Emily Arsenault

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 tea-leaf-reading book 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.

The Leaf Reader

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.

Chandler Primak

Good story, kinda short ending

lot of really great build up and the characters are very complex. The ending was unexpected but a little short

Dorian Avers

** spoiler alert **
           3.75
 I actually really enjoyed this book. I haven't read a book with a single narrator in awhile, but I liked Marnie's voice. The flow between the easy dialogue and her thoughts seemed so natural, nothing was really overdone. The mystery wasn't this obscurely complicated web, but instead one bad apple and some dumb teens doing dumb teen things and accidentally hurting someone. I didn't hate the fact that Marnie's family turned out to have "powers", but I could've done without. I liked Marnie's tea leaf reading, but then it turns out her brother has dreams and her grandma can hear objects, it's interesting, but it kind of just seemed thrown in to make connections easier. I'd definitely read more by this author. What sold me was her writing for Marnie.

Quotes:
* "To see things-to REALLY see things-means you have to sacrifice the way you WANT to see things" (226)

The Leaf Reader

Reviews