{ "item_title" : "The Leaf Reader", "item_author" : [" Emily Arsenault "], "item_description" : "Emily Arsenault (The Rose Notes) makes her YA debut with a page-ripping whodunit about Marnie Wells, who comes face-to-face with the occult when she discovers her ability to read tea leaves might help solve the mystery of a classmate's disappearance. Marnie Wells knows that she creeps people out. It's not really her fault; her brother is always in trouble, and her grandmother, who's been their guardian since Mom took off is . . . eccentric. So no one even bats an eye when Marnie finds an old book about reading tea leaves and starts telling fortunes. The ceremony and symbols are weirdly soothing, but she knows--and hopes everyone else does too--that none of it's real. Then basketball star Matt Cotrell asks for a reading. He's been getting emails from someone claiming to be his best friend, Andrea Quinley, who disappeared and is presumed dead. And while they'd always denied they were romantically involved, a cloud of suspicion now hangs over Matt. But Marnie sees a kindred spirit: someone who, like her, is damaged by association. Suddenly, the readings seem real. And, despite the fact that they're telling Marnie things about Matt that make him seem increasingly dangerous, she can't shake her initial attraction to him. In fact, it's getting stronger. And that could turn out to be deadly.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers4.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/1/61/695/782/1616957824_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "18.99", "online_price" : "18.99", "our_price" : "18.99", "club_price" : "18.99", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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Tea leaves and life lines

For 16-year-old Marnie Wells, reading tea leaves is a party trick—a kooky hobby she picked up from an old book of her grandmother’s. And although Marnie doesn’t take her tea-leaf reading seriously, the kids at her high school sure do. Matt Cotrell, a popular athlete whose best friend, Andrea, disappeared last year, is particularly interested in Marnie’s hobby.

Matt begins to seek out the introverted Marnie for fortune telling, but is it really to help find Andrea? Marnie isn’t sure, even as she and Matt spend more time together. But anonymous emails, a missing drug dealer and suspicious circumstances at a party compound the mystery, placing Marnie in the center of it all.

Marnie is a cynical and perceptive character, but she struggles to fit in. Grappling with her sense of identity, Marnie longs to escape the rundown home she shares with her troubled brother and loving grandmother. And she’s unsure how to navigate her new romance with Matt—a boy she doesn’t wholly understand.

Emily Arsenault, known for weaving haunting tales in adult mysteries, brings her knack for subtle suspense to a younger audience in this rewarding YA debut.

 

Kimberly Giarratano is the author of Grunge Gods and Graveyards, a young adult paranormal mystery.

This article was originally published in the July 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.