Reviewed by Kelsenator on
In this world, people can see real ghosts. And not just one person, but everyone under a certain age. I liked that part a lot, no one character was singled out for being “special” or having to hide their gift of ghost seeing. Well, there was still the special First person, but that’s a bit different.
Aura was the first girl born after the Shift, and the oldest who can see the ghosts. They appear in a purple haze looking like normal people and are unable to move on from the world until their needs are met. The ghosts themselves can’t interact with other ghosts, can’t go anywhere they’ve never been in real life, and can’t enter rooms that are covered with Obsidian. They also dislike the colour red, so most young people wear that colour of clothes to keep them away.
Aura is celebrating her boyfriend Logan’s first gig in front of record labels as well as his birthday, and has finally decided she is ready to take the next step with him. He gets really drunk, and while mixing some things he dies. Through her grieving and seeing his ghost, she tries to move on past the rumours flying around while keeping in contact with him, but it’s hard when they can’t touch.
Zachary, the Scottish exchange student is then introduced along with his awesome accent. He befriends her, and becomes part of her school project, which involves studying the megaliths, like Stonehenge and what secrets it has. They become closer, and Aura is starting to wonder if she can resist moving on from Logan or not.
All this is wrapped around the mystery of what caused the Shift, what secrets her deceased mother was hiding, who her father was and what connects it all.
There is a lot more to the story of course, but there’s also a bunch of secrets revealed through it. I really liked this book, and though I’m not too fond of ghost stories I really liked this one. The Shades (the bad ghosts) weren’t creepy and I was actually ok with it all. I liked Aura, but I loved Zachary’s character. I wasn’t the fondest of Logan, but I did feel sorry for the guy, being dead and all.
A great start to a series, and I can’t wait to see what happens next! Recommended for YA readers who are fans of Paranormal & Romance.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 1 July, 2012: Finished reading
- 1 July, 2012: Reviewed