The Book of Lost Souls [Kindle Edition]

This book may not have been what you thought you wanted, but right now it's exactly what you need - so says Ivy MacTavish, and I'm not arguing with her, because she's a witch.

Ivy is 16 going on 17 and spends her time casting spells and hanging out with her best friends from Northwick High, Shayde, a werewolf and Raven, a vampire. With her fire-breathing Beezlepup, Devlin, growling at her side and her Mom, who is also a witch too, nagging in her ear, all Ivy has to think about is who she'd rather go out with - the perfect, yet unattainable, Dean or demonic, bad boy, Nick. She even tries to make Dean jealous by transforming a pet lizard into a hunk and parading him at a Halloween party, but that all changes when Shayde's Uncle Lucas turns up with a human bone in his mouth! Kindreds (supernatural beings) and Regulars (human beings) have co-existed in relative harmony in Northwick for many years but all that is about to change.

After spotting a mysterious stranger in a black coat in the cemetery where Uncle Lucas dug up the bone, Ivy and the gang find a bundle of books at the side of the disturbed grave. Ivy quickly learns not to judge these books by their covers as their powerful black magic takes hold of her.
Dark forces are rising in Northwick and whilst Ivy and her friends investigate the mystery surrounding these books, she juggles dating, jealous girlfriends and tracking down Spike, the lizard, who has no wish to return to his terrarium, just yet.
Murder, evil spirits, weird teachers, cars fuelled by magic, walking trees with eyelids, gossip queens and trolls are just some of the highlights that Northwick offers its residents and I'd like to announce that I will be moving there shortly as it really got under my skin.

A really clever concept with engaging and humorous characters develops into a fantastic supernatural mystery-adventure. This debut novel had all the atmosphere and character of a revamped Buffy and I found its quirky sense of humour, vivid characters and absorbing relationships took me back to fond memories of Sunnydale. It's of course impossible to say that anything can compare to Joss Whedon's iconic TV series, which will always be one of my all time favourites, but Muto's Northwick managed to transport me back there somehow; with a sprinkling of Ivy's magic, perhaps?

Also available by Michelle Muto - Don't Fear the Reaper.

Meet Ivy, Shayde and Raven - with names like those, this promised to be a good story.

Northwick is a town filled with humans and supernaturals. Ivy, like any other sixteen year old girl, has a crush on one of the most gorgeous boys at school, Dean. Dean is a bonehead and prefers the company of the bitchy Tara. What's a girl to do? Well, if you're a witch like Ivy, you cast a spell to turn your friend's lizard, Spike, into a scrumptious human.

Like all the best laid plans, Ivy's doesn't work out too well. Pretty soon everyone in town is whispering that Ivy is just like her father, a user of dark magic. Then the murders begin, and Ivy soon realises someone has gotten their grubby hands on one of the most dangerous, magical books ever, the Book of Lost Souls. This mischief maker has released scary figures from the past such as Elizabeth Bathory and Vlad the Impaler upon the unsuspecting community, and it's up to Ivy and her pals to figure it all out. In the midst of all the mayhem, Ivy grows closer to Nick, who happens to be a demon and is totally in love with Ivy. But everyone knows demons are trouble, so Ivy attempts to ignore her feelings for him, at first.

I enjoyed the characters in the book, well, the supes anyhow, and I couldn't help but feel awful about the fact that Raven and her brother, Gareth (the latter who is only 14) are going to have to be teenage vampires forever. There's something so terribly sad about being frozen at the age of 14. It reminded me of poor Claudia from Interview with the Vampire, trapped forever in the body of a 5 year old.

The moments of comedy had me laughing out loud, and most of these happened when lizardman, Spike, was in the mix. He had me in stitches when he comes face to face with the blood thirsty, Elizabeth Bathory. She likes to kill virgins and bathe in their blood; it's good for her complexion, apparently. Old Lizzie is hankering after her next fix, and innocent Spike asks her if she's ever tried haemorrhoid cream instead! The characters have cool names: Ivy, Shayde, Bane and Raven, so of course they have to possess some kind of supernatural gene: witch, werewolf, werewolf and vampire, respectively. I loved the image of smoke rising from the evil book of bad spells every time Ivy opened it and the spiders running across its pages.

Overall, The Book of Lost Souls is wickedly good fun, aimed at the younger scale of the YA audience.

Michelle has written a wonderful, engaging, but above all, fun debut novel.

The book starts off with Ivy, a witch, and her friends trying to turn a lizard into her date for a school dance. Things don't exactly go according to plan and soon the group of friends are dealing with trouble that's far above what they had ever dreamt they could get into.

The stars of the show are Ivy and her friends, all of whom come from a mixture of supernatural races which live in the town of Northwicke. The characters come across well and you not only feel like you're reading about real people, but that they really are teenagers. They make mistakes and don't have all the answers.

The same can be said about how well Michelle has managed to capture Ivy and her friends, there's a comradery there that rings perfectly. By the end of the book I guarantee you'll be waiting to read more about them.

The story is well written and mixes action, drama and comedy with ease, often switching between the three without pause.

The biggest compliment I can give this book, is that I read it to my seven year old daughter (someone who loves her stories) and she was captivated by it and now wants her very own Beezlepup (Ivy's pet).

If you're interested in a great read that will put a smile on your face, this is the book for you.