Chloe Saunders is a fifteen years old aspiring movie director, and relieved that her life is finally going right, for once in a long while. I mean, not that it's gone seriously BAD, not since her mom died, (being rich and moving a lot isn't precisely bad news, though it does make it hard to make friends,) but she was just tapped to be a possible director of a movie the film club is making, and this is a big thing when you're in an arts school. This- added to the fact that her dad has promised that she's going to stay in the arts school till she graduates- and the fact that maybe a boy just asked her out to the dance- makes it officially a good day, pretty much. She's even dyed some red streaks into her hair- and then she starts being attacked by the ghost of a disfigured custodian which only she can see. Cue waking up in the phych ward.
But Chloe isn't going to let a little thing like being sent to a group home get her down. She's going to be declared better, get out, and get ON with her life. After all, there's not anything really wrong with her in the first place! She's fine. Chloe is determinedly sensible, even when the rest of the kids in the group home turn out to be scarily unpredictable and untrustworthy, though friendly enough, some of them... and then a housemate is "sent to another hospital" and then appears on her bed in the night, with a make-the-bottom-fall-out-of-your-stomach-story about waking up on a metal table and then being unable to breathe, but she's here now, right? Oh yeah, Chloe is here because she thinks she can see ghosts... and then she starts hearing definite voices in the basement, which want her to open a door...
I really want to talk more about the tasty, delicious plot, but I'm not, cause I don't want to spoil it any more than I already have. ^_^ Because you really should read it.
I think it's clear that I love the plot. I've decided that I love the paranormal-gifts-taken-for-insanity trope, and this book presents it beautifully. But the characters are also, SO GOOD. There are no lazy stereotypes, every single character has reasons, quirks, and their own motivations. Like- Gah, and I can't talk about these either, for fear of spoilers!! (Man, this would make such a good movie. Plus, it's interracial!)
Okay, I'll talk about the characters JUST a little. *CENSORED FOR YOUR PROTECTION* is a movie buff, which means *GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUN* is aware of all the character tropes which the reader is! This leads to some delicious moments when *GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUN* is saying that if *GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUN* saw this in a movie, of course it would be obvious what to do, only this isn't a movie, this is real life, and there are *PLOT RELATED EVENT* doesn't happen in real life! And *ALSO CENSORED FOR YOUR PROTECTION* is so anti-social, and so loyal. And *STILL CENSORED FOR YOUR PROTECTION* is so charming, and I deeply, deeply suspect it's only skin deep. And *CFYP* is so excited to be "special" that *GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUN* doesn't see the false signs, that *CENSORED FOR YOUR PROTECTION* see *GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUN* only sees what *OFFICIAL GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUNS* tells the kids they see. Which leads to the question, is *CENSORED FOR YOUR PROTECTION* really seeing events correctly, or is *GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUN* actually crazy and really deserves to be heavily medicated in this group home? The answer, of course, is *PLOT RELATED EVENT*.
I'm getting better at the not-spoilering. :)
I gave it four stars out of five. The next book is in my amazon cart. Just go ahead and read it already. :D
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