Book Spotlight: Rockin it Old School with The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith!

I decided it was time to write up another fun post! I can't always think of the fun dorky posts I use to write...mainly because I've written them all over the years! Lol. I guess I could always try to "revisit" a topic...but usually my answer hasn't changed! Lol. So yeah, it would be silly to write the same post twice! So today I decided to spotlight an oldie buy goodie book series: The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith!

He's watched Jenny Thornton for years. His name is Julian and he lives in the shadows, the youngest of an ancient race. From his own dark world he has seen Jenny's brightness and beauty, and for the first time felt a new emotion...love. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was the original omnibus from the late 90s and the cover I happened upon one day at Borders! During one of my many trips to the beloved store, I stumbled upon this one when I was looking for something to read and that little paragraph there totally caught my attention! Then as I looked further into the book I realized it was 3 books in 1! I was in heaven at the price of 1 book! Lol!

Many people remember L.J. Smith as the author of The Vampire Diaries! Which was also an amazing series--as long as you stick to her books and not the ones that were written with her name attached to them. I can't remember the whole situation with that, but I recall it was an unhappy battle between author and publisher. I actually read this series before I uncovered The Vampire Diaries! I think I found them at the store shortly after this one.

The first book had an intriguing premise! I can't remember the sequels as well, but the first one stood out to me for sure! Jenny wanted to play a game with her friends and when she buys this strange looking game from the strange boy Julian at the store, the game seemingly sucked them into it a la' Jumanji style! In this game they all have to face their fears (as the board game had instructed them to write out, if I recall). And they weren't typical fears. If that wasn't enough...one of her friends does not survive! This was even mentioned in the other description if I recall. MY actual book is in storage right now so I can't check to confirm it.

Anyway, this trilogy was just so interesting! I can't quite remember what Julian's deal was. He was obviously otherworldly. The story was good though. Like insanely good! At least to my memory! I was captivated by it and all the details that went into these fears the friends had to overcome! I remember one being pretty freaky, I think it had involved another creature feature from maybe Irish or Scottish lore? It was one of those ancient kind of creatures a grandparent would warn their grandchild about from their own childhood memories. Again, my memory is fuzzy on the details but I kind of recall this when it came to one of Jenny's friends!

This is definitely a series to check out if you're a fan of paranormal young adult! I was always a fan of this genre and remember spending long hours at Borders looking for such titles. This was one of my lucky finds!