Title:
The Secret Seekers Society and the Beast of Bladenboro
Author: J. L. Hickey
Genre: YA/Fantasy/Paranormal
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: Dec 31 2012
Edition/Formats Available In: Ebook
My Rating: 
Secret Seekers Society and the Beast of Bladenboro follows
the young protagonists Hunter Glenn, and Eliza Lynn through an adventure ripe
with adversity, paranormal monsters, secret societies, and most haunting of
all, a life without their parents.
It all happened one fall afternoon when they learned that
their parent’s plane had gone down overseas, never to be seen again.
The book follows the siblings as they are dropped off at
their new guardian’s home, an ancient and creepy mansion known only as the
Belmonte Estate. Here they unravel the secrets of their parent’s true
identities, the origin of the mysterious Mansion, and their inheritance into an
ancient secret society of monster hunters known as Seekers.
I kept hearing that this story is like the Harry Potter Series...it sort of is, but not really.
After losing their parents, Hunter and Elly Jakobs are thrown into a world of secrecy, myths and danger. The brother and sister find themselves forced to live in a castle a godfather they have never met, Professor Calenstine,
As with most kids, they are curious to see what they are told they cannot. Hunter is curious and wants to explore the secret rooms in the mansion while Elly tries to make him follow the rules. She is quite content to read.
Following her brother, Elly is injured when they sneak out of their room and meet the Beast of Bladenboro. Hunter is worried that she may never wake up.
Elly does wake up and their adventures continue; forcing their uncle Joe to come to the castle when things begin to happen. Along the way they meet Alistair and Olivia who are their ages. They have new friends to go on more secret finding adventures with and who can help them stop the Beast of Bladenboro.
There are many characters introduced into this story, making it a fun read that kept me reading on and on. This can be read and enjoyed by all ages, from young kids to adult. I hope I get to read the next book in the series!
J.L. was born in Saginaw, Michigan where he has a Bachelor's
Degree in Creative Writing through Saginaw Valley State University. He has
written and is currently self publishing two novels, the first entitled The
Deity Chronicles: Origins was released in 2008.
His recent release, The Secret Seekers Society and the Beast
of Bladenboro was released 12/31/12 and has garnered a decent amount of
momentum in its initial release.
You can follow J.L. Hickey's works at
www.secretseekerssociety.com. He also dabbles in literary short fiction, and poetry. When J.L. is not writing, he heads up a local paranormal
investigation group in his home town.
"“I’d like you to meet Trayer. He’s our newest addition
to the Belmonte family, and we all thought it might be nice if you kids could
help us watch over him,” Margot said.
“He’s huge!” Elly laughed, giving the tremendous dog a huge
bear hug. “He’s a puppy?”
“Only eight weeks old,” Margot responded.
“Is he mean?” Hunter asked, a bit more hesitant. He had
always wanted a dog, but he had envisioned something a bit more lap friendly—a
Chihuahua perhaps.
“Not at all, he’s just a pup, and he loves attention.”
“What kind of dog is he?” Hunter asked, now cautiously
petting the large animal’s head.
“Well, it’s a rare breed…” Margot paused for a minute,
thinking of how to answer the question. “I’m certain you’ve never heard of it
before. It’s actually from Scotland, and sadly, the breed is almost extinct.”
“Oh no… that’s so sad,” Elly said, frowning.
“Well, yes… it’s quite sad actually,” Margot answered.
“We’re fairly sure he’s the last one alive in the entire world… and with no
female to mate with, well…”
“We promise to take good care of him!” Elly smiled.
“It’s much bigger than the Great Dane our neighbor had,”
Hunter said, a bit more worried about what taking care of such a large dog
actually entailed.
“Well, Trayer’s breed is called a Cusith. It’s an enormous
canine breed, and when he’s an adult, he’ll be the size of a large calf.”
“Seriously?” Hunter’s eyes widened with concern.
“Hey, I read about the Cusith in one of those monster
books.” Elly’s eyebrows rose. “The book said they were mean, like a dog version
of a Grim Reaper…”
“Yes. Unfortunately, many books describe them as such. I
assure you they are wrong.”
“What do you mean ‘Grim Reaper’?” Hunter pulled his hand
slowly away from the pup, who quickly put his head down in a whimper.
“Well, you read the legend of the Cusith—I applaud you for
reading those books by the way,” Margot winked at Elly. “However, the legend
and the truth are vastly different. See, people fear what they don’t know, and
those legends are based on fear. Even in the wild, the Cusith were very
isolated and spent most of their time in hiding. It was extremely rare for
anyone to ever set eyes on one, but every once in a great while, someone would.
They’d stumble unknowingly into the presence of a large dog-like animal, which
can look terrifying if you didn’t know any better. So the legend was born out
of fear and a lack of understanding. Truth be told, they are extremely smart
and loyal animals. He’ll make a perfect friend for you both.
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