Fifteen years after the release of the first Mediator novel, #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot returns with a deliciously sexy new entry to a fan-favorite series. Suze Simon—all grown up and engaged to her once-ghostly soulmate—faces a vengeful spirit and an old enemy bent on ending Suze's wedded bliss before it begins.
All Susannah Simon wants is to make a good impression at her first job since graduating from college (and since becoming engaged to Dr. Jesse de Silva). But when she’s hired as a guidance counselor at her alma mater, she stumbles across a decade-old murder, and soon ancient history isn’t all that’s coming back to haunt her. Old ghosts as well as new ones are coming out of the woodwork, some to test her, some to vex her, and it isn’t only because she’s a mediator, gifted with second sight. From a sophomore haunted by the murderous specter of a child, to ghosts of a very different kind—including Paul Slater, Suze’s ex, who shows up to make a bargain Suze is certain must have come from the Devil himself—Suze isn’t sure she’ll make it through the semester, let alone to her wedding night. Suze is used to striking first and asking questions later. But what happens when ghosts from her past—including one she found nearly impossible to resist—strike first?
Okayyyyy so I loved this series when I first read it. It was basically Buffy the vampire slayer but for books and that was pretty much the best thing ever (this being around the time I was hardcore into the Buffy-verse). That being said, the first sentence of the summary is that this new installment is being released FIFTEEN YEARS later...a lot of stuff's changed over those years; but since this seems to be the decade of re-makes and throwbacks it makes perfect sense that this character should come back to life...at least in financial terms; but I really wish Suze would have just stayed in her happily-ever-after like she was supposed to.
Suze is her same old self, sassy and kicking butt and taking names and all that but in the same light, we still find her basically like nothing ever changed. She's still with Jesse, CeCe is still her best friend and she still goes to her old high school (for an internship now, guiding young confused teens, but still 85% of the book is spent on the old stomping ground). After all this time I was really hoping to see some progression in her actual life story. We skipped the part about her college years and when she moved out on her own; what it's like to be engaged and how all the other characters are doing. Father Dom is still around but we don't really know anything more about him, Jesse's always off being an ER resident and Paul just kind of stumbles into the story line randomly. Nothing about this book felt natural; it felt forced and the first 100 pages or so really don't go anywhere.
On the same note, once we do delve into the story - finally meeting the ghost and getting to the bottom of the mystery - it's all very rushed. It reminded me of a really bad episode of Law & Order: SVU. Imagine watching the first 30 minutes of the show just checking in on everyone in the office before finally happening onto a victim; one with a really good story by the way. Then once you're hooked, the mystery is solved and it's all over. Roll credits.
Had we gotten more backstory on the in-between time since we last saw Suze that might have carried those first intro chapters but reading them just wasn't fun. I found myself skimming more often than not until we had a ghostly encounter to spice things up a bit. The book really hits its stride about halfway through which I guess sorta makes up for the beginning.
Lastly, the Paul story line was ridiculous. Anyone with a pulse could see how he was playing Suze from the beginning but she fell for it - flashback to her teenage self. Hey Suze! Paul is always and forever will be bad news!! And then in the end when he just up and quits the whole shtick, not at all true to his character, it was frustrating as the reader because it felt like one of my favorite authors just gave up on me; like I don't deserve a real ending. The one I got was tied up all nice and handed to me with a bow. VERY disappointing.
Not to say the whole book was bad - I'm not trying to say that at all. This story was great fun and very nostalgic; I guess my expectations might have been a little high so it's only natural that they couldn't be reached and/or exceeded. Suze will always be one of my favorite literary characters and her relationship with Jesse is adorable. I loved the actual mystery the book revolved around - very juicy and tough to handle. Paul was a nuisance as usual, but one of the very last scenes with him is my favorite of the whole book - the banter between him and Suze is just amazing!
Overall this book deserves 3 stars. It brought back all my favorite characters and gave them one last adventure (whether I wanted them to have one or not). It was a little slow for my taste and it did open the door to a future spin-off series or maybe more books centering around Suze's adult life, feelings about that TBD.
So basically, read this book for nostalgia purposes only!
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