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Book Review By Debbie
Shadowland by Jenny Carroll

Susannah "Suze" Simon just traveled all the way across the country from New York to California to live with her mom, her new stepfather and her three new stepbrothers. Yippee. She hasn't even gotten the chance to unpack when she sees a ghost sitting in her bedroom. It is true that the ghost is really hot, but, hello, she cannot share her bedroom with a guy! She tells Jesse, the ghost, to take a hike, but, of course, he doesn't so Suze has to find another way to get rid of him. After Suze's first day at school, however, Jesse is the least of her worries. Heather, a very angry ghost girl who just committed suicide when her boyfriend broke up with her, is determined to make Bryce Martinson, her seemingly perfect boyfriend, pay for her death. Suze has never had a problem getting ghosts to leave before, true, she may have kicked a few butts to get them out of there, but they always left, but Heather wasn't leaving.

As Suze tries to convince her mom that she is happy in her new home, adjust to having a stepfather who insists they all eat dinner together (every night!), deal with three stepbrothers that she calls Sleepy, Dopey & Doc for a reason, exchange mediator techniques with Father Dominic, the first guy she has met who can also see ghosts, save Bryce from Heather's murderous impulses and get rid of Heather while making new friends at her new school, she finds that she has her hands more than full and figures out pretty quickly that, while California is not the same as New York, her life didn't get any easier...

I loved this book! It was so hilarious that I was laughing out loud while I read it. Suze is a fabulous character and is so matter of fact about seeing ghosts and how to deal with them and stuff that it doesn't seem at all unusual. Her friends are unique, her new stepfamily is a hoot when seen through Suze's eyes and Suze's idea of what California is like was pretty funny too.


Plot & Themes
Tone of book? - upbeat
Time/era of story - 1980's-1999
Kids growing up/acting up? Yes
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over
Is this an adult or child's book? - Age 11-14
Age group of kid(s) in story: - high school

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - a teen
Has magical powers? Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - a teen
Profession/status:
Has magical powers? Yes
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 5 ()
United States Yes
The US: - California
City? Yes

Writing Style
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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