Phoebe Rivers

Now that Sara has turned 13, her powers are changing. Suddenly when she touches things, she has visions of the past. Can this new power help solve an old robbery case and help find the owners of a lost dog?

You got to love Sara. Her life sucks on so many levels. Yet, she manages to go to school and attempt to be a normal girl. I still love the town she lives in and her family and friends rock. The addition of a dog did not hurt either. In this book Sara has to decide between siding with her show more best friend or doing the right thing. Good stuff for kids to consider.The resolution to some of the problems in these books sometimes are pretty pat. But hey, they are kid's books. My problems should be solved so easily. show less

After I read book two in this series, Haunted Memories, I checked out every Saranormal book my local library had, as well as those in other county libraries. Ghost Town is the first. Sara Collins wants to be a normal 12-year-old, but she's not. The prologue lets us know why she's not. She's known this for eight years. Poor girl. Now her widowed father, Mike, is uprooting her from California to go live in New Jersey. How depressing. Stellamar might be on the Atlantic coast, but that's not show more raising Sara's spirits. The house they'll be living in is in need of repairs, but Sara realizes the worst thing about it by the end of chapter one.

Sara and her dad are being allowed to live on the second and third floors of the house in exchange for Mike doing repairs when he's not at work. Their landlady is a very unusual old woman. Lady Azura is a medium, psychic, and mystic. Her sign claims she's a healer, too. She runs her little business from the first floor of the house (ground floor if you're British). Sara wonders if she's the real thing, but her dad says she's a nice lady with 'kooky hobby'. Given the title and what we've already learned about Sara by the time they meet, it's almost a sure bet that Lady Azura isn't entirely a fake. Could she be like Charlaine Harris' Manfred Bernardo, who really is psychic sometimes, but often just uses psychology to help his customers?

After choosing the only bedroom on the second floor that she could possibly sleep in, Sara listens to a conversation between her dad and Lady Azura that will mean more in later books. By chapter three Sara learns that she's going to be running errands for their landlady -- great excuse for getting Sara out and meeting people.

NOTES:

Chapter 1:

a.. The other kids on that playground eight years ago were Kendra, Emmy, Noah, Will, and Jack. Miss Susie was either their teacher or the person watching out for the kids.

b. Lady Azura's Victorian house has siding and faded burnt orange trim. There's more to the description of its outside.

Chapter 2:

a. Mike calls Sara 'kiddo,'so when she was seven she started calling him 'Daddy-o' and sometimes she still does. (Back in the 1950s and 1960s 'Daddy-o' was a cool thing to call a man. Jazz musicians started it.)

b. Mike's ex-girlfriend in California was Alexis.

c. Sara's mom died not long after she gave birth.

Chapter 3:

a. The house is on Seagate Drive, at the end of which is Ocean Grove Road. Elmer's Convenience Store is on the corner. The town's main street is Beach Drive.It runs parallel to the Beach. The Stellamar Boardwalk is off the right.

b. Sara takes photos to make collages on her computer. Her late mother was a photographer. Sara's favorite of her mom's photos is one of a porcelain angel.

c. Sara learns the history of the boardwalk's haunted house attraction.

Chapter 4:

a. Sara meets her neighbor, Lily Randazzo, another 12-year-old. Lily has three brothers and her sister, Cammie, is four years old.

b. Lady Azura's room where she conducts here psychic business is described. So is her bedroom.

Mention: Oz

Chapter 5: Something happens to Sara that has never happened to her before.

Chapter 6: The Randazzos and the Morellis (Lily's maternal relatives) run most of Stellamar and nearby towns. They've been there over 100 years. Lily's Great-Aunt Ro works at visitor's information. Her Uncle Lenny has Lenny's Pizzeria.

Chapter 7: Sara has an Aunt Charlotte on her father's side.

Chapter 8:

a. Lady Azura teaches Sara about eight types of crystal and semi-precious gemstones.

b. An old man's ghost warns Sara about looming disaster.

Chapter 9:

a. Sara's craft room in the larger third floor room is described.

b. Sara has a nightmare about Lily's brother, Joey,

Chapter 10: Sara has had nightmares since she was four years old.

Chapter 11: Lady Azura tells Sara why she called sea glass 'mermaid's tears' when she was young.

Mention: Poseidon

Chapter 12: Sara finds out the old man ghost's name when she meets Great-Aunt Ro.

Chapter 13: Sara meets Lily's friend, Miranda.

Chapter 13: Sara learns about the properties of two more stones. Lady Azura gives her one.

I like Sara and the other characters Sara's worry that her ability will keep her from fitting in is real, but she gets to make a friend and have an adventure. It's a good start to a series I've been enjoying. show less

In this final book in the Saranormal series, Sara has found her mother's diary from when she was a girl. As she learns about the mother she never knew, she is also coping with crushes and trying to help her bff and the ghosts from a long ago tragedy.

I really enjoyed this series and I am going to miss it. I think this is a great series for tweens and even some younger girls, not to mention aging librarians, who like a good story with ghosts on the side.

Sara continues to try to balance her home and school lives with her "gift" for seeing and communicating with the dead. Keeping that kind of secret is hard when a ghost really has it out for you, like her not-boyfriends deceased brother, Marco and the little boy who haunts her craft room. But Sara is growing up and accepting her gift and trying to learn the rules for working with spirits. With Halloween approaching, wish her luck.

This series is fun. Sara and her friends are pretty cool and show more even the mean girls are not that mean. At least not yet. Still very appropriate for teens there are lessons to be learned about friendship and other relationships. Looking forward to the next in the series. show less