Customer Reviews

Shadowed Summer

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When Iris calls up a ghost on one too-long, too-hot summer day, she hardly expects one to actually appear--or for the one who does to be so frightening. Maybe if she can solve the mystery of his death, he'll stop haunting her. But that mystery may lead her closer to home than she imagined...

SHADOWED SUMMER is a spooky and suspenseful read, with a main character whose voice is so distinctive you'll have trouble getting it out of your head and heaps of Southern small town atmosphere. The mystery is a page-turner and the ghost truly haunting, but the best part of this book is how real the characters and their relationships feel. Iris, her father, and her friends will stick with you a long time after. Highly recommended for readers of all ages!

SHADOWED SUMMER
SAUNDRA MITCHELL
YA paranormal
Delacorte Press
ISBN # 9780385735711
183 pages
$15.99
Hardback Available now

Rating: 4 Enchantments

Boring and hot. That's Ondine, Louisiana in the summer time. Fourteen-year-old Iris and her friend Collette try to find some magic in an otherwise boring summer. But something does happen. A ghost appears. Seems something did happen in Ordine long ago. A teenager Elijah disappeared. Now Iris swears he's haunting her.

What do the others in her town know? Iris tries to find out the truth. But an even bigger question is why has Elijah decided to haunt her?

I enjoyed this paranormal tale. The author did a great job of nailing down the voice of a Southern teen dealing with a haunting. The writing was vivid and very descriptive. I felt as if I was there in Ondine on a hot summer day. The friendship of Iris and Collette was realistic especially when Ben becomes involved in helping them solve the mystery. What makes this story even more compelling is the whole mystery of what exactly happened to Elijah. The truth in the end is surprising and caught me off guard. I'd recommend this book to those who love paranormal mysteries.

Saundra Mitchell is a screenwriter and author who penned the screenplays for the Fresh Films and Girls in the Director's Chair short film series. Her short story "Ready to Wear" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her first featured film, Revenge Ends, debuted on the festival circuit in 2008. She lives in Indianapolis with her husband and two children. Find out more at her website www.saundramitchell.com

Kim
ENCHANTING REVIEWS
March 2009

My thoughts...While Shadowed Summer is geared toward younger readers, I think paranormal fans of any age would enjoy this tale. Iris and her best friend Collette live in a very small southern town. Their entertainment consists of calling up spirits and writing spells in their secret notebooks. During one of their rituals, Iris calls up a real ghost by the name of Elijah who is very persistent with his demands for help. The story is about the mystery of Elijah's death. Shadowed Summer will put you on the edge of your seat.

The writing in this story is exemplary. Mitchell does a great job of writing the voice of 14 year old Iris. The characters feel genuine. They experience a wide array of emotions including jealousy, betrayal, and love-each one of them believable. The character of Elijah is unpredictable. One moment you feel bad for him, the next you are afraid of him.

The plot of Shadowed Summer moves at a rapid pace. I can honestly say that the book made me want to keep the light on. It has that "what's lurking under my bed" creepy quality to it. The mystery element will appeal to both genders. It is a good mystery: tons of suspects and tons of clues. There is a bit of a love story woven into the action, just enough to satisfy. This is a great one for the summer reading list.

Anyone who has grown up in a small town will understand the frustrations and limitations that Iris and her friend Collette feel. For a teen its not fun to see the same people do the same things day after day. And a graveyard is a strong temptation (one that I found irresistible at their age and in their situation). I could, despite being a decade older then either Iris or Collette, easily identify with them. Mitchell writes their reactions believably and with honesty--who hasn't gotten tired of their friend who is constantly flirting and dragging you into their busy `couples' life only to make you feel like an outsider? Or anxiety that what you had with that friend is disappearing as you grow older and have less in common?

Mitchell's history with screenwriting is especially apparent in her attention to detail with the characters' responses and the surroundings. The use of `Where y'at?', a common local phrase from New Orleans (according to my handy dandy slang dictionary) is perhaps the most chilling part of the book for me. Each time Iris would hear it, I just got a chill down my spine and goose bumps on my arms.

An important motivating factor for the book is the friendship between Iris and Collette and how turning fourteen changed things for them. Collette was on the verge of wanting to be treated like a young woman--she wanted to primp and preen herself on the off chance a cute boy would happen by. Iris was content to keep things as they were--making up magical stories, `talking' to spirits and throwing stones at the boys. As the two of them dig deeper into Elijah Landry's disappearance--with the help from Ben, Collette's new boyfriend--they're both forced to confront the truth of their friendship and its future.

Shadowed Summer is sure to keep your attention from start to finish and keep you guessing as to what really happened to Elijah. In fact the resolution to the mystery forces a series of events that changes Iris' perception of not only herself, but also of her town.

I read this one a few weeks ago, and it has stuck with me ever since. I picked it up to start and read it in one sitting (with a break to walk the dog). I was immediately sucked into the story--two girls going to a graveyard to play at casting spells...only, this time one of them works and one of the girls sees a ghost. The ghost turns out to be the spirit of a teen who'd gone missing a decade or so (can't remember exactly) before, and he wants Iris (main character) to help find him.

The setting was done MASTERFULLY. I felt like I was right there in that small Louisiana town in the height of summer. The story gave me goosebumps (I'm such a wimp, I know) and had me on the edge of my seat.

Two girls begin to investigate the disappearance of Elijah, a boy who vanished years ago. Is he alive or dead? How could he vanish without a trace? One of the girls begins to see his spirit and the spirit is not resting easy. There are some good twists and turns in this book that makes it more than just a run of the mill ghost story. The characters were a little underdeveloped but it did not hurt the story overall. I read this book on my Kindle and I enjoyed it. It was my first book by this author.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com/

Shadowed Summer takes place in the perfect southern, gothic setting of Louisiana in the summer, in a small town where nothing ever happens. Iris and Collette are best friends, caught in the awkward stage between growing up and playing childhood games. Their relationship, especially with the addition of a boy to the mix, is completely realistic. The author did an exceptional job of developing all of the characters in the story, making them all entirely believable. The descriptions were vivid, without being overdone, and completely pulled me into the story. The plot was perfectly paced and kept me guessing until the end, never guessing the true conclusion. While geared toward the younger side of "young adult" readers, I think fans of the genre of any age would enjoy the story.

I was pleasantly surprised by this Young Adult Ghost Story. I really loved the author's style of writing and how she described every scene in elaborate detail so that you could actually feel what the character's felt. She was truly vivid in her detailing of this Southern Louisiana town.

This is the story of Iris and her best friend Collette who accidentally call up the spirit of a dead boy, Elijah, who had gone missing from the town years ago. Iris experiences several instances of unexplained occurrences and the haunting voice of a boy asking her "Where ya at Iris?" After investigating with her friends, she truly believes she is being haunted by Elijah. Iris manages to solve this mystery and uncovers shocking secrets of love and betrayal in her quest to help Elijah.

I just finished Shadowed Summer and I absolutely loved it! It's the kind of book where the second I close it, I just want to open it back up and read the whole thing again. It's an amazingly fantastic book---it was SXSW in Austin when I was reading this and even though I'm a music fiend, I actually skipped a concert I'd planned on going to because I HAD to finish reading Shadowed Summer.

The characters are so authentic, understandable, and sympathetic that you feel for each and every one of them. Which makes finding out what really happened all those years ago in Ondine even more urgent. The mystery is so exciting and suspenseful that I flew through the last eighty pages without a single break.

The writing itself is superb; Saundra Mitchell has this beautiful way of expressing a feeling in a completely new way that isn't clichéd, but is still clear and understandable. Her style wasn't trying so hard to be `fresh' that it lost the feeling she was conveying to the reader in the first place. I loved it from first sentence to last, but there were several lines that really made me stop, dog-ear that page, and think: what a gorgeous way to say that. Here are just a few examples:

1. I felt my room above me, like it could sink through the ceiling and sit on my shoulders. (It's like the tension is this palpable thing waiting for Iris, and she feels the weight of it there hanging over her head and she knows eventually she'll have to deal with it. Phenomenal.)

2. The sky folded over on itself, new shades of bruise and brown painting the clouds, but the rain wouldn't come, no matter how hard I wished it. (A perfect painting of the moment right before a storm.)
3. The white limestone seemed to glow, collecting the brightness of the lightning and holding on to it when the flashes faded. (What a haunting image.)

I could go on listing parts of Shadowed Summer that I loved, but I probably should refrain or I'll just end up retyping the whole book right here. The bottom line is, if you enjoy beautiful writing, mysteries, ghost stories or coming of age stories then this is an absolute must-read!

Shadowed Summer was an awesome read. I was in the mood for a good mystery, and I'm glad I picked this one up, because I thought it was just a ghost story. It's interesting to have the book set in the rural south, and the author does an amazing job with the characters (dialogue, superstitions, etc). I live in the south so I can say that as a fact. =)
The book took a few interesting turns, and left me completely satisfied.