In the Shadows by Kiersten White-Review

Title: In the Shadow
Author: Kiersten White and Jim Di Bartolo
Pages: 384
Published: April 29th 2014 by Scholastic Press
Source: Library
Links: goodreads,

From the remarkable imagination of acclaimed artist Jim Di Bartolo and the exquisite pen of bestselling author Kiersten White comes a spellbinding story of love, mystery, and dark conspiracy, told in an alternating narrative of words and pictures. Cora and Minnie are sisters living in a small, stifling town where strange and mysterious things occur. Their mother runs the local boarding house. Their father is gone. The woman up the hill may or may not be a witch. Thomas and Charles are brothers who’ve been exiled to the boarding house so Thomas can tame his ways and Charles can fight an illness that is killing him with increasing speed. Their family history is one of sorrow and guilt. They think they can escape from it . . . but they can’t.

I've been wanting to read this book for a long time, so when the March #weirdathon came along I finally pushed it up in my TBR pile.  I have enjoyed Kiersten White's series Paranormalcy so I knew I really enjoyed her writing.  This story is presented in text and an art story.  Both telling a different story at the same time.  The story is about 5 teens who get into some strange things back in the early 1900s.  There are a few love instances in the book but at least for once there is no instalove which is common in a lot of young adult novels.

The art work is really great.  Dark and spooky, makes it feel like a gothic novel.  Though since it was telling a different story (though all tied together) then the text at times I was a little confused.  Honestly.. I still don't really know who was in the art work???  I had to look to see if there was a scare or a hair color to determine who I was looking at. After I finished the book I went back looked at all the pictures again to see the story again. to maybe get a better understanding.  The story and the illustrations are two different time periods.  The text part of the book wasn't amazing.  I feel like the story was just average.  There was no world building.  I also felt like there were too many questions all the way to the end of the book.  Some of the answers maybe should've been revealed a little sooner.  I am still confused about a few things after finishing.  I can't stand being confused once a book is over.

Still it was a neat book.  I love books that have formats that are different and make me think outside the box. What I really like and hope that comes out of this book is that it will introduce more people to graphic novels. I know a lot of people are kind of nervous about trying one out so I hope this will help them take the plunge.

This is book 2 for my #weirdathon.