Black Diamond by Jennifer Loiske and Eveliina Tommola is a YA fantasy about Shannon McLean, a 12-year-old girl who moves in with her magician father and is immersed in a demon-infested battle.
Three weeks after her mother passes away, a heartbroken Shannon leaves Boston and moves to London to live with a father she doesn’t remember. Connor McLean lives in a musty manor house and is aloof, mysterious, and a bit terrifying to his cheeky daughter.
The servants are either cringing like scared rabbits or lost in a thrall-like state. The strangest thing of all is that everyone has curious tattoos on their wrists, and the inked images move. Contrasting these hideous things is discovering she has a twin brother named Ian. Separated soon after they were born, Ian lived his whole life in this huge house with a father who has slowly descended into evil. Ian also has an unbelievable revelation for his sister. The twins are powerful witches, and they must combine their power and save their father from the demon that is slowly devouring Connor. The worst of all is that the demon infection is Shannon’s fault.
Black Diamond is a satisfying story about a couple of likable kids caught up in their parent’s dark magical past. Jennifer Loiske uses a deft hand in weaving a plot laced with unexpected twists and a shivery mood.
Gentle Readers who enjoy a story centered on a determined young lady with a sturdy sense of right and wrong, but is smart enough to listen to the wiser counsel of her brother, would like Black Diamond. This dark adventure is no diamond in the rough, but rather is a polished sparkling gem of a gothic fantasy.
Lita Burke 
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