Middlebury Magazine's Summer Reads

While flipping through the latest issue of Middlebury Magazine yesterday, I was so surprised—and excited!—to see a great review of Siren! I took my very first creative writing class during one snowy J-term (January session) at Middlebury, so seeing one of my books featured in the pages of the alumni magazine was truly something else.

The review's below, but if you want to check out other summer reads by Midd alum, click HERE!

Siren
(Egmont)
By Tricia Rayburn ’00
Siren is a great read for the beach. In fact, this young-adult suspense thriller unfolds on the beaches and craggy cliffs of Winter Harbor, Maine, where nothing is what it seems—from a bizarre pattern of violent storms that hit only the tiny village to a rash of smiling corpses washed up on shore. The story is told by 17-year-old Vanessa, a beautiful, brainy, mouselike girl who is scared of everything. Still reeling from the suspicious death of her charismatic older sister, she gradually discovers her own temerity, along with a slew of eerie secrets, as she searches for answers in a town that’s coming unhinged. Intelligently written and fast paced, this is Rayburn’s first foray into young-adult fiction (she also wrote the tween-focused Maggie Bean series) and it’s a seamless transition. Nudging into the crowded field of supernatural page turners, Rayburn is very effective at tapping themes on the minds of her teen audience—including romance, loss, self-discovery, parental relationships, peer acceptance—and wrapping it all up in an edgy, irresistible narrative.