I've been eyeing this book since it came out 4 years ago, but I'm not a big fan of ghost stories (read: I'm a big wimp when it comes to scary stuff with no explanations). I put off reading it. Happily for me, this book is not scary. At all. There are some suspenseful moments, but they have nothing to do with ghosts so much as crazy parenting. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Basically, James, who used to haunt the park, found an empty body. The soul had walked off when the body OD-ed, so James decided to hop in. Because he's still a ghost, he can see Helen. They've both been alone for decades and relish in each other's company. They fall in love. Unfortunately, all of these inconvenient physical urges come with James' borrowed body. He wants to satisfy them with Helen, but to do that she also needs a body. They find her an empty body at, where else, the mall. Now James, in Billy's body, and Helen, in Jenny's body, are free to go at it like rabbits.

There are of course, complications such as when Billy's brother, who is raising Billy while their mom is in a coma and their dad is in jail, catches James and Helen (Billy and Jenny?) in the act. Or when Jenny's mom, who is ruled by her EXTREMELY religious husband, finds bloody panties when it's not Jenny (Helen?)'s time of the month and assumes, correctly, that someone has popped Jenny's cherry. Or when Helen starts to get nauseous every time she smells food after having lots of condoms-weren't-invented-before-I-died sex. But these are small roadblocks in Helen and James' love story.

This is paranormal romance at its best. Everyday concerns are left by the wayside as the extraordinary circumstances that make this love story work take precedence. As long as that's what you're looking for, you'll love this. But if you want a good almost Halloween ghost story, look elsewhere.

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb, is another novel about a paranormal romance. But the relationship makes more sense and is more mature than many of the relationships in this genre. But perhaps this is because the relationship is between two adults who have been around for many years, in ghost form. The novel focuses on Helen, a ghost who is 27 and has been dead for 130 years, who first meets James when she is haunting a teacher and notices that a teenage boy is staring at her. The teenage boy turns out to be James, a ghost who is really 29 and has been dead for 83 years, who is possessing the body which has been left vacant by its spirit. In order to be with James, Helen posses the body of teenage girl whose spirit has wandered off. Helen and James fall in love and together they work through the difficulties they face being two teenagers with two types of very extreme family backgrounds. They also deal with the traumatic events surrounding their deaths when James is accepted into heaven, Helen struggles with her personal hell, not sure if God will ever be able to accept her. This is a well-written, thought provoking novel, while also being very entertaining and unique. It manages to cover the oppression that teenagers can face from their parents, the question of what happens to us after we are dead, and the nature of true love.

Loved this book. The premise is so mind blowing and the characters are wonderful. It would be the perfect book: food for thought, inspiring, romantic, sexy, superbly written. The only complaint is even though it was a nice ending, the last 10 pages are a bit of a disappointment, a little corny. But again is a rather small detail. The book is wonderful. ( )

Helen is Light - a spirit who cannot find peace and, in a desperate attempt to stay far away from her ‘hell’ -chilled water, churning mud, the sensation of choking, drowning - she attaches herself to a series of human hosts, hovering around them unseen and unheard. That is, until one day, someone does see her and changes her life (if it’d be called as such) entirely.

What took my breath away was Laura Whitcomb’s intricate storytelling, as it left my heart aching, brought tears to my eyes, and made me love Helen and her consort, James. I loved it so much, that I wished for it to never end - but, alas, it did, as all books must. Although, the ending was perfect - I feel that there is no need (or rather, no point) in a sequel, as it ended so perfectly.

Now for the recommendation? Took care of that already (sorta)! One of my friends noticed I was reading it one day, and when I had put it down to go and fetch something to eat, she sprung on it, intrigued by the cover. She read the back and the first couple of pages before I returned and caught my wrist, holding the book up to my attention. “You’re letting me borrow this, right? After you’re done? Because it sounds amazing!” That same night, I went over to her mother’s house and she saw the book and begged me to let her borrow it as well.

It’s that amazing. So, yes, I recommend this book to any and all who want to read one of the best romances of all time.

I daresay that Helen’s and James’ love for each other blows a certain vampire couple out of the water! ( )

This is a well written love story between teenagers, but it is also a ghost story. A ghost girl who likes her host to be into poetry, so her latest host was an enlglish teacher. She can not been seen or heard, but there is a teenage boy who can see her. She finds out later he is actually a ghost, that took over the boy's body because its spirt left it. She finds a teenage girl and takes over hers. It is a very well written book. The ending was pretty good. I've read this book so many times and it is still really good. i give it a 9.7 out of 10. ( )