Shadowland (Mediator, #1)

by Meg Cabot

[liz089]

Reread 2019.
Six years already, damn. I could still remember some of her sassy words haha ! I never continued this series, even though I liked it and it was quite the easy read. So here I am giving it another try. It is short, easy, entertainable, funny... I still agree with what I wrote years ago, but this time, lets continue with the rest of them !!

Read 2013.

More about this one and my other reviews on my blog ! Freyja Eats Books

SPOILER ALERT

I like Meg Cabot and her stories are always nice. Some authors put years of research and character backgrounds in their series, which I like with certain stories, but this one felt more like going with the flow and making it up along the way. Which I really liked to my own surprise ! It’s definitely not a read with deep emotional problems and trauma, but just a light and funny read. And it made me laugh ! I had a couple of snorts and giggles coming out of me while reading this book ^^ It’s not a serious story and you should not handle it as one.

The main character, Suze is just so perfectly and amazingly sarcastic, I loved her ! She is very grounded and most definitely not a damsel in distress. She says what she feels and is very direct. Just so hilarious !

She moves from New York to California with her mom who got re-married. Since the new husband Andy lives and works in California they move in with him and his three sons. What I really appreciated was that she is not bitter about it at all, no wailing about how they ruined her life or that he can’t replace her real dad. She likes Andy and tries to be her best for her mother and stepdad. The stepbrothers are fun as well, she named them after the dwarfs of Snow White: Sleepy, Dopey and Doc, and they do justice to their nicknames most of the time. In the beginning they are just far away side characters, but during the book mainly Doc (David) really grows on me. I want one too !! He is such a cute kid and totally awesome, like:

"Mr. Ackerman!" Sister Ernestine sounded like she meant business. "Would you like to be written up?" David looked irritated. "No," he said.
"No, what?"
"No, Sister." He looked back at me, apologetically. "I guess I better go. But can we talk more about this tonight at home? I found out some stuff about – well, what you asked me. You know." He widened his eyes meaningfully. "About the house."
"Oh," I said. "Great. Okay."
"Mr. Ackerman!"
David turned to look at the nun. "Hold on a minute, okay, Sister? I'm trying to have a conversation here."
All of the blood left the middle-aged woman's face. It was incredible. She reacted as childishly as if she were the twelve year old, and not David.
"Come with me, young man," she said, seizing hold of David's ear. "I can see your new stepsister has put some pretty big city ideas into your head about how a boy speaks to his elders– "

He is just so cute !

But well.. The only problem being Suze is a mediator, meaning that she can see, talk and touch the dead. She helps the ones who got stuck here on Earth to move on, if they want to or not. She got in a lot of trouble for that in the past and has better hopes for the future, only arriving in her new room she finds a ghost, Jesse, sitting in the windowsill.

And not only him, at her first day in school she finds out there is a ghost at her locker as well. This being Heather, a girl who blew her own brains out because her (ex)boyfriend broke up with her. She wants to take revenge on him, and everyone who stands in her way.

The school is an old catholic building, with a lot of history and priests/nuns running it. One of those, Father Dom, is a mediator as well and helps her with the ghosts. Or well he tries, but Heather is quite stubborn and doesn’t want to move on. So Suze takes over and has a woman to woman with her, which results in the decapitation of the schools founder statue. She barely escapes with the help of Jesse the ghost, who is looking more interesting and interesting to Suze during the story. He is cute, even though he is a couple of centuries old. You don’t know why he is still here on Earth or what his story is until the end of the book, but I felt very sorry for him. I would hug him if I could, but with him being 1. A ghost and 2. A fictional character, that’s not happening.

After Heather almost killed the ex boyfriend twice (Oh and the ex boyfriend asks Suze on a date haha) and hurting Father Dom she plans on an exorcism even though he disagrees. She lies to him (yes a priest!) and goes on with it any way to stop Heather from hurting more people. I love this part as well, she has convinced Heather that she has a way of returning her to her old self.

I was just starting to be worried nothing was going to happen when the candle flames flickered. And it wasn't because there was any wind.
"Nothing's happening," Heather complained, but I shushed her.
The candle flames flickered again. And then, above Heather's head, where the roof of the breezeway should have been, appeared a hole filled with red, swirling gasses. I stared at the hole.
"Uh, Heather," I said. "You might want to close your eyes."
She did so happily enough. "Why? Is it working?"
"Oh," I said. "It's working, all right."

After banishing Heather she gets hurt and is saved by Doc and Sleepy (the names really stick). Jesse warned Doc and they came to find her. Sleepy is still convinced she is in a gang but well..
She and Jesse get in a fight later and it gets kind of steamy… but then they are interrupted.. So not a lot of love in this first installment. Hoping for more in the next one !

She made two friends at school as well, Cee Cee and Adam, who are nice geeky friends. Not a lot of action there, but they made her feel more at home. It being that everyone thought she was a freak back in New York made her kind of a loner and weary of making new friends, but these guys are worth it and accept her. (no idea that she is a mediator though). I hope to read more about them in the next books !