The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude

Published: May 3rd 2016 by HMH Books for Young Readers

Stay on the roads. Don’t enter the woods. Never go out at night.

Those are the rules in Rowan’s Glen, a remote farming community in the Missouri Ozarks where Ivy Templeton’s family has lived for centuries. It’s an old-fashioned way of life, full of superstition and traditions, and sixteen-year-old Ivy loves it. The other kids at school may think the Glen kids are weird, but Ivy doesn’t care—she has her cousin Heather as her best friend. The two girls share everything with each other—or so Ivy thinks. When Heather goes missing after a May Day celebration, Ivy discovers that both her best friend and her beloved hometown are as full of secrets as the woods that surround them.

Sarah Jude, I am your new, number one fan. This was one of the most enthralling novels I have read in years. Everything I adore in stories, May Queen Murders delivered. I am quite p passionate about the energy and healing of the earth and it’s many divine beauties, this was the only novel I have EVER encountered that referenced Granny Women! I though this was so charming and gave even more realism to the story.

Granny Women are purported to be healers, practicers of folk magic and folk healing. This is what the backbone of the story rests on. Magic, omens, charmed beliefs.

Jude, weaves all of our favourite gothic conventions into one heck of a story. I loved the electrifying nature of the characters. There was not a single character that wasn’t fully developed and known to the reader as the story came to a close.

Fans of Beautiful Creatures, you’re in for a treat!