The wrath and tyranny of the Sleeping Prince is crashing down upon Errin’s world.  All of Tregellan is going into a defensive lock down mode but Errin’s greater concern is to take care of her ailing mother, whom she believes has “Scarlet Varulv,” a mysterious disease that takes over her mind and body during the full moon in such a way that she attacks Errin and leaves her limp and lifeless the rest of the month.  With her father dead from an accident partially cause by Errin’s bad judgment and her brother abandoning the family without explanation,  Errin sole survival tactic is to sell the apothacary remedies she was being trained to do before her world crumbled.  Befriended by a hooded, white-haired male who always seems to show up at the perfect time, Errin not only continues her quest to release her mother from the afflicting disease while getting wrapped right into the center of battle with the Sleeping Prince.  Reminiscent of myth and full of lore, chases, heartbreak and tension, this is sure to please any reader who likes a twisted good vs. evil story.

Note: This is book 2 of a series though it was previewed as a stand alone.  It has a different point of view/narrator than the 1st book, The Sin-Eater’s Daughter.  There are times in the last 80 pages where the background of the 1st book would help.  Ultimately a library would probably pick up all three as most readers like the full story.

Seventeen-year-old Ryan Poitier Sharp is a daredevil whose passion is skydiving at her father’s diving school, living life on the edge with confidence and wild abandon on and high above the Mojave Desert. Daughter of a vibrant Caribbean mother, a veteran father with PTSD, she is also blessed with a Caribbean grandmother who has shamanistic Obeah (voodoo) magic in her loving bones. Ryan fully inhabits her ‘rum and clouds’ skin, glorious curls and careless beauty in reckless ways without apology, making love to her sweetheart, Dom, and caring deeply for her gay friend, Joe. However, when suddenly thwarted by her father in her wish to make a dangerous group dive, she takes LSD at a party and everything about her changes, mysteriously and for the worse. How she and her loved ones deal with Ryan’s frightening change, trying to discover the roots of her new darkness, makes up the body of the book, which is definitely for older young adults, since it has explicit sex scenes, descriptions of self-harm, suicidal struggles and family tragedies brought on by hallucinations. Tracy Clark has explored an unusual theme in Mirage, taking a metaphysical journey through what is either devastating mental illness or a ghostly possession understood only by Ryan’s heroic shaman Grandmother, who teaches her to reclaim her being, soul and sanity by bravely singing ‘the song of her life.’

In this realistic fictional novel, JT, a teen who is not able to afford college, wants to get out of his dead-end town in Florida. His boyfriend Seth suggests driving to New York to participate in the Miss Drag Teen Pageant. The two guys and their friend Heather encounter various characters along the drive that help JT discover his drag persona and, in doing so, himself.

JT and Seth are very relatable characters in the book. Some of the drag queens portrayed in the novel are interesting people that one would like to meet in person. The writing flowed and the text was easy to read. This book will definitely hit the mark with LGBTQ readers and those who enjoy reading coming-of-age books. This a fun and poignant read.

— Faith E.