*I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher for possible review*Do you enjoy the following: ghosts, boarding school stories, Maureen Johnson's twitter feed, and books that take place in London? If so, then you should definitely try the Shades of London series.As The Madness Underneath opens, Rory is stuck living with her parents, who are eager to keep her safe after her close brush with death in book one. When they finally allow her to return to school, she's thrilled to be reunited with her roommate Jazza, her hook-up buddy Jerome, and her special friends Stephen, Callum and Boo. Even though the culprit in book one is no more, there's a new murder right near campus that seems to have a supernatural element. Rory finds she has a new talent. As the synopsis discloses, she can kill ghosts on contact. She also discovers something interesting about her boarding school --shades of Buffy and the Hellmouth!As I was listening to The Name of the Star on audio to refresh my memory before I started The Madness Underneath, it struck me that these books move at a leisurely pace rather than thriller-y one. To enjoy them, you have to slow down and enjoy the journey: the quirky details about London, the boarding school stuff, and Rory's humorous asides about her eccentric relatives in the South. In The Madness Underneath, Rory isn't that involved in Wexford life, but there's plenty of London atmosphere and spooky stuff. There are also a couple of new characters, one of whom raised a huge red flag for me, and I was right: Person to Beware. Then at the end there's a "finally" moment, and right on top of that, a "what????" moment. What? I was really not expecting that. I will definitely be reading the next book!To read full review and a discussion of the slight change in ending between the e-ARC and the hardcover, you can find all that and more on my blog, YA Romantics
