The Spirit Keeper [Kindle Edition]

Melissa Luznicky Garrett (Author)

Book Description

After her mother and grandparents die in a raging house fire, eleven-year-old Sarah Redbird ends up in the custody of her aunt and uncle. Six years later, Sarah discovers the fire may not have been an accident at all, but a deliberate act of revenge.

Sarah's family has kept the truth of their Native American heritage secret her entire life, refusing to acknowledge where they came from. But when a family that has direct ties to their past moves to town, Sarah's true identity is revealed.

What Sarah soon learns is that some secrets are better left unspoken.


"THE SPIRIT KEEPER is powerful, dreamy, and truly gripping. Garrett definitely knows how to weave mystery and magic." ~Natalie Allan, author of Walking Through Darkness

"In THE SPIRIT KEEPER, Garrett has masterfully created a captivating story with characters that readers truly care about. Take a journey with a seemingly-ordinary girl who discovers she's part of an extraordinary world of untold powers." ~Lauren Loiacono, book enthusiast

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Melissa Luznicky Garrett is an author of adult and young adult novels. She lives in upstate New York with her husband, three children, and numerous animals. Melissa is currently hard at work on her next project.

Product Details

• File Size: 387 KB
• Print Length: 268 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007IUNEBM
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,289 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book for adults and teens! March 17, 2012

By Karen Toz

Format:Kindle Edition

Sarah's aunt and uncle have a secret about Sarah's Native American past they've been keeping for many years. When a new family moves across the street, Sarah's family must reveal the secret in order to protect her from possible danger. At sixteen, Sarah does not know who to trust - she knows her aunt and uncle have her best interests at heart, but surely they are wrong about her new neighbor, Adrian - the first boy who has ever shown any interest in her. As the story unravels, we learn more about Sarah's past, the mysterious family across the street, and the powers of the Spirit Keeper.

Melissa Luznicky Garrett, has another winner on her hands with The Spirit Keeper! Tying in mystical themes with the battle between good and evil, the author manages to create a captivating tale, keeping me interested and engaged right from the first chapter. As the story progressed, I found myself unable to put the book down, needing to learn more about Sarah's secrets and what would become of her. I cannot wait for the next book in the series!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Riveting paranormal YA that easily hooks adults, too April 18, 2012

By M. Stefanides

Format:Kindle Edition

Although The Spirit Keeper is a new genre for Garrett, the quality of the writing is classic Garrett. With the explosion of self-publishing over the past several years, much is made of the quality, or lack thereof, of self-published books. Garrett is one of the many authors who can be held up as an example of the high quality available in indie books.

As I've come to expect from Garrett's earlier books, Precipice and Turning Point, Spirit Keeper's story is told in clean, crisp prose. In some indie-published books, and sometimes even in traditionally published books, I've had to train myself to push past awkward writing to get to the good story behind it. But Garrett's writing is like makeup--the best made-up face is one that looks like there is no makeup at all. Garrett's writing is so good, it seems as though the story is floating along on its own.

The Spirit Keeper tells the story of a teenage girl, Sarah, as she learns the secrets of her heritage as a Native American. After a tragic house fire that kills her mother and grandparents eleven years earlier, Sarah is taken in by her mother's younger sister and brother, not all that much older than Sarah herself. Trying to shield her from the tragedy, Sarah's aunt and uncle keep her past from her, but recent events and new neighbors make that impossible to maintain.

Garrett nicely captures the emotions and thought process of a teenage girl, who is, at turns, resolute in the face of bullying by classmates, grateful to her aunt and uncle for their care, and both impulsive and careful as she falls in love for the first time.

The Spirit Keeper ends with too much of a cliffhanger for my taste. Luckily, though, I care enough about the characters that I would want to continue with the series even with a smoother ending. I want to know more about how Sarah comes to balance the good and the evil aspects of the powers she has just learned she has. She's mature enough to realize that she now has grave responsibilities, but immature enough to be thinking of how she can wield these powers to her benefit when she returns to school. I'm curious to see how she grows as time goes by. And of course, I want to see how her blossoming love for Adrian develops.

I'm not sure how long I have to wait for book two, but I do know that I will be one of the first to pick it up when it's released. I know that both good writing and a good story will be waiting for me.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Will appeal to adults and teenagers alike April 9, 2012

By Trish

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Meet Sarah Redbird, a seventeen-year-old who has lived with her aunt and uncle since losing her mother and grandparents in a fire several years earlier. She loves her best friend Priscilla almost as much as she despises Katie, the "mean girl" at school who leads the bullying of Sarah without ever getting caught.

Sarah's life changes when another Native American family - a father and son - move in across the street. Although Adrian, the son, is both good-looking and charming, she is warned by her guardians to stay away from their new neighbors. Of course, this only makes Sarah even more determined to find out what all the mystery is about, and the resulting events form an interwoven tale of young love and Native American mysticism.

With The Spirit Keeper, Melissa Luznicky Garrett accurately depicts the emotional ups and downs of being a teenager while also introducing us to the fictional Katori tribe, with its tradition of the spirit keeper. The tribal heritage was so well done that I was surprised to learn that Melissa had created it herself based on her research into the tribes that have called that area of upstate New York home.

And although I am farther removed from young adulthood than I would like to admit, I was thoroughly engrossed in this story from beginning to end, and could easily relate to Sarah's feelings throughout the book. This is a book that will appeal to adults and teenagers alike.

More About the Author

Melissa Luznicky Garrett is an author of adult and young adult novels. She lives in upstate New York with her husband, three children, and numerous animals. Melissa is currently hard at work on her next project.

Progress updates about upcoming books can be found at http://www.MLGarrett.blogspot.com or by following Melissa's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/MLGarrettwrites.

These are the books Melissa is currently working on:

BLOOD DRAW, sequel to BLOOD TYPE, slated for Late Fall 2013 publication

YEAR OF THE SNAKE, adult romantic-comedy, slated for End-Of-Year 2013 publication

ADDICTED, young-adult contemporary, slated for 2014 publication