Kady Cross' Sisters of Blood and Spirit

Twins Lark and Wren Noble couldn’t be more different. While their features are exactly the same, Wren has straight hair naturally colored a vivid red, which matches her vibrant personality and energy. Lark has a more muted personality and stark white blond hair. Oh, and Wren is dead. She was born dead. But she’s always been by her sister’s side. Wren’s the one who went for help when Lark tried to commit suicide. She protected Lark in the psych ward, making sure human orderlies and other ghosts didn’t hurt her sister when the anti-psychotic drugs made her vulnerable. Now Lark is back in school, trying to ignore the stares and whispers from fellow students, and pretending that Wren was a hallucination that she’s been cured of seeing. Some people know differently, though. Kevin, the medium Wren ran to for help when her sister cut her wrists; Mace, the guy Kevin called to go check on Lark; and the twins’ grandmother, who they now live with since their mom couldn’t handle Lark’s level of crazy.

When Roxi approaches Lark AND acknowledges Wren, Lark begins to have some hope that she could make a friend post-asylum. However, Roxi is just trying to lure Lark to a meeting with Mace - who she's been avoiding - and some of their other friends from school. It seems that the group has done something stupid. Cutting across the grounds of an old asylum one night they managed to piss off a malevolent spirit. They were marked, and now the ghost can reach them wherever they go, leaching energy out of them, haunting them, possessing them, even killing them. Of course, they don’t know that. One look and Lark can see it, though. Mace is asking Lark - and Wren - for help. He can feel that something is wrong even if his friends don’t, he believes in Wren, and he knows that the twins are their only hope for fighting the ghost off. Lark feels obligated to help Mace, but she and Wren have no idea what they’re going up against.

I picked up this book because it was by Kady Cross. I LOVE her Steampunk Chronicles and the Immortal Empire trilogy (adult books written under the name Kate Locke). Those novels were extremely entertaining, well written, and revealed a fantastic imagination. I had high hopes for this new novel, even though it was a departure from her steampunk worlds.

I wasn’t disappointed. Sisters of Blood and Spirit is all of the things you want in a novel. Told in first person point of view by both Lark and Wren (in alternate chapters) the narrative pulls the reader in on the very first page. The primary and secondary characters are really well thought out and have depth and purpose within the novel - providing a great framework for the twins. The story moves quickly, each scene advancing the plot and pulling the reader in even more. And did I mention that it has just the right amount of creepy without really falling into outright horror? Which is good, because I like to sleep at night. 

Cross, Kady. Sisters of Blood and Spirit. New York: HarlequinTeen, 2015. 5 Stars.