Simon is very self-aware and honest with the reader about how he feels about his relationships with his peers, his older, athletic brother, and his parents. This story is so deliciously creepy! It’s perfect for kids 8+ who like to feel a little scared when they read. How can he convince others that his encounter really happened and isn’t just the case of an overactive imagination? Simon’s also dealing with memory loss associated with the event. One sure sign- there’s a weird, unexplainable mark on his stomach now. After a strange run in with an owl on a camping trip with his parents, Simon worries that he’s been abducted. Needless to say, Simon gets picked on by his peers and his macho Dad isn’t pleased with him either. Scary aliens, like the ones who regularly visit earth and do experiments on humans. He’s a biracial kid who lives on an Air Force base, still wets the bed from time to time, writes his own fantasy stories, and he’s TOTALLY obsessed with aliens. Twelve-year-old Simon is a bit quirky to say the least. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Clarion books for providing me with a review copy. I have been pacing the floors waiting for the ARCs to become available since then. Smith mentioned his work-in-progress when I interviewed him in February 2017 to celebrate the release of The Mesmerist. I have been wanting to read The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away since before I knew the title! Ronald. This week we are featuring The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away by Ronald L. (Feb.Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences.

Agent: Adriann Ranta, Foundry Literary + Media. This tale, though not for the faint at heart, is certain to please young horror fans.

The shape of the story is familiar, but Smith deftly brings Jess and her fellow Ravens to life and ramps up the violence to a fever pitch at the climax. Now, that evil has returned and Jess, who unknowingly carries the enormous powers of a mesmerist, must lead the fight. Jess learns that he and her parents were part of a secret organization, the League of Ravens, which has fought evil for centuries. Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down!” The handwritten message, signed only M, terrifies Jess’s mother, who immediately takes them to London, looking for help from the eccentric (and not entirely human) Lord Balthazar. One séance goes badly astray when Jess returns from her supposed trance with a message she hadn’t intended: “Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posies. Smith’s second novel (after Hoodoo) opens in 1864 England, where 13-year-old Jess and her mother have been running supernatural scams ever since her father’s mysterious death some years earlier.

The mesmerist ronald l smith