When we first meet Lainey Styles, she's studying for the SAT at a comic book event. She has humored her friend Maggie by going with her, but she truly doesn't understand the appeal. All Lainey can think about is college, and getting out of this small town. But when she meets Ty, suddenly things start to change.



Lainey starts seeing ghosts. One ghost in particular. A young girl, covered in blood, and wearing a green, stone pendant. When the girl calls her name, Lainey is sure she's losing it.



Soon Lainey realizes that there is something else going on here. Someone is trying to warn her that she's in danger. And what does Ty have to do with it? Can Lainey and her friends figure it out in time? Suddenly, she's not so sure that that SAT prep book is going to help her at all. She might need some different kind of skills to prepare for what's coming next!



I loved this story and have added it to my book order for the library. Chance does a great job at balancing the suspense with the romance in a way that will appeal to both boys and girls. There is some violence, but it is mild enough for me to put in my middle school library. I'm looking forward to the next installment of Lainey Styles' story!

Amazing storyline and plot. I really enjoyed the writing and the characters. Didn't feel like your typical YA Sci-Fi.

So I am going to start by saying I did actually enjoy this book despite only giving 3 stars. The story is really well written the pacing is fairly steady, plot develops well, characters are rounded and likeable. There was just something in this book that meant it did not blow me away even though the premise is right up my alley. For a debut novel this is really great and as it reads like the start to a series then I will look out for the next one as I am interested enough at this point to continue.

I think the main issue was that all the twists that happened were to a seasoned reader very predictable but they were not badly done and I did keep turning the pages.

I will recommend this book to others but maybe not to those who read a lot in this type of trope and genre.

Kim Chance's Keeper is her debut young adult novel in a yet to be named series. Lainey Styles is the main protagonist of this story. She is a bookworm and a nomad having moved 14 times in a brief 5 year period. Raised by her Uncle Gareth, Lainey is what most people would call a science nerd. As Lainey is preparing to take her SAT so that she can graduate early and get into a top level college of her choice, things slowly start to unravel.

First, she sees a bloody woman after hearing her name called. Then, the bloody woman leaves a mark on her arm. As they say, magic always leaves a mark. What's more disturbing is that upon further research, the woman appears to be wearing the same pendant that her deceased mother once wore. The woman's name was Josephine, and she, like her own mother, were Keepers. Apparently, Lainey is now the last Keeper who can access a powerful spell book called Grimoire.

What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here? With the help of her comic-book-loving, adventure-hungry best friend Maggie who absolutely steals the show and keeps you in stitches, and an enigmatic but admittedly handsome street fighter named Tyler (Ty) Marek, Lainey must leave behind her life of books and studying to prepare for the biggest test of all: stealing back the book from the Master.

There are two other people in Lainey's life who play important parts. Gareth, who raised her since her mother died, and Serena, a seer who is the first person to enlighten Lainey about her calling. Both made vows to keep Lainey safe and hidden until her Seventeen birthday when her powers would come active, and from those that serve the master, like Scavengers, can find her easily. Even though both Gareth & Serena kept major secrets from Lainey, I still can't fault them.

I will reiterate my feelings about cliffhanger endings. I don't care for them. In Keeper's case, the last 20-30% of the story was by far the most entertaining, the most action packed, and the most troubling in regards to several of the secondary characters. It is filled with revelations, betrayal and life altering situations. Not only do readers meet the diabolical villain and his merry band of Guards, but the Hetaeria, who are rebellious Supernaturals fighting the Master, as well.

Chance also gives readers a back story on Josephine which is both enlightening and connects a whole lot of what happened in the past to what is happening with Lainey and her new role as Keeper. Shall I also mention that there's a whole lot of pop-culture references in this book? I’m talking comic book stories, television shows, and literally anything else you can nerd-out about. Thanks Maggie! I have searched the internet for information regarding a sequel. The author has apparently stated that this is not a standalone. Since the ending leaves a whole lot of unanswered questions, this is a good thing.

Less an enjoyable novel than a strung-together collection of tropes, Keeper is an attempt to ride the coattails of popular YA and urban fantasy novels wherein the main character, a normal girl with very little personality (meant as a reader stand-in; here names Lainey Styles) finds out that she actually has special supernatural powers/parentage. Then she finds out that many of the people around her are in on the secret, and have magical natures themselves (witches, fae, etc.), while at the same time communing with a dead ancestor via ghostly visions. The writing is technically competent -- no worse than average, at least -- but after a somewhat promising first chapter, the characters, the plot, and the too-predominant romance are by turns thin, overwrought, and super cheesy. There wasn't even any atmosphere to speak of; this could have been set literally anywhere.


The one bright light, at first, seemed to be Lainey's friend Maggie, a comic-book-loving geek girl and one of the only PoC in this book. Unfortunately, Maggie soon proved only to exist to spew superhero references on queue and to emotionally support white-girl Lainey. Maggie does not have much life of her own. This is a big problem of characterization in itself, but is compounded by her being a PoC. There's even a scene where she gets magically disguised as Lainey in order to act as a diversion. Facepalm.

I really did not enjoy this book.

2.5 stars, but I'll bump the star rating to 3 because I'm nice like that.

Thought and Plot

What can I say about this book...It was full of potential and I'm slightly disappointed for starters. This book reads a bit like a teenager wrote it. A teenager who writes a lot of fanfiction (and I do like my fanfiction). A teenager with an awesome idea for a book but wasn't quite sure how to execute it.

Where to start?
The pacing was a bit all over the place. It was only 267 pages on my phone (yes I was reading it on my phone with it's tiny screen) but about 60 pages in I was actually starting to check what page I was on because at the time it felt like it was going so sssllllooooooowwwwly. And then it picked up...And then it slowed down again...and then we jumped to warp speed for the ending!

Speaking of that ending, I honestly asked the book out loud with only 50 pages to go "Okay, so how are you going to wrap this all up in 50 pages???" The answer, not completely to my satisfaction.

Another thing I noticed was I kept picking up sentences, phrases and settings that reminded me of other books.

"You're a witch, Lainey."
My brain automatically whispered You're a wizard, Harry." into my ear.

Other instances I was thinking, "Twilight, is that you?" "Lord of the Rings?" "Frodo Baggins..." "I swear there's a book out there I read with a vampire masquerade ...why am I placing her there???" Etc. I don't know why. Maybe it was the 'you're a witch' part that set my brain off to draw all parallels I could see.

The actual story.

It started off pretty promising. I liked the beginning. Being rescued by a hot guy while suffering though a monthly get together of local geeks when you would rather be studying for SATs. Original and awesome. Being attacked by some woman in a vintage dress covered in blood in the parking lot. Okay, this seems very promising! Accidentally reversing time because you're late for a test. Super awesome, let's see more of that!

Unfortunately, we did not see more of this stuff.

What we did get were flashbacks of another person (which was interesting), a teenage girl who's moods changed so rapidly it could give a person whiplash (not so great), a bit of teen romance (which was fine), an admittedly awesome best friend who believes in crazy stuff a little too willingly.

What of the character, you ask? Let's sum up the main character and the two sidekicks.

Lainey is a highly motivated girl, who bases reality solely on facts and figures that can be proven. If you can't prove it scientifically, it can't be happening and you're going crazy is basically her M.O.. That said, sometimes I really did want to slap her...She's supposed to be this super smart kid who's going to graduate out of high school a whole year early through hard work and dedication to her studies, yet she does dumb stuff like going to a graveyard alone at night, and standing on the railroad tracks with a train barreling at her...just two examples. She also cries, and whines ALL OF THE TIME! At least that's how it felt to me.

Maggie was my favorite character and I'm super glad she was around a lot in this book. She made Lainey far more bearable, using comic book facts and superheroes to explain things to Lainey. I love comic books so Maggie was my hero. Thank you, Mag!

Ty is pretty much the perfect guy for Lainey. He's grounded, keeps her grounded, and has a bit of a knight in shining armour thing going on about him. Other than that, I found him to be a pretty flat character.

My issues...

This books just drops things on you out of the blue, left, right and center, which I understand is how it's being presented to Lainey and you are suppose to get her 'feelings' with her, but some of the explanations were so bad...for example (not a direct quote, but close), I'm faerie. To narrow it down, I'm a bladesmith. I make blades. The end. Great...that's it?

It might be that I recently reread Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson series and that has coloured my view on things a little bit. Patricia has an awesome metalsmith in her books and as time goes on you get more and more info on the guy and he just gets more awesome every time you see him...*drifts off thinking about all the background info.*

The point is, things are dumped on your lap and you get maybe 1-3 sentences explaining it before the author moves on. The book is only 267 pages, please give me more info! You can give it some room, it's not like the book is that long!

I know I'm ragging on this book pretty hard, but understand I think of this as constructive criticism so the next book can be improved upon. I actually liked this book, I just think there is room for improvement. I liked it like I like fanfiction. That was a lot of likes in a row...

So,
1) If you are going to bring in lycan, fae and others into your books, you got to bring them in in a believable way with some background info. Lap dumping is not cool when readers are used to Patricia Briggs, Holly Black, Kelley Armstrong, etc.
2) If you are going to say that your character never cries, quit making her cry all of the time!!!
3) Even out the pacing a little bit please and don't rush the ending.
4) Please have someone edit and spellcheck. Lessoned is not a word. Lessened is a word.

In Conclusion

Keeper had an encouraging start. It's a bit rough around the edges, including some grammatical and spelling errors within the ARC that will hopefully be ironed out before being officially released. The pacing is a bit off and the main character could be a bit less hysterical about everything that was happening to her.

Her best friend and sidekick was completely awesome. No one can complain about Mags unless it has to do with how accepting she is of the weirdness. The romance bit was fine...and while the execution wasn't the finest, the concept was very promising. I believe there is room for improvement and if a sequel is made and it happens to fall across my screen, I might be invested enough to read the second one to see if there is any improvement and where the story goes.

Maybe...

The Breakdown
Well, first of all, I want to say that I did not “love” this book and I was so excited to read it as I normally adore everything that the premise of this book stands for and the blurb proclaims it to be. The narrative is a dead horse that has been beaten to death! Lainey, the main character, receives powers from an unknown source, she is an orphan, she is nerdy book-loving seventeen-year-old, and she pulls the poor-pitiful-me card every time she gets in a spot. There is also the “love interest” that seems to be a typical troupe for this type of book. Now that being said, these same old plot blunder s were original to the story, meaning that they are not presented exactly like every other book with them in it. Which I why I did not rate the title lower than I did.
Oh, the cover is very misleading! Though very beautiful and intriguing. I thought this was going to be more of times gone by tale, but it is set in a present-day time setting. I was ready for witches to be hiding out in the woods with their covens, brewing up mischief. I was not rewarded with such grandeur!

The Characters:
Lainey is just like every other book-loving orphan you read about in YA. She is whiney at times and expects everything in her new world to just be handed to her and the obstacles to be minor in comparison to her past trials that are sooooo overwhelming already. There were few redeeming qualities to this main character which surprised me. Normally, the character evolves past their issues but there was not a lot of growth in Lainey.
Maggie stole the show for me and I think that she was a better-written character than Lainey. She is a fierce friend who would do anything for her bestie and who doesn’t a love a girl that’s into comics? I do think that her constant defense of Lainey is her downfall. Sometimes you have to tell your friends to grow up and grow a pair or the world will eat them alive!
Ty(sigh). A street fighting “nice guy”… enough said. Too contradictory to be relevant. Not really anything that is book boyfriend material. More like book boy-that-is-a-friend instead.

Conclusion:
I believe that young girls will like this book and be happy with the characters as they are more their age range and same frame of mind. The book was not abhorrent, and I am sure that it will be loved by those who can overlook the troupes described in my overview. I do not wish to dissuade anyone from reading the book, it just was not a great fit for me and my ever-changing tastes in books.

I recieved keeper in return for my honest opinion. Here is my honest review of the book:
At first I was weary, it seemed to be going slowly. Then when it picked up it through me off a bit. It starts off with Lainey and best Maggie, and has a nerdy girl kinda vibe to it. I loved the nerdy references the author uses throughout the book.
Two weeks ago, Lainey was just plain old Lainey. Her best Mags' always by her side, complete oppisites, but couldn't separate them.
Then the story twists and Lainey is visited by a figure, a woman covered in blood. Then it all changed for Lainey, the story takes a turn.
Visions of the bloody woman's past, intertwined with her own. An ancient relic she didn't understand, any of it. Lainey needed answers, she went to her best friend.
Lainey eventually gets the answers she has been after but their not what she expected. The woman, the relic, her mother how did it all come to her?
Find out January 30, 2018, when the title is released!

I loved the epic take author Kim Chance has created. I can honestly see it becoming a fandom!! People are going swoon when they read this.

This book was such a fun read. I think my favorite aspect about it was the friendship between our main character, Lainey, and her best friend Maggie. I find that in YA books, friendships usually take a back seat to the love interest, but Maggie was not about to let that happen. The banter between them was hilarious and felt extremely genuine. The passages when they were having a heart to heart, or going on an adventure were my favorite.

I might be a little biased, because Maggie was my favorite character in the entire book. She is a comic-book super nerd, who is hilarious. She had the funniest, and best lines, in the entire book. She was weird, but also a strong female character in an atypical way. She is human and not physically strong, yet she refuses to let Lainey face everything alone. I also loved how she applied her comic book knowledge to what was happening in real life. She was clearly the stand out character.

Part of the reason that Maggie stood out so much, is because so much of the book felt generic. You've got your Chosen One, your bad boy with a mysterious past as the love interest, dead parents, etc. It was filled with tropes that I have seen over and over again. The plot felt very predictable, up until a certain point, and I wish we spent more time with the parts that were unique to the story. 

I really wanted there to be more world building as well, because I found myself wanting more information on the magic system and the paranormal world that Lainey finds herself in. This book is told through first person narrative, so I get that she doesn't know what she's doing and just learning about her powers. However, I wished that the adults in the story could have provided more of an explanation on how things worked in this world. Based on the ending, I have a feeling we will get more information on that aspect (and maybe a mentor figure too).

Even though much of the book felt very generic, it did manage to surprise me at the end. I did not expect the book to go where it did. The end was very exciting and only left me wanting more. It also gave me hope that the next book will be more interesting than this one. Needless to say that I will definitely be continuing on with the series.

All things considered, I did really enjoy reading this book. While it was filled with cliches, I still found the book fun to read. I loved our three prominent characters, Lainey, Maggie, and Ty. I liked where the romance lead. The ending was great! Was this the mindblowingly amazing, no. But it was a fun quick read, with great sequel potential.

I am so thankful that I was approved on Netgalley to review this book because as soon as I read the synopsis, I knew it would be my cup of tea and I was right. Keeper was the first book that I read on my Kindle and I really enjoyed it. Kim Chance created a book that is fun, entertaining and gripping, with a hint of danger. There were a few plot twists I wasn’t expecting (some I did) and I was left wanting to read more. While it isn’t the best book I’ve ever read (I think it has to do with the fact I’m more used to older characters so a 16 year old girl was a bit different) I did enjoy reading it and found myself laughing out loud at some parts.

Lainey Styles is your average 16 year old girl, until she is attacked by a 200 year old witch who won’t leave her alone. It seems impossible and as hard as she tries to convince herself that it isn’t real, she has to face the reality she is being haunted. With the help of her comic-book loving best friend Maggie and street fighter Ty, they piece together the mystery and realise that Lainey is also a witch.

She isn’t just any old witch though. Lainey is a Keeper, just as her mother was, and she has the ability to unlock and use the Grimoire her family has spent centuries trying to protect. But the Grimoire was stolen by the Master, a dangerous and malevolent man who is hell bent on ruling the supernatural world. It’s Lainey’s job to get it back.

I will start off by saying that it does take a little while to get into the action of this book. I felt that it took a bit of time to get to all the witchy magic, but once we do it is great. There is action, drama and fighting scenes (I love those), as well as twists and turns that made me gasp (yes, they were that shocking). The writing was fun, bubbly and easy to read. Kim Chance perfectly captured the way a 16 year old girl would react to being told she is a witch and the language she used was perfect.

The characters in this book are just as good! Lainey was wonderful, smart, funny and unique. It was great to be in her mind and experience the emotions that we would be feeling in her situation. She doesn’t just accept what is happening to her and I loved that. I also enjoyed seeing her relationship with her Uncle Gareth and his girlfriend who is a seer (Lainey’s parents died when she was young) and how much they cared about her.

As for Lainey’s best friend Maggie, well…how can you not love someone who always uses superheroes for analogies (I’m a big Marvel fan). She also says ‘holy crapkittens’ which made me chuckle, and she will do anything for Lainey, something I could definitely appreciate. Ty was a little mystery that captured my heart the more we learned about him. He’s charming, a total kickass and kind towards Lainey. While they may have seemed a little cheesy and cliche, I ended up loving the characters, especially our mysterious 200 year old witch.

Yes, there are some YA tropes thrown into this book, but I felt that they were different to others and it was refreshing. I found myself flying through Keeper, especially after the halfway mark and the last quarter was my favourite part. There is a lot of action, magic usage and problems that Lainey and her friends encounter. We have an interesting villain who wants magic for himself and is ruthless when he doesn’t get his way.

Overall, Keeper was an engaging read and it has left me wanting to read the next one (let’s home Kim Chance does write it because I need answers to some things). It is not the best YA book I have read and even though it is a little similar to others, I ended up enjoying it. When it comes to giving this book a rating, I am deciding between 3 1/2 stars and 4 stars, so I’ll give it the higher one!

Lainey is a sixteen year old girl finally coming to stride with her teenage years. After years of moving around the country with her Uncle Gareth, they settle down in a rural Georgia town. She's able to make a lovable if not crazy best friend. She works hard in school and plans to graduate early. There may even be her first boyfriend on the horizon. Everything is going Lainey's way. Until she starts being haunted by a ghost, finds out she's a witch and becomes the last Keeper of an ancient and power magic book called the Grimoire. 

 In Keeper by Kim Chance, we're thrown into a new kind of Urban Fantasy. One where not just witches and warlocks are real, but so are Fairies, Lycans, Seers, Shifters and a whole other slew of magical creatures you've probably never heard of. The story is fast paced, exciting and inviting even to readers who are new to the genre. Chance also does a great job of infusing humor and pop culture references into the story, 

I was intrigued by the plot of this book from reading the synopsis. I always love a Fantasy book about an average person who finds out they are something extraordinary. Maybe it's the small part of me that is still bitter she never got a Hogwarts letter but enjoys feeling that thrill through characters on the page. The plot of this book definitely did not disappoint. I was flipping through quickly, pulled along by the thrill of the internal conflict Lainey goes through as she discovers who she is and also the mystery of the ghost following her. Additionally, the historic element through the flashbacks shared by the ghost were intriguing and a unique feature in the story. 

Only near the end of the book do we get to see a real glimpse into the magical world living in the shadows of our own. Much of the story takes place in the real world, with average people, and Lainey and her group being the outliers. There is some fun scenes of Lainey discovering her powers through interacting with the real world, but Chance's writing really comes to life and take on a new quality near the climax and following resolution as we shift in to this new dark world Lainey has to navigate. Perhaps because it's Lainey's first time seeing this world, as it also is for the reader, but these scenes were vivid and memorable, especially compared to the world we've left behind. 

The central characters of this book are Lainey, our narrator and fledgling witch, her best friend Maggie, an enthusiastic comic book addict, and Ty, a mysterious new comer to town that has Lainey's stomach doing flips. They are all realistic, flawed and likeable characters. Maggie certainly stands out the most, as she plays the "go-get-em" sidekick to Lainey's uncertain and often unwilling hero. Many of the other characters, our antagonist called "The Master" included, we don't get to know well enough for them to be memorable after putting down the book. The plot really pulls the reader along in this story more than the characters do. Part of this is because the book is so fast paced we don't get to slow down and get to learn more about them as we might in a longer novel, but the ending does set up a potential sequel for Chance so this might be remedied going forward. 

Kim Chance's debut novel, Keeper, is a fun and quick read great for readers of all ages and is the perfect book for those who want to start reading Young Adult Fantasy. The plot is exciting and will keep you flipping through the pages quickly, like I did. There's even a few twists in there that may through you for a loop! The story, characters and the setting come into the clearest focus at the end of the book as the open ending promises a sequel. 

It's available to read on January 30th but you can pre-order it now through Amazon, Barnes & Nobel or ask your local bookstore to order it for you. This is a great and easy read that would be perfect as gift for your YA loving friend or even for your next book club meeting!

This sadly took me a few days to get into but once I got past the 25% mark it began intriguing me.
The world interests me and I'm excited to see where it goes.
I would be interested in seeing a novella about Maggie turning if it isn't focused on in a future book.

Wow, what an adventure. I'm a big fan of YA and this book certainly didn't disappoint. The main character Lainey is written so well and I loved her best friend Maggie. Their conversations had me laughing out loud and nearly crying at times. Their friendship was so well written and I loved all the references to comic books and superheroes. Ty, what can I say? I loved him right up to the end and I can't wait for the next book in this series, (there has to be another book) to see what his story really is. I don't believe he's what he's made out to be in the end.

I don't like to give spoilers in my reviews so it's hard to tell you how much I loved this book without giving anything away. All the characters were well written and I especially loved the few chapters that gave Josephine's backstory. I also loved the last scene with Josephine in the book and how Lainey got to see that her mother and Gareth were happy and safe.

This book flowed perfectly, kept me turning the pages, and has lined the story up for an amazing sequel. I want to know more about Lainey and the powers she possesses, as well as finding out what will happen to Maggie. Of course, I also want to know more about Ty and see him redeem himself. This book takes you on a journey with the characters as Lainey discovers she's more than what she thought. At the beginning the ghostly encounters have her spooked, but we get to see her come into her own, face her fears, and kick ass. She's not a whiny character either, which is a big plus for me. We get to feel her fears and her confusion. We get to see her outrage and her heartbreak. All the emotions are here in this story and I will definitely be recommending it to other YA book lovers.

There's so much to love about this book and I think the author has a great writing style, one that sucks you in and doesn't let go until the very last page. I actually didn't want this book to end. I wanted more of the story.

oh my gosh guys this book is amazing.

Kim Chance can tell one amazing story, she just has away of telling it that you really feel like you are in story.

Lainey is one bad ass mc and Maggie is seriously one awsome best friend

please do yourself a BIG favor and go get this book when it comes you wont be disappointed

Okay, so this is not the optimal way to start off the New Year, but unfortunately 'Keeper' is a DNF for me. I try not to quit on books, especially ARCs, as it makes me feel guilty, but my resolution this year is to give a fair go and then bail if I'm not enjoying myself. I made it to 57%, so I put a fair amount of effort into trying to invest in the story and characters, but it was such a relief to decide I was done with it.

There are some positives I will point out in the interest of fairness - the requisite love interest was kind and caring, which I appreciate in a genre oversaturated with Bad Boy jackasses who confuse mockery and insults for flirting. Ty did play into the Mysterious Newcomer trope at the beginning, but showed himself to be a compassionate and protective character, which is a nice change.

On the downside, Ty is a little heavy on the wish-fulfillment checklist, for eg. reading classic literature to Lainey during lunch period! We find out later that there is a reason he takes interest in her and makes an effort to cultivate a relationship even though Lainey is so awkward around him, but he just seemed too much of a cliche, right down to his leather jacket and crooked smile (why are girls always swooning over these, I'll never know).

Female friendship is something I always look out for and the author provided that in spades with Maggie, a best friend who doesn't just pay lip service to the role but actually comes through with sympathy, support and understanding when Lainey needs a shoulder to lean on, and consistently shows that their friendship is important to her. I love the scene introducing her at the start where she excitedly tells Lainey about a cute boy asking her out at a party and how she of course told him she'd take a raincheck:

---
"I promised I'd quiz you on your words if you came with me. What kind of best friend would I be if I bailed on you like that?"

"And what kind of friend would I be if I didn't let you off the hook. You should go."

"Are you sure? Because you, Lainey Styles, are the true love of my life, and you come first."
---

However, Maggie soon got on my nerves with her constant pop culture quips, and I mean CONSTANT, as in, every second line of dialogue out of her mouth contained a reference to some comic book, tv show or movie. It became irritating very quickly and reduced her to a one-trick pony with such limited characterization since it appears as though she can't process any new situation or conversation without relating it to pop culture in some way. 

You may notice that I haven't yet mentioned any highlights about our protagonist...that would be the problem. I found positives in both the love interest and best friend, but Lainey just frustrated me. She's ostensibly a book-smart character with tons of ambition and dedicated to excelling at academics...but she sets her alarm for 7:15am on the morning of the SATs and keeps hitting snooze for half an hour as she forgot the test was on? Yeah, NO, that doesn't ring true to me at all - a student who's half-assing school and doesn't care what college they get into may behave like this, but not someone whose entire life was building up to taking the SAT, that's not something that just slips your mind!

Aside from this, we're also shown how strongly Lainey feels about her studies as she mentally rehearses the definitions of new vocabulary words every spare moment she has, especially in moments of stress. Along with her insistence on finding a logical explanation for the paranormal phenomena that plague her, disbelieving her own eyes and searching for scientific data to rationalize it away, this suggests a character who is very methodical, represses emotions when she feels overwhelmed and finds refuge in denial. But that all goes out the window once the truth is revealed about her family lineage and her own witchy abilities, as Lainey turns into a stroppy, whiny teenager who continually throws tantrums and runs off in a huff. She also shows zero instincts for self-preservation such as returning to the cemetery where she was nearly killed to mope around or standing on train tracks in front of an oncoming train, because of course in her angst, she must become Too-Stupid-To-Live. 

Even before this turn for the exasperating, I found myself rolling my eyes at Lainey's choices, like picking up Ty's jacket from the dirt (the text specifically mentions her wiping dirt off his jacket) and then sleeping with the jacket and wearing it out because it's comforting to her...She had no connection to Ty at this point aside from meeting him at a party once and seeing him in a fight, but somehow his dirty spearmint-scented jacket is a comforting talisman to her when she awakes from nightmares, hmm. I let it go because I guess it is realistic how cute guys can scramble an impressionable teenage girl's head, but once she became reminiscent of Bella in New Moon after Edward left her with the addition of the sullen brattiness of Harry Potter in The Half-Blood Prince after Sirius died and he was pining after Ginny (see how annoying constant name-drops are?), I couldn't keep going.

The author's writing style is very easy to read, although I think it's pitched more towards the tweens as opposed to older teens, as it came off a tad juvenile. The younger crowd may find this more enjoyable and engaging, but alas, it wasn't for me.

I really appreciate how this wasn't a remake of the same witch trials. It is hard to find a book about witches that keeps my interest and this certainly has!

I had been following Kim Chance's youtube channel for about a year now. She gives solid writing advice and I love her bubbly personality. This book is a lot of fun, the story starts with Lainey Styles a normal sixteen-year-old girl who gets attacked by an ancient witch in a parking lot.

I found myself sucked into the story I was flipping through my phone to find out more about Lainey's journey. There is a whole past she's not aware of. I liked her best friend Meggie, a comic book fanatic is willing to do anything for our little heroine. There are pop culture references in the book which you, nerds can fangirl/boy about. A cute boy Ty but that all I say about him  (spoilers!)  The writing style is simple but well written, as a writer myself, I understand that this book is generated for a younger audience.  I did, however, like this message:



"You can't control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it. Those choices are what will determine your destiny."



I would like thank gallery for a free copy of this book.

Keeper has everything in it that I love and need in a young adult novel, and the added bonus of witches and supernatural creatures bring this book to a top 2017 read for me!

One of my most favorite aspects of this book is Lainey and Maggie's friendship - they are close, and you can tell they genuinely love and care for each other. But they show love in comic and television show references and sarcasm. It's the perfect formula for a friendship. I adore Maggie the most, she's so bubbly and fun! Lainey doesn't have much family around - but she does have an Uncle and his girlfriend... both part of this supernatural world that Lainey learns exists at the very start of the book. All of the main characters were easily relate-able and very lovable overall, although some of them (Ahem, Ty) still remain a bit of a mystery.

There is also a bit of a historical feel to some of this book, and I think that was my most favorite aspect - I loved how the story wrapped in and around itself a few times before we find out what's really going on and who the BIG BAD is.... the story ties up nicely, leaving us with the hint of a chance at a sequel. I think teens as young as fourteen can easily read this, it's very clean.

Lainey and her best friend Maggie are hanging out at a comic book store event, Maggie is invited out by a boy who is just her perfect partner, so Lainey heads off home alone. Before she reaches her car a ghost, all bloody and gruesome, grabs her and Lainey falls unconscious during the encounter. When she comes to she calls Maggie to get her help, as she is freaking out from the experience.

Maggie is obsessed with all things comic book and explains life and it's happenings based on her favourite subject. Lainey is science oriented and likes to analyse life based on logic.

Ty is a young man that Lainey met for the first time while avoiding a Thor costumed boy at the comic book store event. He has been in town for about two weeks (Maggie found that out).

Lainey lives with her uncle Gareth and his girlfriend Serena, but prefers not to discuss her situation with them, as it's a) weird and b) Serena is a hippy medium.

So the story unfolds with Lainey and Maggie having 'adventures' and Lainey and Ty teasing out how they should be.

There is magic and murder and mayhem and Maggie would love to be able to claim to be something more than human, like the characters in her comic books.

Lainey discovers that she is a witch, like her mother before her, with a duty to be the keeper of an ancient magical grimoire. The grimoire was taken and Lainey must find a way to retrieve it.

I could have finished this in one sitting if I had started it earlier in the day! As it was I had to wait until the next day to see how the second half unfolded. It was worth waiting for, there was a lot to read. And now I wait for the next book to see what happens to each of the characters.

I am not a 'romance' reader, so I was pleased that the author didn't go all soppy with the boyfriend / girlfriend interactions. And the amount of blood and gore was definitely within my acceptance sphere. I really enjoyed reading this story and as I mentioned I'm keen to read the next book.

Brilliantly written, and I am waiting impatiently for the squeal. Once I started reading, I could not put it down.