Shattered Souls

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY OCT 17, 2011

In Lindsey's debut, a well-crafted and imaginative ghost story, 17-year old Lenzi Anderson fears she's losing her mind. Tormented by voices pleading for help, Lenzi follows dreamlike visions and meets Alden, who tells her she's a Speaker, someone who helps hindered spirits resolve their issues and move on. Because Speakers allow the ghost to possess their bodies, and the possibility exists of being possessed by a malevolent soul, each Speaker is assigned a Protector, and Alden is hers. In fact, Alden has been Lenzi's partnered Protector for numerous lifetimes, as they are reincarnated together again and again. But something's wrong Lenzi has been missing for 100 years and is suffering past-life amnesia. As she steps from her normal life into a world both gratifying and terrifying, Lenzi becomes tangled in complicated relationships while being hunted by a malicious shade. Though Lenzi's family members are thinly drawn and almost extraneous, Lindsey deftly remolds and refreshes familiar elements and makes them her own, coupled with a light romantic touch. Her accomplished writing breathes energy into realistically flawed characters and smoothly builds to the book's intense climax. Ages 14 up.