Can there truly be love after death?

Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she’s dead. With no recollection of her past life—or her actual death—she’s trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.

Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their newfound happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.

The cover and the concept of this book were what inspired me to pick it up – the cover being gorgeous, as you can see; and the concept being an interesting take on the usual ghost story or star-crossed lovers story. What could be more star-crossed than a flesh and blood boy and an immaterial ghost?

Amelia’s grey existence and nightmare reliving her drowning were eerie and well written.  Coming out of the fog of her existence with Joshua, she begins to wonder about her life and who she was.  Josh tries to help her find out who she was and how she died.

We do have the rapid-romance here, but since Amelia “saved” Joshua from drowning that’s understandable.  Plus the bonus cool factor that she’s a ghost, and he’s a Seer (which means he is one of a few humans who can see ghosts).  Yep, plus ghost/human snogging apparently gives you some amazing electric feeling tingles.  The romance is very sweet in this book.

Eli, the handsome wanna-be-rockstar ghost, was creepy and immoral and obsessed with Amelia – just what I like in a villain!  I almost felt sorry for him at the end, just a tiny bit.  Ruth, Joshua’s Seer grandma, was also an exceedingly mean piece of work.  Her character felt a little forced, as she was so harsh on Amelia and Joshua, and then the added deadline of the exorcism.

And just saying THANK YOU to Tara Hudson for not leaving us with a nasty cliffhanger (since this book is going to be a trilogy).  The ending was satisfying, but there were enough loose ends and questions that I know I’ll have to read Arise when it comes out.

I give this book 3.5 STACKS.

See you in the STACKS,
Nancy – who likes reading about the tingles

goodreads: In this haunted kingdom, ghosts linger—not just in the deepest forests or the darkest caverns, but alongside the living, as part of a twisted palace court that revels all night and sleeps through the daylight hours…

my thoughts: Leah Cypress’s sophomore novel is a good ghostly read. However, as much as I wanted to love this book I just didn’t.

The story was slow moving, and the exposition was long. Thankfully the story but did pick up in the middle. I just felt Darri had a one track mind (get Callie back, get Callie back). Yes, Darri’s determination was explained, but it still didn’t help the slow pace and the single-song playing.

Varis, Darri’s brother, was hard and almost ruthless at times. I didn’t know if I should love him or hate him. I’m still on the fence about his character, but probably leaning more to the “like” side of the equation. One minute he can’t stand his sisters and is only after furthering the Raellian, then the next minute he is defending his sisters honor, so to speak.

Like I said earlier, the middle of the book picked up speed, and this is when I started to really enjoy the story. The action crescendo-ed and I finally felt the story was progressing. At this point I couldn’t put the book down. As I read the last page, I thought, “huh…, great and perfect ending, a fitting end.”

I think the overarching theme to be derived from this novel is “ghost rights,” per se (which parallels can be drawn in the real world). The ghosts didn’t ask to come back for vengeance, but yet here they are. Therefore, do they have rights? Should they be permanently expelled? Humans and ghosts need to be able to coexist. Where is the middle ground? Can they find it? Not easy questions to answer.

I give this book 3 STACKS

See you in the STACKS,
Stacy

We talked womanhood, acne, Nightmare on Elm Street and a bunch of other stuff.

This novel was a quick, easy read with a cast of racially diverse characters and lots of current music references (most of which were lost on me but teens would probably get).  Arthur has a good grasp of teen-speak and current teen trends.  Hooray for modern technology – texting, iPod, computer IM-ing and cell phone use abounds!   Sexting too, because the killer sends nude photos of the dead girls to Krystal.

Krystal’s anger over her mother’s divorce and resentment at leaving New York make her seem rather bratty at times.  To her credit, she realizes as she’s doing it that she is hurting her mother’s feelings – but that doesn’t stop her.  The social segregation at the school seemed rather forced at times – when Sasha’s rich teen friends take a bat to Jake’s wrong-side-of-the tracks house, for instance.  Most kids would have just used toilet paper, or eggs.

A solid YA effort and first in a series – the kids realized they may not be the only “Mystyx” kids around.  As they find others like them and have more adventures, I’m sure this book will gather a solid teen fan base.

I give this book 3 STACKS

See you in the STACKS
Nancy, who would not pick talking to ghosts for my superpower – too creepy.

The first line is, “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.”  The man holding the knife, Jack, just murdered a family.  The last one alive, the baby, toddled away during the gruesome crime and is hidden by ghosts in the graveyard down the street.  The ghosts name him Nobody (Bod for short) and raise him in the graveyard.  He is not allowed to leave for fear of the murderer, who is still looking for him. Bod’s other caretaker is a man named Silas, who only comes out at sundown and is gone by sunup (hmmm?), and who brings him food.  As Bod grows, he learns about the unseen world and beings, meets a girl named Scarlett, and longs to join the real world and find the murderer of his family.  But while he pursues these things, Jack is still looking for him, to finish what he began many years ago…

I loved this book on so many levels.  First – okay, seriously, the first chapter is the scariest first chapter EVER.  I read that first page and thought, This is a kid’s book?  I don’t recommend it for your first grader, but certainly for preteens.  It is deliciously chilling without being gory.  For example, Gaiman does not use the word blood, but tells you the knife is wet.  Yah, this ain’t your mama’s Nancy Drew!

Second – it is a fun, fast-paced action-adventure story with a terrifying villain and a gentle, serious young hero.  The elements of the fantastic are so fresh because Gaiman describes his characters the way Bod sees them; as normal, everyday people who happen to be ghosts, ghouls, werewolves and vampires.  Bod has many adventures with scary beings in the graveyard, and there is never a dull moment.

Third, it is a story about a boy learning to be human among non-humans (and Gaiman has said he owes a great debt to Kipling’s The Jungle Book).  His friendship with Scarlett is the saddest part for me – that she would rather forget him than remember the scary monsters he just saved her from.  His brief stint at school was the other depressing part – kids can be so mean!  Bod never gives up though.  When he grows too old to stay in the graveyard, he meets the world with optimism and courage.  I love that!

Truly, this book is just as good for adults as it is for kids. 

I give it 5 STACKS!

See you in the STACKS,
Nancy -  who is going to check out Gaiman’s other YA book Coraline soon!