Saranormal: Spirits of the Season – book review

Saranormal Spirits of the Season by Phoebe Rivers is part of Rivers’ Saranormal series. In this book Sara and her father have moved back to New Jersey and are living with an eccentric old woman, Lady Azura. Sara takes a liking to her because the two of them have so much in common. As it turns out, they can both talk to the dead. In addition to Lady Azura, Sara gets a new best friend, Lilly, and a boy in her school, Jayden, likes her. Sara is happier than ever. She also finds out some secrets of her past that bring her a peace of mind she has wished for her whole life.

Other than the dead invading her space, the one problem Sara has is the daughter of her dad’s new love interest. She is a mean girl and Sara is convinced she will make her life miserable if Sara doesn’t help her break up their parents. Sara sees how happy her dad is and her better judgment wins over and things don’t turn out quite as bad as she imagined.

Sara notices Lady Azura growing sadder and sadder as the days become closer to Christmas. Finally, Lady Azura explains to Sara that the dead come back to check on their loved ones during the twelve days of Christmas and she hasn’t seen her one true love in over ten years. Sara finds the ghost of her true love and brings him to Lady Azura for Christmas.

In the end Sara gets a gift and a kiss from Jayden, she gets to have the biggest Christmas celebration ever with Lilly’s family, her father and Lady Azura and she finds out that the quirky old woman who sees the world as she does is really her great grandmother.

Saranormal Spirits of the Season is a pleasant and light-hearted read despite the inclusion of topics regarding dead people and ghosts.  It exemplifies that doing things to make others happy is good for the soul.

Review by Stacy Zion, Youth Services