Book Review: Troubled Spirits by Teri Lee

Title: Troubled Spirits
Author: Teri Lee
Genre: YA Paranormal
Age Group: Young Adult
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

Ghosts aren’t real.

That’s what Annie Waters believed before she snuck into the abandoned Caldwell School. Before the dark presence followed her home. Before she realized, her only hope was to believe.

In Troubled Spirits, we meet Annie Waters, a teenage girl who never believed in spirits. She didn’t even buy her Mom’s favorite story, about how the ghost of her grandma visiting her when Annie was born, and gave the newborn her blessing. When her Dad dies in a car accident, Annie starts blaming herself for what happened. Along with her Mom, she moves in with her Grandpa, in another town, trying to make a new start.

When her best friend Harmony drags her along to the abandoned, supposedly haunted Caldwell School, in search for ghosts, Annie hears the ghost’s voice warning her to get out. But even when she rushes outside, an uncanny cold feeling clings to her, unwilling to let her go. Even the next morning, it seems like a dark presence is haunting her. The girl who never believed in ghosts may have to start believing when the dead start chasing her.

The dark presence in the Caldwell School isn’t the only ghost Annie and her friends encounter, but it’s certainly the most vicious one. And for some reason, the ghost seems to have a vendetta against Annie. Along with her friends, she tries to figure out who the ghost is, why he wants to hurt her, and how she can stop him. Meanwhile, she meets a boy who captures her heart – Drew – and tries to come to terms with the guilt she still feels over her father’s passing.

Annie is a bubbly character, and she manages to keep a positive atittude most of the time – and when she doesn’t, it’s perfectly acceptable. I understood her guilt over what happened to her Dad, and I liked how the book didn’t just blink past that, but made it an interesting point for Annie’s character arch. The connection to the past works great as well. Although I figured out what was happening halfway through, I was still very entertained, and I’m sure readers less familiar with the genre will have more trouble figuring out what’s going on.

Harmony was a great best friend and sidekick. It’s obvious the two girls are the best of friends, and that they’d do anything to help each other. Harmony would go through fire to help Annie. You don’t often find such good friends, especially not in YA books, so this was a great plot point. Mike and Callie were fun too (Annie’s other two best friends) and Drew was all kinds of cute and charming.

The writing was solid, and the pacing worked, with a slow build up at the start and then picking up steadily as the book progressed. Things wrap up nicely in the end, without any loose ends. A great book for anyone who enjoys young adult paranormal.