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Nov 12, 2008

R.j. rated it:

If I had seen this book in the bookstore I would probably never have picked it up. A ghost story? A graveyard on the cover? Looks like horror/occult -- so very not my thing.

And then I would have missed out on a beautifully written, fantastically characterized, gripping, suspenseful, and touching book.

Saundra Mitchell's writing is rich and sensuously evocative, yet so easy and natural to read -- a rare combination. Her dialogue sparkles, and the heroine Iris and her friend More...

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Jan 28, 2009

Lexie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 27, 2011

Kristi (The Story Siren) added it

This novel will be haunting me for sure! In case you didn’t know, I’m not a big fan of ghost stories, because I am the biggest wuss. I remember when I read Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the third grade... (this was long before the tv show, there was actually a movie starring Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry, the book was by Richie Cusick)... anyway, I couldn’t sleep for weeks! And I used to watch that show called Are You Afraid of the Dark? Did anyone else watch that? Sorry, back to the review, this More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2009

Heidi rated it:

Shadowed Summer drew me right back to early teen/childhood, that bizarre and beautiful time of life where nothing and everything makes sense all at once. A chilling mystery and coming of age story so uniquely written, you will have to dig deep to find a cliche in Saundra Mitchell's lyrical prose.

The narrator Iris is tough and flawed and funny. I rooted for her from start to finish and admired the scratches and cuts on her knees---this is a kid, like Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn before h More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 05, 2009

T.V and Book Addict rated it:

Iris (very pretty name) and her best friend Collette, both around 14 years old, like to cast spells at a cemetery in their boring town in Louisiana to pass the time during the summer.
One day at the cemetery, a ghost appears in front of Iris saying "Where ya at Iris?" Since then he begins to haunt her and bother her causing her to wonder who this guy is and how he ended up dead.
Iris, Collette and a cute boy, Ben, try to solve this mystery all the while coming across some pro More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 27, 2008

Sarah rated it:

I read Shadowed Summer in one sitting...it is a fantastic story and sets a standard for modern ghost stories that will be hard to match.

I adored Iris...her relationships with her friends and family are perfectly executed, her emotional turmoil is thoroughly compelling, and I just wished she'd never end.

Congrats to Saundra Mitchell for taking this romance novel-obsessed reader and making me care deeply for a ghost story.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 18, 2009

Tamora rated it:

This is a tight, can't-put-down ghost story in which two girls and the dread Boy who attracts them both go seeking a boy who disappeared from their small town when their parents were teenagers. Mitchell raises echoes of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD as the kids get information from different citizens of the town, painting a portrait of it in their meanderings. Iris is the one who attracts Elijah's ghost, and she spends the book balancing her discoveries with her friendship wither rapidly-maturing Cole More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2008

Stacey rated it:

I am leaning more towards 4 1/2 stars on this book because some of the pot points actually surprised me in a good way. I can predict things with crazy scary accuracy when I read books and this one caught me off guard. It was a great read right before Halloween. So fun!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 01, 2010

Ash rated it:

At first I wasn't totally sure about this book. I don't read much mystery or ghost stories so I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't really expecting to like it, but I still felt compelled to read it for some reason. Turns out that was a good thing.

Quick Overview: Iris and her best friend Collete are 14 and live in a tiny and boring Louisianna town. They spend the hot summer days pretending to cast spells in the cemetary, one day though Iris actaully sees the ghost of a boy. He cont More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 03, 2008

Neesha rated it:

I am not a huge fan of ghost stories. Mostly because I am a wuss. When I was younger, say, in grades five through seven, I LOVED ghost stories and curling up with a good mystery. But since I got older? No. Give me the romance and the fluff and the fantasy.

But SHADOWED SUMMER took me back to those days I really, really loved a good ghost story. And this one is SO much more than a ghost story. It reminded me why I liked some more than others. The ones I loved taught me somethin More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 21, 2008

Lkmadigan rated it:

“Nothing ever happened in Ondine, Louisisana, not even the summer Elijah Landry disappeared,” is the opening line of the book. But the summer fourteen-year-old Iris and her best friend Collette decide to call up a ghost, too much happens in Ondine. Buried secrets come to light, old wounds are reopened, and a persistent ghost will not leave Iris in peace.

SHADOWED SUMMER is not just a straightforward ghost story. It is a novel full of treasures – glinting humor, shimmering description More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 14, 2009

Cindy rated it:

mitchell drew me with her first sentence in shadowed summer, and i was sucked in all the way until the end. this debut is a story like nothing i have read before in young adult, with voice spot on, incredible dialogue (not surprised mitchell also happens to be a screenwriter) and interesting yet complicated relationships. iris is the perfect heroine, and i was with her all the way. the mystery of eli's murder held me to the very end, to a conclusion that stunned, was heartbreaking, yet made so m More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 22, 2008

Deva added it

There are books that I love for the intricate plots and books that I love for the beautiful prose. And then there are the books that have both. Shadowed Summer is one of these. I wanted to race through the book to find out why the ghost of a boy named Elijah is haunting 14-year-old Iris, and to find out the truth about what happened to him. But I also wanted to linger over the little vivid details, beautiful and funny and precise and real.

This is a ghost story that will be haunting m More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 26, 2009

Rachael rated it:

Fourteen-year-old Iris isn’t really looking forward to summer in Ondine, Louisiana. She lives in a small and boring town with virtually no entertainment—unless she makes it up herself. That’s what she and her best friend Collette have been doing for all their lives, making up spells and playing make-believe. But when the friends cast a spell to summon the spirits of the dead and it actually works—well, for Iris at least—they know nothing will ever be the same. A ghost is haunting Iris, and littl More...

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Apr 03, 2009

Shelley rated it:

Sarah Rees Brennan called it a supernatural To Kill a Mockingbird - coming of age in a sleepy Southern town. I'd give it a 4.5 if I could, and I'd rather round up than down in this case. The atmosphere was incredible, the characterization just about perfect, the writing beautiful and haunting. It was genuinely scary in places and completely heartbreaking in others. There were some great twists and this is about as solid a ghost story as you can get. Creepy and wonderful and more than it seems. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 27, 2008

Sarah rated it:

I loved Shadowed Summer, a beautiful confection of deftly handled prose, mystery and extremely lovable characters. The end is shocking and sweet, much like the rest of it.

Where y'at, Saundra Mitchell? I hope a bookshop near me, often, for years to come.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 09, 2008

Sarah rated it:

I loved Shadowed Summer, a beautiful confection of deftly handled prose, mystery and extremely lovable characters. The end is shocking and sweet, much like the rest of it.

Where y'at, Saundra Mitchell? I hope a bookshop near me, often, for years to come.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 24, 2009

Amber rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jul 15, 2009

Mandy rated it:

A girl and her best friend in a small Louisiana town play at casting spells, and the ghost of a disappeared boy shows up, wanting to be found. Okay, I'm a total wimp. I can't even read a scary YA book without getting all spooked. This is why I know I can never pick up Stephen King books...like ever. And this is why I'm still only about halfway through "The Forest of Hands and Teeth." Read this one this morning. I think I was on page 5 when I started, then proceeded to read the re More...

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Mar 22, 2010

Anastasia rated it:

Wow. Seriously. Wow.

I just finished Shadowed Summer and I absolutely loved it! It’s the kind of book where the second I close it, I just want to open it back up and read the whole thing again. It's an amazingly fantastic book---it was SXSW in Austin when I was reading this and even though I'm a music fiend, I actually skipped a concert I’d planned on going to because I HAD to finish reading Shadowed Summer.

The characters are so authentic, understandable, and sympathetic More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 13, 2009

Violet rated it:

The thing is I am a little disappointed with this book. It has a fantastic premise and since it’s a ghost story I was eager to get freaked out. But this book turned out to be more of a thriller than a ghost story. Of course there is a ghost, but the book does not revolve around the creepy things the ghost does. It’s more about finding out why this person still is in the in-between world and what is his unfinished business on Earth? There were a couple of scenes that were a little scary but then More...

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Mar 04, 2009

Michelle rated it:

What a fantastic and compelling mystery and spooky ghost story. Iris and her friend Collette find themselves in the middle of the towns one and only mystery, the disappearance of a Elijah Landry. When Elijah begins to appear to Iris as an angry ghost, she suspects the worst, that maybe he was murdered. Now the chldish games they once played are becoming dangerous as Elijah gets more voilent. The girls try to find out what really happened and discover that sometimes the past should be left alone. More...

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Mar 26, 2009

Stephanie rated it:

I expected a lot more from Shadowed Summer. I thought there would be more action and mystery. Instead, there were very few scenes where it had mystery and intrigue.

What I liked best about Shadowed Summer was the idea of a ghost story. When I first read the first chapter, I thought it’ll be scary like The Devouring or Deadly Little Secrets because the first chapter was scary. Especially that last line. However, as I progressed into the novel, I realized that the plot and writing didn’ More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 29, 2009

Andrea rated it:

This is a cute story. I would say its mostly innocent, until you get to the end. The mystery in here was great. I pretty much figured out what happened to Elijah by the time I got to the end, but I definitely didn't predict the "why". I really enjoyed the way the author wrote the story. She used southern language that made it seem very real. This was a quick fun read.

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Jul 22, 2008

Carrie rated it:

I was enthralled by Saundra Mitchell’s debut novel, Shadowed Summer. Over and over again I found myself pausing to re-read descriptions and roll the words around on my tongue, amazed at her clarity, at her ability to find the perfect way to encapsulate this world. I was unable to put it down, not only because Iris captured me so fully, but because I was too afraid to turn out the light!

This is more than a ghost story, it is about a girl on the edge of growing up and learning how to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 11, 2008

Sara B. rated it:

I think I would really give this 3.5, but it was close enough to 4 to give it the 4 stars. It's not a book I'd normally read, but my friends had the ARC and I was excited to borrow it and see what it was about. It was a good, easy read, and an interesting story. She did a great job painting the images of a hot, melting summer in Louisiana. I just didn't love the ending, it was okay, but not my favorite. I don't want to spoil it, but for those who read it and know me well enough, they will probab More...

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Mar 13, 2009

Audrey rated it:

I almost didn't read this book because I didn't really like the cover, but it was so well reviewed by others that I decided to give it a shot. I'm really glad I did! Finally, a young adult novel that doesn't have the stereotypical romance, discovery of secret powers, etc. The writing was wonderful, and the characters acted their ages without being overly whiny or precocious. Overall, the story kept me guessing throughout, it was well-paced, and came across as really genuine. I loved this bo More...

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Dec 20, 2011

Sonia rated it:

L'estate dei fantasmi ha una cover che mi ha attirata fin dal primo momento.
Contavo molto su ciò che quella cover nascondeva e al contempo rivelava, complice ovviamente il titolo stampato su: una storia di fantasmi, una storia avvolta da tenebre, da rumori, sussurri nella notte... insomma da tutto ciò che potrebbe tener sveglio e allerta l'animo più coraggioso e temerario.
Per me, fifona patentata, una ghost story ogni tanto è l'ideale per scuotermi, darmi quella giusta dose di brivid More...

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Nov 09, 2011

Franci rated it:

La storia si svolge ad Ondine,una piccola cittadina dove non succede mai niente.
Qui Iris e Colette si divertono a fare le streghe,a lanciare incantesimi e a creare storie di fantasmi per passare il tempo,aspettando di compiere 16 anni per prendere la patente e scappare.
Iris è la più accomodante tra le due,quella che si fa trascinare nei giochi,mentre Colette è "il capo",colei che sceglie le situazioni.
E' tutto un gioco,finchè nell'estate dei loro 14 anni durante l'invoca More...

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Nov 09, 2011

Eccentrika rated it:

Immaginatevi una calda serata estiva. Siete in camera vostra con la finestra aperta e all'esterno tutto tace, anche il vento. Cercate refrigerio accendendo il ventilatore e sorseggiando coca cola da una lattina ghiacciata. Ecco... questo è esattamente lo scenario adatto per affrontare la lettura di "L'estate dei fantasmi", ambientato proprio durante una afosissima estate, in una anonima cittadina americana dove non succede mai niente. Le quattordicenni Iris e Colette, annoiate dalla ca More...

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