Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell

     I won this book from Elie at Ellz Readz for her Book Extravaganza giveaway awhile ago. You have no idea how ecstatic I was! I've never won anything before and to get three books in one shot was amazing! Now on to the actual book.

     The summer Iris turns fourteen proves to be quite different than previous summers for her and her best friend Collette. The two are dragged into an unsolved mystery when Iris hears a voice call out to her in the cemetery. She thinks the voice belongs to Elijah Landry, a boy who had disappeared years before she was born. Together with Collette, Iris tries to figure out what really happened to Elijah and in the process she learns more about her small town of Ondine, Louisiana.

     I really enjoyed Shadowed Summer. It was predictable in some parts, but in others I was completely taken aback by the events. I loved how Mitchell described everything as well. I could see her Daddy making dinner for her and smell the food he was cooking. It all took on a real quality in my mind.

     Iris was a great character. She was much more interesting than her best friend, Collette, seemed. I liked how deep her thoughts were. Iris was definitely not your everyday bratty fourteen year old. She cared about her father and wished she had been able to remember her mother. I could actually see how we were similar in some ways.

     I wasn't very impressed with Collette. She acts too regal for my tastes. If she had been such a good friend to Iris, she wouldn't have been so cruel or demeaning to Iris. I wanted her to be more understanding than she had been. Ben was a nice guy, but Collette didn't have to ignore Iris because he was around.

     I found the plot to be intriguing. I had to do dishes one night while I was reading, which made me mad. I had just finished a chapter and it was a cliff hanger. I had to know what happened! So, I hurried through the dishes just to see if my predictions were right (they weren't). Through the whole book you can't help but go back to the stuff about Elijah. What happened to him? Was he really dead? If so, was he murdered?

     Shadowed Summer was interesting. I'm most certainly glad that I won it!

     Rating: 7.5

     Look for Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell at Amazon and other book stores.