Formats: Digital
Blurb:
| Determined to pass junior year, Logan won’t let Henry distract him—much. Logan’s focusing on all things human, which means his swoony vampire ex-boyfriend will have to file his own fangs for a change. When he goes to the school bonfire and runs into Henry, wandering into the woods seems like a great escape. Until he’s bitten by a wicked Crone with some twisted magical munchies. Logan is certain his ex-free human future is done when he’s dragged off to a scientific institution for study. There, he’s presented with an opportunity to keep his life, family, and future. All he has to do is stick to human ideology, since all things paranormal are illegal. But complications arise when the Crone begins to haunt him and Logan realizes that if he wants to get his life back, he has to navigate his lingering feelings for Henry. With the Crone set on devouring him and the institution ready to obliterate him for any missteps, Logan must decide between pursuing the human future his family wants—one that he thought he wanted too—or the chance to embrace Henry, even if the world isn’t ready. |
Henry and Kiera are known as Vices, a group of monsters
including phantoms, witches, vampires, trolls, sirens, and werewolves that are
forced to live in the shadows due to public fear and draconian laws. The Crone
is a sin, a powerful Vice that feeds on other Vices and can turn humans into
undead monstrosities called Hauntings (think zombies and ghouls) with a single
bite. After Henry’s attack he’s whisked away by SPU agents (the special police
force in charge of catching and neutralizing Sins) to a secure facility
designed to treat Hauntings, but to everyone’s surprise he doesn’t transform
into a Haunting. It turns out Henry is a rare form of Vice, known as a
Viceling, more human than Vice. The lore of Crescentville Haunting can get
confusing in places, and there’s a lot of backstory. So much so that I actually
checked to see if there was a prequel I had missed. But it’s no worse that any
other fantasy novel with rich world building. If you can remember the rules of
Quidditch, you can remember the magical classification system Bennet has
created.
The characters are relatable and their voices sound
authentic. The romance is steamy without being explicit and felt age
appropriate for younger teens. It should be noted that while the book contains
a paranormal romance, it’s not the central theme of the story. Instead, we
focus on Logan’s struggles with his new identity and trying to fit into a
human-centric world-- an analogy for trying to fit into a heteronormative
society when you’re LGBTQIA+. In Monsters in the closet: Homosexuality and
the Horror Film Harry M. Benshoff writes “monster is to ‘normality’ as
homosexual is to heterosexual.” LGBTQIA+ scholars have long
equated queerness with fictional monsters and stories like Crescentville
Haunting reclaim the “monstrous queer.” In Bennett’s story, the “homosexual vampire” is the hero rather than the villain, with the
humans representing an oppressive heteronormative society and the facility
attempting to “cure” Logan of his monstrousness a metaphor for conversion
therapy. In addition to romance, the book also has plenty of horror,
violence, and suspense, all courtesy of the Crone who continues to haunt Logan
after the initial attack.
Overall, this was a fun read with a good world building, a cute relationship, and teens who actually sounded and acted like teens.
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