Death is an everyday companion for Nathalie Baudin. As a sixteen-year-old writer for Le Petit Journal's morgue column Death's hand accompanies her pen on a daily basis. That is until she one day is able to see a young woman being killed from the perspective of the murderer. As an Insightful, her special ability is as powerful as it is frightening, and when a murderer begins to stalk the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris for victims, Nathalie steps in to try and stop the killer before screams of delight become screams of horror.
It was truly a sensational reading experience to see how author Jodie Lynn Zdrok expanded on her world and focused on her character development. Nathalie is shown as a very strong individual with a steadfast nature so it was interesting to see how she challenged herself to embrace her insecurities and fears throughout Sensational. I'd highly recommend readers to start with Spectacle to truly be able to appreciate the nature of Zdrok's character development with Nathalie.
I enjoyed seeing how the author incorporated a fantasy element in a predominantly historical fiction novel oriented towards YA readers. This enables the platform for unforeseeable twists that made an edge-of-your seat reading during the climax of the book.
Sensational by Jodie Lynn Zdrok is certainly a captivating read for those who enjoyed the uniqueness of The Diviners by Libba Bray and I'd highly recommend this book if you're looking for a fantastic blend of genres, excellent character development, and a chance to be transported to Exposition Universelle in Paris, 1889.
Favorite Quotes
"My visions are still in reverse. They continue to diminish in length and significance, as does my memory loss."
"Eyes that now looked hollow to her, filled with nothing but what was before them. A reflection. No better than a mirror. Just another disguise in this man’s show."
“Time. It’s the friend and the enemy of Insightfuls. Many have tried, and failed, to create a tincture or tonic to ameliorate the effects. It seems the good is destined to be forever linked with the bad. Don’t ever despair too much. There’s always, always hope.”
ABOUT Sensational
Sensational
(Spectacle #2)
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date: February 11, 2020
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction
Synopsis:
Jodie Lynn Zdrok's Sensational is the thrilling follow-up to Spectacle in which a killer haunts the Paris World's Fair of 1889.
The 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris is full of innovations, cultural displays, and inventions. Millions of visitors attend over the course of several months...so no one would notice if a few were missing, right? Maybe—but someone is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the guillotine with a display of their own: beheaded victims in some of the Exposition's most popular exhibits.
Nathalie Baudin’s ability to see murder scenes should help, but she's suffering the effects of her magic more than ever before. Fortunately she has other Insightfuls to team up with—if they can be trusted.
About Spectacle
Spectacle (#1)
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date: February 12, 2019
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction
A YA murder mystery in which a young reporter must use her supernatural visions to help track down a killer targeting the young women of Paris.
Paris, 1887.
Sixteen-year-old Nathalie Baudin writes the daily morgue column for Le Petit Journal. Her job is to summarize each day's new arrivals, a task she finds both fascinating and routine. That is, until the day she has a vision of the newest body, a young woman, being murdered--from the perspective of the murderer himself.
When the body of another woman is retrieved from the Seine days later, Paris begins to buzz with rumors that this victim may not be the last. Nathalie's search for answers sends her down a long, twisty road involving her mentally ill aunt, a brilliant but deluded scientist, and eventually into the Parisian Catacombs. As the killer continues to haunt the streets of Paris, it becomes clear that Nathalie's strange new ability may make her the only one who can discover the killer's identity--and she'll have to do it before she becomes a target herself.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jodie Lynn Zdrok holds two MAs in European History and an MBA. She enjoys rooting for Boston sports teams, traveling, doing races (to offset being a foodie), and posting cat photos to Instagram. She works in technology and lives in North Carolina by way of Massachusetts.
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