures so draconian as to drive away its own members. The community’s impenetrability mirrors Serenity’s own emotional defensiveness, as evidenced by the way she tries to tame her gathering feelings for Daniel: “I felt a sudden wave of nervousness. I’d already been dealing with a fit of embarrassing shyness ever since Daniel had picked me up in his hard bodied (sic) Jeep and told me how nice I looked. What did he mean?” The narrative marches on to a steady beat, crescendoing in a violent conclusion made only slightly less exciting by the heavy-handed foreshadowing of the killer’s identity. Nevertheless, the suspense can be gripping and the insight into Amish life, fascinating.

A well-crafted tale of murder begotten by the collision of two incompatible worlds.

This second installment in the Temptations trilogy deals with a girl who joins the Amish to be with the boy she loves.

In the first book, 16-year-old Rose left home to live with an Amish family, determined to formally join the community so she could marry Noah. She copes well with the work demands put upon her, but she struggles with the ultraconservative rules that keep her from Noah, and she doesn’t learn the German dialect spoken in the community. Worse, she and Noah have made serious enemies in the Amish community, especially “creepy” Levi. When she joins the church without her father’s permission, he arranges to take her home with police intervention. Will Rose and Noah be able to keep their romance going even after they have been separated, or can they both find others to love instead? Hopkins divides the chapters among spunky Rose, solid Noah and Sam, Rose’s overconfident brother, spending most of the time with Rose. Hopkins presents a mostly sympathetic view of the Amish, despite Rose’s difficulty with their harsh rules. She never caricatures them, depicting them with as many virtues and flaws as her non-Amish characters. A vivid childbirth scene and depiction of an Amish wedding add impact. Nevertheless, the book’s main focus remains on the romance plot rather than on the interesting portrait of the Amish culture.

Routine stuff but for the intriguing setting.