Don't Die Dragonfly

I might never have found this book if not for my friend, who convinced me to read it.

While the writing style is fairly light and straightforward, I loved the story. Sabine lives with her grandmother, both of them gifted with unusual psychic powers. Sabine is still learning to control and use her abilities, with the help of her sometimes snide spirit companion Opal. But with her gift kept a secret, she manages to live a fairly normal high school life.

But then something happens. Sabine begins to be tormented with visions of a girl with a dragonfly tattoo...a girl who is in mortal danger. And Sabine has to find her and warn her, before it's too late.

With the help of her grandmother's handyman Dominic, a blunt young guy with a mysterious show more skill of his own, Sabine begins to realize that she is coming into her full powers...and she's going to need them.

As with many books, the characters make this novel, but the plotline is still suspenseful. And the other books introduce plenty more problems to be solved. show less

From the Witchy Books Network review blog.

Sabine Rose is fitting in well at her new school-- friends with the cheerleaders, confidante of the charming editor of the school paper, and dating the sweetest guy in school. She can almost forget the tragic circumstances that made her an outcast at her old school and ended up with her moving in with her eccentric grandmother, a psychic matchmaker named Nona. But Sabine swears that she didn't inherit her grandmother's abilities-- a facade that's hard to keep up once the visions of the death of a classmate with a dragonfly tattoo begin...

Don't Die, Dragonfly is a thrilling first installment of a series that I am eager to read more of. It's a book that deals with the most frightening burden of show more power: social ostracism. Sabine's struggles to both own her powers and save her classmate's life are skillfully intertwined as she must learn to trust others with her secret in order to do what's right.

Singleton also sets up plenty of teasers for future installment, from the mysterious Dominic who moves into Nona's barn at the beginning of the story and makes cryptic intimations about the future of Sabine's family, to the effect of her new alliances on her old friendships and her new boyfriend. And her strained relationship with her mother not only longs for resolution, but is completely relatable to anyone who has ever been a teenager. I can't wait to read more-- including the final book, Magician's Muse, out in October!

(By the way, if the plot reminds you of Blue is for Nightmares, you're not alone. But whether you love or hate those books, you should give Dragonfly a try, because the two books/series are plenty different!) You can read the first two chapters here. show less

Another free ebook...I didn't very much like this one. A lot of Sabine's narration went all over the place, and I couldn't focus on the main plot. Story elements seemed to be dropped all over the place and then picked up randomly. Also, the characters tended to state the obvious to each other, as well as having very narrow characterization. Sabine's backstory is very thinly referred to, and her instant dislike of Dominic was too jarring for me to understand. Also (I'm going to tangentially rant here, sorry), the ending is an obvious cliffhanger, as if it was forcing me to read the next book. First books in a series should be able to stand on their own as an introduction, not end with "I have a terrible secret! You must give me your show more answer!" and cut. If the last chapter was pushed to the next book, I may be more interested in picking it up, but it was very jarring and forced for me. show less

I have always been drawn to anything involving the mind and have always been fascinated by psychics. Having been born in the caul, and having a Great-Grandmother that read tarot cards, I was ready to jump on board and read a book that dealt with the powers of the psyche. And I was not disappointed.

Don't Die Dragonfly is the first book in The Seer series. Sabine Rose is sent to live with her maternal Grandmother, Nona, after a boy dies at her school. Plagued with visions, she feels as if she let this boy down, and could have done more to prevent his death. Add a not so cooperative spirit guide and she feels totally lost. Her mother has never been able to accept the "gift" that she was born with, and seeing as how Nona has similar show more abilities, she feels that she is better suited to help raise her. Sabine has misled Nona into believing that her powers are gone and that she is just a regular teenager, a desception that could lead to some problems in her future (to bad she couldn't see things about herself).

Sabine was looking forward to starting a new school, and actually was leading a pretty good life for a teenager. She was on the school newspaper and was best friends with one of the cheerleaders, she figured that things would be great as long as no one found out that she was a psychic. Unfortunately, shortly after she comes to live with her Grandmother she starts having visions...terrifying visions of a girl with a dragonfly tattoo. As much as she would like to turn a blind eye, she knows that she needs to try and do better than she did at her previous school, and vows to help save this girl. She encounters many obstacles along the way, will it be too many to stop a tragedy, a tragedy only she knows about?

This is one of the most fantastic books that I have read, and was a real page turner. I don't want to go into too much detail, but if you are looking for a book to grab you and make you question what abilities might be lurking in your head, this is it.

Questions for the author:

Are there any psychics in your family?

Not that I'm aware of -- but I strongly believe in listening to my intuition and think it has saved me many times, like when I had a strong feeling not to go back to my car alone or when I was jogging down a deserted street. I've learned to trust my feelings always.

Do you believe in tarot readings, mediums, etc...or was it just something that was fun to write about?

I believe that it's more likely amazing things are possible for the simple fact that humans are more than just the bodies we wear. I love to go to psychic fairs and I've read many books on psychics. Although I've had no solid proof in my personal life that it's all real, I feel strongly that more things are possible than are not. I even suspect that my character Sabine came to me in dreams as a gift for my writing.

What hobbies do you enjoy besides writing?

I collect girl series books, love reading (of course!), taking walks, going to movies, boating, playing cards, camping, square dancing and bowling. I also love to blog and spend lots of time online.

Can we look forward to more books with Sabine et all?

There are five books in the series. #4 SWORD PLAY goes back to Sabine's previous life and reveals secrets about a student's death. At the moment FATAL CHARM is the last book and I'm working on the DEAD GIRL series, the first book DEAD GIRL WALKING comes out September 2008. If my Llewellyn publisher ever wants more THE SEER books, I'd love to write them. To stay updated with my latest book news, check out www.myspace.com/LindaJoySingleton . I hope to share my next book cover soon!


As an added bonus, a copy of Don't Die Dragonfly is to be raffled off to a reader. Enter by signing the guestbook at www.uponfurtherreview.org

The drawing will be held the first week in February. The winner will be announced on the website under Raffle Winners. show less

This book was re-issued and also contains a short story, Dominic’s Volcano, that explains the back ground of Dominic, the young man Sabine’s grandmother takes on as her apprentice. The short story in itself was great and I love that we see more of what Dominic and Sabine just allude to regarding his history. The main story was an interesting concept and a nice change from the vampire theme that is currently so popular. Don’t get me wrong, I love my vampire books, but variety is the spice of life right?

In this book someone is trying to frame Sabine in a crime that could get her kicked out of school again and possibly even arrested. Along with the help of Manny, the author of the school paper’s psychic column, and Thorn, another show more student with unusual abilities, they have to hunt down who is out to get Sabine and help the dragonfly girl. While I like Sabine’s character it’s her spirit guide, Opal, that cracked me up at points and I hope to see more of her in the next book. I also loved Manny and Thorn’s characters and I hope they play a bigger part in the sequels. I really enjoyed this book but felt it was more of a set up for the upcoming sequels so I cannot wait to read those. It definitely leaves you wanting more and it’s probably best to have the next book on hand or be ready for a quick run to the library or book store when you finish book 1. show less

I have had this book forever on my Kindle and finally decided to give it a read. I believe there are six book in this series right now. This was a very quick read and was okay. The dialogue throughout is a bit stiff and awkward and the story is predictable.

The main character, Sabine, can see glimpses of the future and occasionally see ghosts. She is starting over at a new high school pretending to be a "normal" girl after some events at her old high school caused her to leave. When Sabine sees a vision of a bloody dragonfly and then she meets a girl with a dragonfly tattoo she is worried that she won’t be able to keep her Seer gift secret for long.

This is one of those books where the main character sees a vision and spends a lot of show more time trying to figure out the vision and then stop those events from happening. It reminded me a bit of Laurie Faria Stolarz’s Blue is for Nightmares series; except this book was less scary and more awkwardly written.

The dialogue is a bit stiff and awkward throughout and the story is very predictable. It's mostly a lot of high school drama and mystery. I never related to any of the characters that well and don't plan on reading future books in this series. The story does wrap up pretty well though, so that was nice.

Overall this was an okay book. I enjoyed the idea of a character who can see glimpses of the future, but it is definitely not all that creative. The dialogue is a bit awkward throughout and I had trouble engaging with the characters. I also found the mystery to be very predictable. I would recommend Laurie Faria Stolarz’s Blue is for Nightmares series if you are interested in reading about a YA seer who solves creepy mysteries. If you are looking for another series kind of like Blue is for Nightmares, this one is okay if not as well written. I don’t plan on reading any more books in this series. show less

This book actually took me a few days to read. It was interesting but there were times where I was like ok can we please get to the more interesting parts? Unfortunately those didn't come until the last quarter of the book, but that last quarter made me want to continue on with the series. So here's hoping the next book keeps going the way the last quarter of this book did then I'd really enjoy this series.