The Darkest Powers Trilogy by Kelley Armstrong

After years of frequent moves following her mother’s death, Chloe Saunders’s life is finally settling down. She is attending art school, pursuing her dreams of becoming a director, making friends, meeting boys. Her biggest concern is that she’s not developing as fast as her friends are. But when puberty does hit, it brings more than hormone surges. Chloe starts seeing ghosts–everywhere, demanding her attention. After she suffers a breakdown, her devoted aunt Lauren gets her into a highly recommended group home.

At first, Lyle House seems a pretty okay place, except for Chloe’s small problem of fearing she might be facing a lifetime of mental illness. But as she gradually gets to know the other kids at the home–charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek, obnoxious Tori, and Rae, who has a “thing” for fire–Chloe begins to realize that there is something that binds them all together, and it isn’t your usual “problem kid” behaviour. And together they discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home either…

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FINALLY! A book with a female necromancer lead, for YA! I broke my very small bank (sigh) buying this series and boy, am i glad i did. Chloe isn't 16 or 17, yet she has a good awareness of herself and others that many protagonists don't have that make them quickly disliked by a reader. If there was a quip it was she was a constant victim till about halfway through book 2.

There is  a love triangle, but that is the way of books nowadays Chloe/Derek/Simon could be compared to Bella/Edward/Jacob and Riley/Simon/Beck quite easily. Although atleast there is no vampires in this book, as that genre is getting congested with cheap knockoffs.

I enjoyed particularly the transition between teenager and wolf for Derek and how Chloe kept him sane and it was nice to see their relationship bloom i was also disheartened at the controlling side of Derek and i can see problems in that future.

Chloe and Tori really come into their own during the series and the reader can see Tori wasn't just put in to be the antagonist! Thank god! Chloe grows into her powers and it is nice to see how she copes and learns. Although it was sad to see Armstrong struggled to decide what part Chloe's Aunt played in this, is she dead, ghost, dead again?

Overall this series is a good read and is thourghly enjoyable and is a definate top read of mine that sits, quite comfortably on my - overly stuffed - bookshelf.

Talia x