Book Review: Freaksville by Kitty Keswick

FREAKSVILLE BY KITTY KESWICK
Paperback: 328 Pages
Publisher: Leap Books (December 15, 2009)
Language: English

High school is hard enough when you’re normal. There’s peer pressure, book reports, the in crowd and the enormous zit that has a life of its own. Having a family whose skeletons in the closet lean toward the paranormal is not a topper on anyone’s list. Sophomore Kasey Maxwell is busy juggling the typical teen angst. Add visions, ghosts and hairy four-legged monsters into the mix and you get FREAKSVILLE. It’s a wonder Kasey has survived.

Every woman in the Maxwell family has the gift of sight. A talent sixteen-year-old Kasey would gladly give up. All she wants is a normal life. Shopping and talking about boys with her best friend and long-time sidekick Gillie Godshall consume her days. Until Kasey has a vision about Josh Johnstone, the foreign exchange student from England. The vision leads her into new waters, a lead in a play, a haunted theater…and into the arms of the Josh. Yet, both Kasey and Josh have secrets lurking in dark corners. Can Kasey’s new romance survive FREAKSVILLE?

When Kasey Maxwell has a disturbing vision about Josh, she begins following the foreign exchange student around school in an effort to help him. This sets in motion a chain of events that will bring to light long buried secrets and set Kasey on a new path. There are dark, dusty theater corridors to navigate around and the town itself is shadowed by four-legged supernatural creatures. Kasey is just learning to adapt and control her new found abilities. Can she learn to wield them well enough to keep the dangers of Freaksville away?

FREAKSVILLE is a unique novel, both in the storyline, well defined characters, artful little illustrations and blog format. Initially I was a bit thrown by the blog format of the book- Kasey’s posts were so personal, I couldn’t help but wonder whether a teenager would expose her most private moments and important secrets for the whole world to see. Private journal entry snippets revealed at the beginning of each chapter might have been more plausible to me. However, the posts themselves were so well written and entertaining, I enjoyed reading them and quickly became engrossed in the plot line.

Kasey’s voice was witty and I thought she made a strong protagonist. Gillie, her best friend was my second favorite character. I loved that there was no jealousy or competitiveness between the two best friends. The romantic elements between Josh and Kasey would make FREAKSVILLE a great book for younger teens, as their relationship was always age appropriate but never boring. The tension between Kasey’s family and the Johnstone clan added some depth to the plot line and I look forward to this aspect being explored in FURRY & FREAKED, the fabulously named sequel to FREAKSVILLE.

Purchase FREAKSVILLE HERE.

To learn more about the author, visit her official website and http://wolfychicks.blogspot.com/