Ghost | Geeky Reads Blog

Published By: Hyperion

Date of Publication: March 2 2010

Categories:Boarding School, Fairy, Fiction, Ghost, Series, Urban Paranormal, Vampire, Werewolf, Witch, YA

Pages: 323

Summary (from goodreads.com): Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It’s gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie’s estranged father–an elusive European warlock–only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it’s her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

Review: I have to start off by saying that I love the way Rachel Hawkins incorporates humor into this novel. There were a few times that I went back and read certain parts cause they were really funny. It’s been awhile since I’ve read a book like that.

Archer was a great character to be Sophie’s love interest. I love guys like Archer – a little bit mystery, a little broody, there’s just something that you can’t pin down with him. It’s very mysterious, and it makes me want to read more to learn what it is.

The cast of supporting characters is great too. There’s a lot of them, because the story takes place at a boarding school. But they each have their own identity and voice, so they don’t all blend into each other. It’s kind of cool too, to have so many supernatural beings all in one book – everything from witches to werewolves, and everything in between.

I found it hard to put this book down because there was always something happening – there weren’t any slow or boring parts. The pacing was great.

While it would be easy to group this book with the other boarding school paranormal books just by reading the summary, it’s definitely more than that. It’s fresh and original and deal with more than just the paranormal. There are lots of teen stuff in there too, like friendship, betrayal, relationships, and even prom.

I can’t wait to read the next book in this series, Demonglass. I HAVE to find out what happens to everyone, not to mention the cliffhanger!

Connect with the Author:

Twitter
Blog

Image: goodreads.com

Disclosure: I got this book from the library.

Published by: Bell Bridge Books

Year of Publication: 2010

Categories: Middle Grade, Ghost, Series.

Pages: 222

Summary (from Goodreads): The start of a fun middle-grade series, The Ghost Handlers, follows Heather Tildy, an Atlanta teen with a troublesome habit of attracting ghosts. Middle-child Heather has enough to worry about with sisters, boys and school. Now that a trouble-making girl from the 1800’s is poking her nose in Heather’s business, her life has taken a supernatural turn for the worse! Before her life can get better, she has to figure out how to help the ghost move on.

Debut author Hardegree is a veteran short-story author for the well-known MOSSY CREEK HOMETOWN series. She plans multiple titles in this warm and funny YA series.

Review: Main character Heather has a lot going on. She desperately wants her older (and popular) sister to like her, so that her first year of high school will start off on the right foot. She wants to be seen as popular instead of as weird and nerdy. I think just about everyone felt that way starting high school, I know I did. I wanted to be seen a cool and popular. I wanted people to like me. It really brought me back to my first few weeks of high school, trying to find my place.

Heather also has to worry about the monster sized crush she has on Drew, one of the lifeguards at the outdoor pool that she goes to. He’s cute, and older, and she wants to impress him, just like in one of the many daydreams that she has about him.

As if the transition from junior high to high school wasn’t enough to deal with, there’s also the matter of the ghost that has attached herself to Heather. Her name is Amy, and she’s from the last century. Heather has to help her deal with something before she can move on, but Amy is no help at all with figuring that out. All she wants to do is play with water, make everyone think Heather is absolutely crazy, and get in the way of her plays for popularity.

I thought the characters were definitely what made this book so enjoyable. It was a quick read, and a lot of fun to follow along with what was going to happen to Heather next. It’s a book that just about any tween will enjoy reading, because there’s so much for them to relate to Heather with.

I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next book in The Ghost Handler series.

Here’s the trailer: