Author: Rosemary Clement-Moore
Genre: Paranormal > Ghosts
Pages: 416
Rating: 5 Stars
Amy Goodnight knows that the world isn't as simple as it seems—she grew up surrounded by household spells and benevolent ghosts. But she also understands that "normal" doesn't mix with magic, and she's worked hard to build a wall between the two worlds. Not only to protect any hope of ever having a normal life.
Ranch-sitting for her aunt in Texas should be exactly that. Good old ordinary, uneventful hard work. Only, Amy and her sister, Phin, aren't alone. There's someone in the house with them—and it's not the living, breathing, amazingly hot cowboy from the ranch next door.
It's a ghost, and it's more powerful than the Goodnights and all their protective spells combined. It wants something from Amy, and none of her carefully built defenses can hold it back.
This is the summer when the wall between Amy's worlds is going to come crashing down.
--Summary from Goodreads
After
putting off this book for years I finally picked it up and, upon finishing it,
was a bit shocked to find how many of my lists I had already mentally added it to: It
made my top 5 favorite books in the last 3 years, favorite heroine, most
crushable guy, favorite “couple”, wishlist (though this one has been fixed
already), etc. It was one of the easiest 5 stars I’ve given and I
can’t wait to read it again!
The
first thing that I loved about this book was the second chapter. Oh my, chapter two, how
many ways can I love thee? This is the chapter that must be read by everyone
because it is so hilarious and perfect and one of the best hooks for a book
that I’ve ever seen! I won’t spoil it for you but I will say that our heroine
meets her cowboy in this chapter in a very… awkward way.
Speaking of our leading
lady…
"I was the designated grown up in a family that operated in
different reality than the rest of the world.”
I just LOVED Amy! She is the snarky,
reluctant heroine who has been trying to protect her unusual family from the
world’s disdain yet separate herself from their crazyness as well. She has an
interesting relationship with her older sister Phin that was fun to watch. Amy
would back her up on her “science” but also continually inform her on correct
social etiquette and what not to say
in public. We also get to meet her younger cousin who is a medium (a talent which
Phin has no respect for oddly enough). Amy is decidedly not impressed with the
hot cowboy neighbor Ben (though I certainly was), especially when he stuck his
foot firmly in his mouth by insulting her aunt to her face (okay, maybe he was
a bit of an idiot there, but still totally dreamy).
“Focus,
Amy. Just because he looked great in the saddle did not mean he wasn't an axe
murderer.”
To say that I adored watching the
interaction between Amy and Ben would be an understatement. This was my
favorite type of character relationship to a T. It wasn’t uncommon for me to
have a smile plastered on my face while reading a scene where they were both
insulting each other, working together, looking at the other like they were
crazy, randomly making out…. In short, all of their scenes. What was refreshing
though was that, despite all that I might have implied above, there was hardly
any romance between them and what there was was slow going and believable to
their characters.
“How
about this?" I said, because now it was the principle of the thing.
"I'm sorry, jackass.”
I don’t really read books with
ghosts in them but Christina had been pushing this book for years and the
author was going to be at the North Texas Teen Book Festival so I knew that I
had to read it before then. I don’t know why I was worried. Yes, there were
creepy ghosts but everything was looked at in a very scientific way (at least
from her sister’s perspective) that everything felt natural and believable,
like it was a realistic contemporary/mystery instead of a paranormal book. Or
maybe I’m the only one who thinks of it like that…
Whether you’re into ghosts or not I
highly suggest giving this book a try. It’s a complete story in itself (though
it has a companion novel), it has an amazing cast of characters, it’s fun and a
bit spooky with a great plot, but most of all it’s just an awesome read!
-Sarah
No comments:
Post a Comment