about the book

Orphan Jack Templar has no memory of his parents and only the smallest details from his Aunt Sophie about how they died. The day before Jack's fourteenth birthday, things start to change for him. At first it's great: A sudden new strength helps him defend his nose-picking friend "T-Rex" from the school bully, and even his crush, Cindy Adams, takes notice. But then a mysterious girl named Eva arrives and tells him two facts that will change his life forever. First, that he's the descendent of a long line of monster hunters and he's destined to be in the family business. Second, that there's a truce between man and monster that children are off-limits...until their fourteenth birthday! Jack has only one day before hundreds of monsters will descend on his little town of Sunnyvale and try to kill him. 

As if that weren't enough, things get even more complicated when Jack discovers that the Lord of the Creach (as the monsters are collectively known) holds a personal grudge against him and will do anything to see that Jack has a slow and painful death. To stay alive and save his friends, Jack will have to battle werewolves, vampires, harpies, trolls, zombies and more. But perhaps the most dangerous thing he must face is the truth about his past. Why do the other hunters call him the last Templar? Why do they whisper that he may be the "One?" Why do the monsters want him dead so badly? Even as these questions plague him, he quickly discovers survival is his new full-time job and that in the world of monster hunters, nothing is really what it seems.

my thoughts

I love having fun while I read a book.   I laughed out loud at Jack's warnings during the first few pages of the book and was intrigued enough to keep reading.  I'm glad I did.  This is an amazing story.   Jack is a great character, I mean, monster hunter.

This story is well written.  Not too scary for young children.  A bit of fantasy/horror mixed together.  The characters are well developed.  The story fast paced and interesting.   

I started reading the warnings aloud to my 12 year old son. He was interested enough to state "I want to read it when your done"  I gave him my ereader when I finished,  and he was glued to the reader until he finished the story.  His response..."Is there more?"  Thankfully, there is a second novel coming soon.   

Any book that gets a stamp of approval from my 12 year old is a great story.  Right now, he's obsessed with Percy Jackson and not much interested in anything else.   In other words, this is an amazing story, one that encouraged him to read something other than PJ.  Must be the monsters.

A 5 star story for middle graders, young adults.

I was given this book for an honest review.  I was not financially compensated in any way.  The opinions are mine and those of my 12 year old.

We are part of Orangeberry's book blog tour