Shadowed Summer

Shadowed Summerby Saundra MitchellThis was one of the books I bought from amazon US when I ordered the final Harry Potter in paperback. It's one of the books I have wanted since I started seeing it on book blogs in the fall. My local bookstores never had it in stock and the online price always seemed a little outrageous (and after seeing this book in real life, I only confirmed the outrageous price for the Canadian edition!). I got it on Amazon.com for 10$ US which even with the exchange is cheaper than I would have paid on Amazon.CA.Stupid book prices.But anyway... I was not disappointed by this book. It was slow at first and I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but I was soon caught up in the mystery of the ghost of Elijah and why he was showing himself to Iris.For once I found the teens in the story to actually act their age. That age where make-believe wars with growing up, imagination fights with boys. What Iris and her best friend are starting to go through was so real and true to growing up. I remember playing witches and magic spells with a close friend of mine as well and sad when she started getting more into boys and started smoking to be cooler.To be honest I thought I knew how this story was going to end. It felt like it was going to be so predictable and I was surprised (and happy!) when it didn't go the way I guessed!I believe Saundra Mitchell is one of the Debut YA Authors of 2009 and I am sure that I will be buying more of her books in the future. She has a way with words and a way of weaving a story that you feel swept up in. I could almost feel the humid, hot summer in the South. (I might have helped that I would read this in the bath with scalding hot water and no working fan!) I felt like I was hanging out with Iris and Collette and Ben (I didn't like Ben! But then again I thought 14 year old boys were stupid even when I WAS 14. Heh.) I don't think I liked Collette either, but then again I had friends at that age who were more interested in boys and clothes and whatnot than I was and I always thought I was broken or something. I am not as close to those friends now as I discovered more people who held similar interests as I did.Growing up - it sucks a lot of the time, but it's nice to finally have an idea of who you are and not care so much about what others think of that!I would certainly recommend this book to people who like ghost stories. It was well done!