The Boo Hag

The Boo Hag
by David Morgan

327 pages
Published March 28, 2012

This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Lenny Petrakas is worried about her skin. Not the way you're thinking. Not like that at all. While most people spend time concerned about dirt and elasticity, temperature and moisture, Lenny has a more pressing problem. Something is after her. Something evil that won't stop until it has peeled every last inch of skin from the teen's body. And then, it may end her misery quickly, or it may dump her body in the woods. Let infection and dehydration run its course.

Lenny is just your normal sixteen-year-old girl. Was. Was just your normal sixteen-year-old girl. Quiet and polite. Petite. Introspective, but not to the point of isolation. Loyal? Fiercely so. Outstanding? Noteworthy? Different? No, no, and no. Or so she thought. What started as an eerie feeling, a certainty that someone had been in her room while she slept, has spiraled into something far worse. Something was in her room. Something that finds her highly different, extremely noteworthy, and intensely outstanding.

Game over? Wrong. Lenny's a fighter, and she isn't about to lie down and take what's coming to her. Enlisting the help of her best friend, a not-so-secret admirer, the hottest guy in school, one odious cheerleader, and a paranormalist teacher, Lenny is facing her fears head on, in a battle she knows can only end in death.

* * *

I honestly didn't know what to expect with this book. Yes, I read the blurb, but still. The storyline had the potential to be good or really, really bad.

The expected high school drama was there: Lenny's best friend swooning over the quarterback (who in turn swoons over a cheerleader). The teacher who will do anything for her favorite student. The crazy teacher no one really wants to take seriously. The best friends who can't live without each other.

That being said, it was all handled well.

Lenny is a strong, self-sufficient character. Her friends are a little quirky but very realistic. The cheerleader? Done very well. The quarterback? Ditto. He's smarter than people give him credit for, which was nice.

I was only vaguely familiar with boo hags, so this was fun and refreshing.

Sorry, but it has to be said: I was disappointed when we learned who the boo hag was. I wish I wasn't, but there it is. It was just too random for me. Hopefully in the next book we'll find out why the random boo hag was after Lenny, why it was there in the first place, why the teacher is so willing to cover things for Lenny, and what his secret is.

4/5 stars