REVIEW: The Angel of Shadowmist – Liz Newman

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The ghosts of Addison High are waiting for you in an otherworldly romance that unfolds within its eerie halls…

When San Francisco high school student AJ Covington meets Ben Bach, a motorcycle rider with a troubled past, the two form an alliance to bring the ghosts of Addison High School to rest. As AJ’s mythical powers begin to surface, the couple finds that they share an ability to communicate with the undead as an evil entity devises a plan to destroy the school and everyone within it. The worlds of the living and the undead collide in this thrilling tale of two souls who were made for each other and the chaos that threatens to keep them apart.

Addison High School is brand new, and AJ Covington and her best friend Caslin will be attending. AJ is sixteen and a junior who has been best friends with Caslin for years only now she is hanging out with the in crowd, Hyannis and her twin brother Johan.

Hyannis is a spoiled, pompous girl that AJ just can’t befriend despite Caslin’s urging. Unfortunately, Hyannis hates AJ and makes her dislike of her obvious. As much as AJ tries to convince Caslin that Hyannis is not who she thinks she is it falls on deaf ears. Orientation for the new school was held in the school theater and when it was over AJ had missed her bus.

AJ returned to the theater to wait when she began to hear voices asking her “can you see me”. When she saw a boy sitting in the back who apparently also heard the voices he had just left. She found herself entering the trapdoor to the bottom of the theater and that was the beginning of a nightmare she would find herself in.

She tried to question Ben Bach about what he heard but he ignored her until she finally got up the courage to approach him. She knows the new school is haunted, haunted by the ghosts of the past and wants to find answers. Finally able to convince Ben to research what happened in the past, they find answers that only lead to more questions.

Children and the woman who protected them burned; the owner of the home previously residing on the current high school property committed suicide. The more she and Ben try to find answers the more danger she finds herself in. Although ghosts should not be capable of harming her, she feels the pain they try to inflict on her.

AJ and her mother were in Alaska when there was a mud slide burying them. AJ survived and her mother didn’t. Can her seeing ghosts have something to do with her past? While trying to find answers she is constantly being bullied by Hyannis while her best friend has a blind eye to her actions.

Ben has a reputation as someone who nearly killed another student in his past school, but AJ doesn’t believe it. She begins to have feelings for him, and they spend a lot of time together. The school and everyone in it are in danger and only AJ can save them, but she must learn who she really is and what she can really do.

The first half of the book at times was slow moving but the second half was non-stop suspense. Ghosts and demons must be confronted, and it leads to some very scary moments. This is a book I would highly recommend.