The Leaf Reader
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4.7 • 6 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In high school junior Marnie Wells's small town, the disappearance and presumed death of star athlete Andrea Quinley is sad but old news. Andrea's onetime best friend, Matt Cotrell, remains haunted by her disappearance, and he turns to Marnie, hoping that her rumored ability to read tea leaves might provide new insight or that she'll be a sympathetic shoulder. The tea leaves that Marnie reads foretell something sinister, and eerie anonymous emails begin arriving as the two unravel the intricate threads linking Andrea and their peers in increasingly unexpected and potentially dangerous ways. Mystery writer Arsenault makes a solid foray into YA, though the story moves more slowly than some readers might expect. Marnie is a well-developed protagonist whose concern with how others perceive her family is immensely relatable, but the book's secondary characters are less memorable. The incorporation of tea-leaf reading, including the ceremony and symbolism of the art, adds a distinctive element to a mystery that's well worth a read. Ages 14 up.
