Afbeelding auteur

Phoebe Rivers

Auteur van Ghost Town

11 Werken 286 Leden 22 Besprekingen Favoriet van 1 leden

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Werken van Phoebe Rivers

Ghost Town (2012) 120 exemplaren
Haunted Memories (Saranormal) (2012) 30 exemplaren
Mischief Night (2012) 22 exemplaren
Spirits of the Season (2012) 17 exemplaren
Giving up the Ghost (2013) 17 exemplaren
Moment of Truth (2012) 15 exemplaren
Yesterday and Today (2013) 14 exemplaren
Playing with Fire (Saranormal) (2013) 14 exemplaren
A Perfect Storm (Saranormal) (2013) 13 exemplaren
The Secrets Within (2013) 12 exemplaren
Kindred Spirits (2013) 12 exemplaren

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The Secrets Within is book seven in the Saranormal series. Sara Collins turned 13 in book six, Giving Up the Ghost. In book one, Ghost Town, when she'd just moved from California to Stellamar, New Jersey, Sara was only able to see, hear, and talk to ghosts. Since then she's been having visions, true dreams, and has to work to block out others' thoughts. Good thing for her that her great-grandmother, Lady Azura, is also a psychic and can help Sara with her powers/encounters with ghosts -- even if Lady Azura's powers are fading. Sara's widowed father, Mike, has come a long way toward accepting Lady Azura and Sara's abilities since book one, but discussing them still makes him uneasy..

Sara's unofficial first boyfriend, Jayden Mendes, has moved back to Atlanta, Georgia. Shy Sara's best friend, outgoing and bubbly Lily Randazzo, is sure Sara will meet a new guy soon. (Lily changes crushes frequently.) As this book opens, Sara is sleeping over at Lily's house, in Cammie (Lily's little sister's) bed. Cammie isn't put out about that because she gets to sleep with her parents. If Mr. & Mrs. Randazzo mind, Ms. Rivers isn't telling us.

Lily has only figured out that Sara can read minds, or could -- Sara says she can't anymore. Lily still doesn't know about the rest of Sara's abilities. Why so shy, Sara? Doesn't Lily think that your psychic great-grandmother is cool?

This book's Stellamar tradition for Sara to learn about is a fundraiser for the local schools called 'Bargain on the Boardwalk.' For some reason, Lady Azura has never donated to the fundraiser.

Another part of the plot is a lovable dog who enters the Randazzos' life. The new power that Sara develops in this book allows her to know that the dog is not abandoned, but it would break Lily's heart to lose Buddy. Once again, Sara has to choose between doing what is right and possibly losing the first best friend this 13-year-old has ever had as a result. (It doesn't help that Sara has learned that Buddy's owner is really boy about her age.)

NOTES:

Chapter 1:

a. It's Mother's Day. Natalie Collins died shortly after Sara was born, so she's never celebrated the holiday.

b. We found out that Lily's mother's first name is Beth in chapter 14 of book 4, Spirits of the Season. Here we learn that Lily's father's name is Sam. Two other things we learn about him is that he's a Bruce Springsteen fan and that he's much messier at making pancakes than Mike Collins is at making waffles.

c. Lily loves holidays, even Groundhog Day and Arbor Day (the day to celebrate and plant trees).

d. The Mother's Day lunch Beth and Lily will be attending at Aunt Angela's will include Lily's Great-Aunt Ro, Aunt Dani's family, 7 cousin Lauren Grace.

e. Lily's brothers, Sammy, Joey, and Jake bring in the filthy small dog they found.

f. Lily wants to have three dogs named Kiwi, Cupid, and Coco (if Sara remembers correctly), when she grows up.

g. Sara experiences her new power for the first time when she touches the dog's collar.

Chapter 2:

a. Lily had a crush on Kyle in book five, Moment of Truth.

b. Sara's aura is now cobalt blue mixed with gold.

c. We find out why Lady Azura donates money instead of any of her things to Bargain on the Boardwalk.

d. Sara has known about most of the ghosts in the house since book one. She learned the name of the mustached man, Mr. Broadhurst, in chapter 7 of book two, Haunted Memories. She learned about Henry (a Randazzo), the boy ghost in her craft room closet, in chapter 7 of book three, Mischief Night.

e. Sara tells her about some of the sentimental items of her dad's that are in the attic -- and why she'd be happy to donate some toys.

Chapter 3:

a. Sara got to wear her mother's dress in book five.

b. Sara has another vision after holding another of her mother's dresses. (The song Sara is hearing is 'I Believe I Can Fly' by R. Kelly. (The scandals about Kelly became more widely known in 2017-1018, well after this book was written.)

Chapter 4:

a. The dog is still with the Randazzos because the animal shelter is full.

b. The school web newspaper is the 'Stellamar Wire'. Sara successfully tried to become a staff photographer for it in book three.

c. Interesting that Griffin Ellery's soccer jersey is red. In chapter 5 of book three, the soccer uniforms were blue and gold.

d. Sara learns something about Miranda when she borrows her pen.

Chapter 5:

a. Sara sees the Mystery Boy in her mind again.

b. Beth Randazzo tells Sara about the spell she and her friend Suzanne tried to get Beth's crush, Kevin Down, to notice her when she was a girl.

c. The dog gets his name back, thanks to Sara.

Chapter 6:

a. A Mrs. Grasing is a client who sees Lady Azura every other Wednesday

b. Lady Azura gives Sara a Herkimer diamond this time (not a real diamond).

c. We learned in chapter 1 of book five, the owner of Scoops isn't really Lily's uncle, just a family friend.

d. Sara has a vision when she tries on a vintage ring and another from a vintage necklace

Chapter 7:

a. Lily's cousin C.J. fixes computers.

b. Miranda's family owns Rich's Hardware.

c. Sara watches a woman's ghost influence a living woman (who has a little son named Simon) to buy a vase.

d. Another woman's ghost begs a favor of Sara.

Chapter 8:

a. Sara finds an iron dog that looks like Buddy.

b. Sara has a nightmare.

Chapter 9:

a. Lady Azura explains psychometry to Sara. Lady Azura was very good at it when she was younger.

b. Sara's late Great-Grandfather Richard's nickname for Lady Azura was 'Zuri".

Chapter 10:

a. Sara has another vision while touching Buddy's collar.

b. Lily's brother Joey has a goldfish.

c. Sara learns a bit about Lady Azura's past exploits from a newspaper article.

Chapter 11: Sara dreams about the same person as in chapter 8.

Chapter 12: Lady Azura's séance is successful this time. The man's name was Erik.

Chapter 14:

a. Lady Azura is teaching Sara about Tarot cards.

b. The town newspaper is the 'Stellamar Sentinel'.

c. Lady Azura keeps a porcelain doll that belonged to her when she was a child in her fortunetelling room.

d. Thomas and Helen Meyer's grandchildren are a 13-year-old named Mason and six-year-old twins named Ben and Rachel.

Sara gets to help solve an old mystery in this one. She also has the chance to someday meet a boy who might take her mind off Jayden. I've ordered book eight for myself because my county's libraries don't have the whole set. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Dog lovers: Rejoice! This series finally has a pet in it and he's a cute little mutt named Buddy.
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Gemarkeerd
JalenV | 1 andere bespreking | Mar 10, 2020 |
Giving up the Ghost is book six in the Saranormal series. Poor Sara Collins, In book one, Ghost Town, she could only see, hear, and talk to ghosts. By book three, Mischief Night, she'd developed the power of having visions. In book five, Moment of Truth, she became a telepath (mind reader). Luckily, her telepathy isn't working all the time. Unluckily, it's getting stronger.

Sara and her widowed father, Mike Collins, moved from California to Stellamar, New Jersey, a small town on the Atlantic coast. Although Sara didn't find out until book four, Spirits of the Season, their fortune-telling landlady, Lady Azura, is Sara's maternal great-grandmother. Lady Azura's mother was also psychic, but their powers skipped her daughter and Sara's mother. Mike is trying to deal with his gifted daughter, but it's Lady Azura who can teach Sara what she needs to know. The house is haunted, but Mike doesn't have to see the various ghosts.

Sara still wants to be thought normal, so not even her first best friend, Lily Randazzo, or Jayden Mendes, her cute first boyfriend, know her secret. Sara's other friends among the girls at Stellamar Middle School were already Lily's friends, so it's not as if.she's going to tell them.

We already learned at the end of the last book that the Mendes family is moving back to Atlanta, Georgia. If that's not bad enough, Lady Azura's house is filled with negative energy. She and Sara are having bad dreams. Then things start happening -- stuff getting broken or moved, not to mention the matter of disappearing homework.

Sara is going to become a teen on Saturday. So why is Lily talking about having a going-away party for Jayden on that day?

NOTES:

Chapter 2:

a. Oh, good -- Sara is no longer nauseated or getting that tingling in her left foot if the ghosts are the ones at home.

b. That the yellow Victorian house with burnt orange trim has siding is mentioned for, if I recall correctly, the first time since book one.

Chapter 3: Sara telepathy is picking up some thoughts she doesn't like.

Chapter 4:

a. That fire in the pink bedroom happened in chapter 4 of book five.

b. There's a sitting room opposite Lady Azura's fortune-telling parlor.

c. Lady Azura gives Sara a moldavite crystal.

Chapter 5:

a. Lady Azura's car is a powder- blue convertible from the 1950s. It has fins on the back and it still runs.

b. Vern Randazzo is the only mechanic in Stellamar. Sara thinks he's Lily's great-uncle.

Chapter 6: Sara has a dream about the woman from chapter 1.

Chapter 8: We find out how that mirror got broken.

Chapter 11: Bitter litigation lawyer Nina Oliver's daughter is Dolores and her son is Sebastian. Her husband was Harold.

Chapter 12: Sara is trying to think of Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Chapter 14: Here Dawn Marie, who works at Scoops Ice Cream parlor, is called Lily's sort-of cousin. In chapter 1 of book five, Dawn Marie was called Lily's cousin.

The Saranormal books keep getting better. This one had moments even scarier than the worst in book five. Sara's choice about what to do with her new power was an important one. I really enjoyed the last page. It made such sense!
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Gemarkeerd
JalenV | 1 andere bespreking | Mar 10, 2020 |
Moment of Truth is book five in the Saranormal series. Our 12-year-old heroine, Sara Collins, has been able to see and hear ghosts since she was four years old. This has been her closely-guarded secret all her life. The only other persons who know are her widowed father, Mike Collins, and her mother's grandmother, their widowed landlady, Lady Azura. See book four, Spirits of the Season, for why Mike fled with baby Sara to California, and why Lady Azura's kinship was kept secret for the first three books. Sara inherited her powers from Lady Azura and her mother. (Lady Azura's daughter, Diana, and granddaughter, Natalie, weren't psychic at all.) Lady Azura's powers may be fizzling out at her age, but she can still teach Sara.

In book three, Mischief Night, Sara developed another power: having visions. They're usually of the past, but might be the present. Sometimes she even gets the thoughts of the person in her vision. Great -- something else to keep from other people. She doesn't want to be considered a freak at school. At least when she zones out during a vision, no one thinks she's having a mild form of epilepsy.

Lily Randazzo is Sara's best friend. This is the first time in her life she's had one. Sara doesn't even what them to break up. How can she tell Lily that Kyle, the new boy she likes who likes her, is a ghost who can be seen and heard by non-psychics because he doesn't know he's dead? Thinking clearly can't be easy when Sara is short on sleep because the sobbing female ghost in the bedroom next to Sara's has been louder lately.

A subplot is the middle school's prom, called 'Morp'. Lily and Sara's friend Avery doesn't know why dances where the girls ask the boys used to be called Sadie Hawkins dances, but I do. It comes from a 1934-1977 comic strip called 'Lil' Abner'. Lil' Abner's hillbilly home town of Dogpatch, Kentucky had an annual Sadie Hawkins Day race. It was started by early settler Hekzebiah Hawkins when his very homely daughter, Sadie, turned 35 without ever having a boyfriend. All the Dogpatch bachelors had to run on foot. If Sadie ran after them. If she caught one of them, he'd have to marry her. After the first race, it was all the unmarried Dogpatch women chasing after unmarried Dogpatch men. (Back then it was considered a disgrace for a woman to never get married.)

Sara does NOT like the idea of having to ask a boy to the Morp. Will she get up the nerve to ask that cute Jayden to go with her?

NOTES:

Chapter 1:

a. It's late February.

b. The owner of Scoops Ice Cream parlor isn't one of Lily Randazzo's huge extended family, just a family friend. She still calls him 'Uncle Paul'.

c. The Dina the other girls are talking about is an 8th grader, the daughter of Janelle Martino, the co-worker Mike Collins has been seeing. Dina's a mean girl and she wants her divorced parents to get back together, so she doesn't like Mike. See book four for more. See book two, Haunted Memories for why Dina hates Sara.

d. In book three, Jack L. was said to like Avery. I guess he's switched to Lily since October. (He's called Jack L. because there's another Jack on the soccer team. That's Jack R.)

Chapter 2: Lily is soon able to rattle a lot of facts about cute, green-eyed, brown-haired Kyle from Florida.

Chapter 3:

a. We find out why Sara can't block out the sobbing ghost with her headphones.

b. Mike and Janelle have made a decision about dating.

c. The mirror in Lady Azura's fortune-telling room broke.

Chapter 4:

a. Lady Azura teaches Sara a few new things about ghosts.

b. The sobbing ghost in the pink bedroom lost her three-year-old son to diphtheria back in the early 1900s, before there was a vaccine.

c. Sara helped the ghost of Alice, who had died of polio, in book two.

d. Lady Azura gives Sara a crystal or semi-precious gem each book. This time it's tourmaline (semi-precious).

Chapter 5:

a. A blizzard has knocked out the electrical power at more houses than Lady Azura's. Good thing it's back before the next night.

b. Sara's reply to Lily makes her and their friends stare.

Chapter 7: Sara discusses Klye with Lady Azura.

Chapter 8: Kyle's last name is Parker. Sara reads about his family's death. His parents were John and Cecily Parker. Cecily has a sister in Ocean City, Carla Daly, who has a husband named Edward and two sons named Thomas and Charles. Could that be the cute Tom Daly who is going to the Morp with Dina?

Chapter 9:

a. Something happens with Lily that freaks Sara out.

b. Sara's dad helps her find a dress for the dance.

Chapter 10: The little boy who died of diphtheria was named Angus.

This is another good entry in really enjoyable tween series. I like Sara, her friends, and Lady Azura. The Morp didn't work out as planned, but I think it ended well enough.
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Gemarkeerd
JalenV | 1 andere bespreking | Mar 10, 2020 |
Spirits of the Season is book four in the Saranormal series. Sara Collins, a 7th grader who can see, hear, and talk to ghosts, moved into a haunted house during that summer. She lives with her widowed father, Mike, and their landlady, Lady Azura. Their landlady has a psychic shop on the first floor (ground floor if you're British). Sara and her dad live on second and third floors. Lady Azura is quite old and her powers are fading. She can still summon spirits, but can't see or hear them. Still, she's able to advise Sara about dealing with her powers.

As with book one, Ghost Town, this book begins with a prologue set just after the last Christmas was over. The prologue gives us insight into Mike, who dearly loved his wife Natalie. Natalie died not long after Sara was born and his daughter looks just like her mother. Just looking at Sara makes the pain of losing Natalie raw again. Mike gets around to reading a letter from Lady Azura, the letter that eventually led him to move. It's a very interesting letter. What a shame that Mike made the not-uncommon error of considering a prophecy a curse. I rather wish he hadn't made Lady Azura promise to keep a secret.

This book takes place during December. This is California born and reared Sara's first Christmas in Stellamar, New Jersey, a small town on the Atlantic coast. She's made friends at Stellamar Middle School and even has a best friend for the first time in her life in her neighbor Lily Randazzo. There's also a very cute classmate named Jayden Mendes. Sara likes him and he likes Sara.

Sara is with Lily, who is Christmas shopping at Lily's Aunt Dolores' store, the Salty Crab. Lily has a LOT of relatives. She's claiming there will be a cozy Christmas Eve dinner for 60 at her house. (Luckily, the Randazzos also live in a big Victorian house.) Sara's making her gifts. Lily wants to know if Sara is making anything for Janelle Martino, the co-worker her dad is dating. Sara isn't jealous. Her objection to Ms. Martino is that she's the mother of Dina Martino, an 8th grader who hates Sara. Why? Dina and Sara both ran for Harvest Queen in book two, Haunted Memories, and Sara won. Sara was fine with Dina and her older sister, Chloe, ignoring her when both families went out to dinner together last weekend. Here we learn that Dina trips Miranda Rich in the dance class they and Lily attend.

Our main ghost this book is a one-armed World War II-era soldier. So far Sara has dealt with two ghosts who needed her help, one who tells her bad jokes, one who was hostile to her, and one that was quite mischievous. Which category will this ghost fall into? As Lady Azura explains to Sara, ghosts are checking up on loved ones during the twelve days of Christmas. That's why Sara is seeing more of them than she usually does.

The soldier unwittingly manages to give mean girl Dina Martino blackmail material against Sara. What'll happen if Sara can't do what Dina wants?

NOTES:

Chapter 1:

a. Sara never gave her paternal Aunt Charlotte, the organic vegan, a Christmas gift?

b. Do enjoy Lily reporting what her cousins Dawn Marie and Jessie say about boys and gifts. If her cousin Tori is always buying gifts for boys, perhaps she can advise Sara about what to give Jayden.

Chapter 2:

a. Lady Azura started helping Sara deal with her powers in book three, Mischief Night, but it was a bit before Halloween.

b. This time Lady Azura's advice involves Glinda the Good Witch (from the 1939 'Wizard of Oz' movie, not the book).

c. Lady Azura's late husband was an ornithology professor named Richard. Their daughter, Diana, is also dead.

Chapter 3: Mike has a co-worker named Ben Lewis, who is getting married in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania..

Chapter 4:

a. Sara became staff photographer for their school web newspaper, the "Stellamar Wire,' in book three.

b. Their school crossing guard is an old man named Mr. Rathgeb.

c. Jayden's family is returning to Atlanta, Georgia for Christmas.

Chapter 5: This book's crystal/semi-precious gem gift from Lady Azura to Sara is an opal.

Chapter 6:

a. Sara is at the mall with Janelle, Chloe, and Dina Martino as a favor to her father.

b. Sara meets a ghost who has found a way to continue giving his wife his usual Christmas gift.

Chapter 7: Sara has a vision.

Chapter 8: Lady Azura's first and true love was a handsome young man named Franklin who died before their wedding.

Chapter 9: Sara and Jayden were in the photo booth on the boardwalk in chapter one of book three.

Chapter 11:

a. Sara also has an Uncle Dexter (Mike's brother? Charlotte's husband?) and her dad's dad, Gramp Steve.

b. Sara has another vision.

Chapter 12:

a. Lady Azura is a fan of singer/actor Frank Sinatra. (If you see an old cartoon with some skinny cartoon animal or bird singing while female animals or birds cry out 'Frankie!' and faint, that's Frank Sinatra the cartoon is spoofing. An example on YouTube is 'Rhapsody in Pew'. Another one is 'Swooning the Swooners'.)

b. Lady Azura has a lot of bird Christmas ornaments because of Richard. She also has a Christkindl ornament Franklin sent her from Germany.

Chapter 14:

a. Janelle isn't a widow. She recently divorced Dina and Chloe's father.

b. Lily's mom, Beth Randazzo, is the granddaughter of Lady Azura's best friend, Lilian.

c. Natalie, Sara's mother, grew up in Neptune Beach, about 25 miles from Stellamar.

d. Lady Azura's mother could see ghosts, too.

Some secrets are revealed in this book. (It's about time!) Sara and Dina have to put up with each other, but Dina has a plan. Jayden and Sara have a couple of scenes together. I really liked the special Christmas present Sara gets at the end.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
JalenV | 1 andere bespreking | Mar 9, 2020 |

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Statistieken

Werken
11
Leden
286
Populariteit
#81,618
Waardering
3.8
Besprekingen
22
ISBNs
74
Talen
2
Favoriet
1

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