I chose this book because it is young adult fiction, which usually means it is easy to get into the story, and I needed something captivating as I was sweating on the bike at the gym. I chose this at random from my e-stock pile of books on my kindle, and I was definitely not disappointed for once! Yayyyy.
Phantom Summer, written by Amy Sparling, is a story of a teenage girl (Taylor) who moves to live with her mother after her best friend and love dies in a tragic accident. While living in this new beach town, she discovers that pretty much everyone around her is a staunch believer in ghosts and spirits, and Taylor is hard set in her beliefs that these things do not exist. Until she meets Raine, some super sexy guy who apparently has a wardrobe problem (although I thought his clothes sounded fine) and tries to turn her into a believer.
Besides the spooky ghost story parts, which I find creepy and hard to tear myself away from, what I really loved about this book was the (relative) maturity of the main character. She was down to earth and had a good head on her shoulders… and she was just believable. One of the biggest turn-offs for me in a book is if I just don’t believe in it. I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy fantasy or magical realism or any of that, but things need to be well built up; characters need to convince me by showing their traits, not just from a description of them… you get the idea.
Anyway, apart from some repetition and girly teenage *sqee* moments, Taylor was pretty cool. I liked the book and would recommend it. Phantom Summer gets my stamp of approval!
niennie 