Darkest Powers >>> LIFE (and it has a kick-ass website!)

Unlike a lot of other YA bloggers out there, I did not "get into" YA from Twilight. I hadn't read YA novels as a young adult and, to be honest, I didn't even consider it a "real" genre. And even though I read Twilight to see what all the fuss was about, it didn't change my mind on the matter.

And then, about a year after I read Twilight - okay, May 2009, but who's counting? - I picked up The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong. I was intrigued by the concept of a teen who sees ghosts being locked up in a mental institution. It was just such a logical reaction to an inconceivable supernatural power, not to mention it meant lots of lovely opportunities to explore social opinions about mental illness. I was eager to see if Armstrong - who I had never heard of - could pull it off. Admittedly, I didn't think she could!

I was so wrong.

I finished The Summoning that same night - and had ordered The Awakening by the next day. When it came, I devoured it. If anything, The Awakening was even better than The Summoning (even though it lacked all that deep - and very well handled - social commentary). When I found out that The Reckoning wasn't coming out until the next year, I could have cried.

And during that epic wait, I went in search of all sorts of brilliant YA novels to keep me busy. YA book bloggers pointed me in the right direction, and led me to start my own - and the rest, as they say, is history.

Why are you bringing this up, you ask?

Because there is a brand new DARKEST POWERS WEBSITE!

It's epic. The whole site is done up as Edison Group files, meaning Chloe is a "Case Study" and Derek's bio is listed under "Known Associates". Pretty cool, huh? It's also got Kelley's blog incorporated into it, complete with all her lovely DP-verse short stories. Not to mention a LOT of new information about her upcoming YA trilogy Darkness Rising.

The new trilogy starts with The Gathering (April 12th, 2011) and stars Maya Delany. Like the Darkest Powers series, it also focusses on teens who were subjects in Edison Group projects. But instead of a vague summary to keep fans wondering, Kelley has put up biographic information about all the characters in the new books - including one lovely German Shepherd named Kenji (*is in love*)!

And to top it all off, there is even a whopping thirteen-page excerpt from the book! How brilliant is that? Finding it isn't too tricky - but you have to go into a "restricted area", keeping with the theme of the whole site.

All of the old content is still there, including fanart, playlists and videos for the Darkest Powers. If you haven't been yet, go now! And while you're there, make sure to read Dangerous - a DP short story told from Derek's POV!