The Golden Spiral by Lisa Mangum

To turn about the Dorothy Parker quote: There are some sequels that are not to be looked forward to, but to be yearned with great force. For me, that's the kind of yearning that has accompanied waiting for Lisa Mangum's new book The Golden Spiral (hitting the shelves May 10). Lisa is a member of what I call the New YA-YA Sisterhood, the league of young adult (YA) writers that have flooded the market since Stephenie Meyer's success.

As with all things, the results of the New YA-YA Sisterhood are mixed: some are good and some are bad. But in my book Lisa is excellent. If you haven't read her first book, The Hourglass Door, then get to it. You can read Chapter One online here. Scooper did a good review of The Hourglass Door last March and points out that the start may seem a little slow but that all of the information is important for the story. (However, if you're like me and read works from all centuries then the easy rhythm of the opening won't bother you.)

It's hard to talk about The Hourglass Door without giving away something that it is more fun to discover for yourself when reading it, so I won't go into the details. In some ways it's the typical teen story: girl is angsty, girl meets boy, boy has issues, girl and boy grow closer together while facing the challenges of the story. Oh, and there's a band, like at the Brass on Buffy. But the characters are engaging and there are enough unique plot twists to keep you on the edge of your seat.

It doesn't look like Lisa has been updating her websites lately other than Facebook (deadlines??) but when she gets back to them you can see her at:
  http://www.lisamangum.com/
  http://leosdungeon.com/