TITLE: A Certain Slant of Light
AUTHOR: Laura Whitcomb
COPYRIGHT: 2005
TYPE: YA paranormal
PAGES; 282
SERIES: I don't believe so
REASON FOR READING: The blurb sounded interesting.

SUMMARY: {From Goodreads}
In the class of the high school English teacher she has been haunting, Helen feels them: for the first time in 130 years, human eyes are looking at her. They belong to a boy, a boy who has not seemed remarkable until now. And Helen, terrified but intrigued, is drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely couple with their first challenge. But as the lovers struggle to find a way to be together, they begin to discover the secrets of their former lives and of the young people they come to possess

THOUGHTS/OPINION:
Okay this book was definitely different and in a good way. Helen is an interesting character/ghost. She doesn’t haunt the people she follows she just hangs around them b/c she’s scared if she lets go she will go back to the place where she died (although she doesn’t know that’s what it is instead she thinks its hell.) Then you throw in that no one has ever been able to see her until one day in English class a young boy looks directly at her. What was very interesting to me is how Ms. Whitcomb pulled this off. Its hard to image wanting to read about ghost who don’t scare people but who are just trying to survive the only way they know how. Add to it now I’m scared I might have one as well.

Things I enjoyed:
I enjoyed Helene and how difficult she found letting go of things. A lot of us have this problem but as a ghost it was magnified through her constant fear of letting go of her host. I also found James interesting and how he took the time to help Helene with her fears. I love that he was patient and understanding and really, really tried to help her work through all her frustrations. Together they learned that they had to let go in order to finish living. The whole twist on the two bodies they took over was wonderful. This was truly an enjoyable read.

Things I didn’t care for:
I thought the whole host issue was a difficult problem and hard to understand. The concept is the body can release the spirit but still function so that no one notices the difference. Other than the host acting strange, like memory loss, acting like a puppet ect… Then the light (which was Helene and James) or darkness (which I can only assume is demons or bad ghost) can take over the host and use their bodies which James and Helene did. While interesting it still was confusing. Then add to it that James and Helene wanted the original host to have their own spirits back so that added to the confusion.

Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? I think I read her writing book but nothing fiction. It was very good so yes I will read her next one The Fetch

Are you keeping it or passing it on? Passing simply b/c I have read it and I will remember the twist if I re-read

SCORE: 7 out of 10

Anything Else: Although I found this in the YA section it does have sex and it doesn’t appear to be YA. The reasoning it was there the main characters are in their late 20s but they choose host that are teenagers. OH and yes this is a romance story!

Additional Info:
~ Price: $8.99
~ Favorite Author Book(s): this is the only one I’ve read by her
~ Author Website: http://www.laurawhitcomb.com/
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100+ Book Challenge

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