Moonstone – Book One, The Unbidden Magic Series

Brothers, Marilee. Moonstone – Book One, The Unbidden Magic Series. Smyrna, GA: Belle Bridge Books, 2008.

Contributed by Simone Sidwell, Teen Librarian at Grinnell's Stewart Public Library

Moonstone is a well-written and entertaining paranormal young adult novel from former high school teacher and debut author Marilee Brothers. The underclass/trailer-park setting of the novel in “Peacock Flats,” Washington adds an interesting social dimension to the novel, which chronicles the awakening of the “weird psychic powers” of our likeable and funny heroine, fifteen year-old Allie – and the grand mystical mission to come. Allie’s unemployed, single-parent mother suffers from a psychosomatic case of fibromyalgia, making Allie more of the caretaker than Mom. While struggling with the usual teen angst and joys (puberty, crushes, first-romances, school cliques, gangs, bullies), Allie also is visited by a comical hippy-dippy guardian angel who has been relegated to an afterlife in limbo at the local airport in town, and who alerts her to her new powers. This sets Allie off on an entertaining and dangerous adventure centered upon a mystical piece of jewelry - a moonstone necklace given to Allie by a close family friend – and the sinister minion after it. Allie discovers than in addition to weathering the usual ups & downs of a high-school student in Peacock Flats, she has a greater destiny to fulfill as a “star keeper” entrusted with the power Moonstone...Marilee Brothers’ novel stands out for its humor and Allie’s strong point-of-view as an underdog finding her place in the world. This is another [see her review for Bite Me] good choice for public library teen/fantasy collections - I look forward to the next title in this series.