#2 the Chupacabra

Vanessa found herself looking straight into a large, salivating mouth with razor-sharp fangs. Above it, two glowing red eyes pulsed to the sound of her heart... When Vanessa visits a friend's family on their ranch in Mexico, she's expecting a relaxing summer. Instead, she enters a shadowy world of mysterious animal death, magical curses, and dark family secrets. Vanessa's hosts are in trouble. Their ranch is struggling; there's been no rain, and animals are being killed by an unidentified predator. Could it be the mythical creature mentioned in her mother's cryptid files--the bloodsucking Chupacabra? Or do the ranch's misfortunes have something to do with the family's painful past? As Vanessa tumbles headlong into the mystery of the Chupacabra, she discovers that nothing is quite what it seems. -- "Journal"

Review :
First published in Ireland, The Cryptid Files is a fantasy series about teenaged Vanessa and her involvement with creatures that most people do not believe exist. Vanessa's mother was a cryptozoologist, and now Vanessa continues her deceased mother's studies on beasts like Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. But Vanessa's connection to these creatures is not just academic. In the first book, for example, during a family trip to Scotland, Vanessa's boat overturns, and she sinks into the loch. Instead of meeting a tragic demise, however, she awakens in an underground cave where a voice in her head encourages her to eat iridescent green algae for energy to explore the waters. Vanessa finds herself being told the truth about the Loch Ness monster by Nessie herself, a rare insight indeed, before heading safely back to dry land. Similarly, in the second book, Vanessa heads to Mexico with her friend Nikki and soon finds herself enmeshed in a series of confusing events that invoke conversations about everything from witches to banshees to vampires to the devil. Eventually, Vanessa realizes that the brutal murders of people and animals around her friend's ranch are the work of shape-shifting naguals who can turn themselves into Chupacabras. Each chapter begins with information about the mythological beasts of the story; The Chupacabra , for example, includes a reference section for further study of Mexican myths and legends. Vanessa's story is one of two worlds--the real world and the world of folktale and mythology--across which she must manage bravely but, for the most part, secretly. Though there are those that share her knowledge, Vanessa is alone to interpret her vivid and prophetic dreams, investigations, and supernatural experiences. --VOYA -- "Journal"