Shadowland by Meg Cabot
The basics
Title: Shadowland
Author: Meg Cabot
Series: The Mediator #1
- Shadowland (2000) - Ninth Key (2001) - Reunion (2001) - Darkest Hour (2001) - Haunted (2003) - Twilight (2004) - Remembrance (2016)
Add it: Goodreads
Goodreads Summary:
There's a hot guy in Susannah Simon's bedroom. Too bad he's a ghost. Suze is a mediator - a liaison between the living and the dead. In other words, she sees dead people. And they won't leave her alone until she helps them resolve their unfinished business with the living. But Jesse, the hot ghost haunting her bedroom, doesn't seem to need her help. Which is a relief, because Suze has just moved to sunny California and plans to start fresh, with trips to the mall instead of the cemetery, and surfing instead of spectral visitations. But the very first day at her new school, Suze realizes it's not that easy. There's a ghost with revenge on her mind... and Suze happens to be in the way.
Read a full summary of Shadowland by Meg Cabot below. If you can’t remember what happened in Shadowland and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.
A huge thanks once again to Rachel @ Rachel’s Reading Corner for writing this recap!
in short
Suze moves from New York to California to be with her mother’s husband and family. A ghost named Jesse haunts her room and he and Suze become somewhat friends. At her new school, she sees the ghost of an ex-student named Heather. She and Father Dom – principal of the school and fellow mediator – try to cross her over. She nearly kills her ex-boyfriend twice but Suze manages to exorcise her.
what happened in Shadowland?
- Susannah “Suze” Simon is a mediator – she can see and talk to ghosts. She spends a lot of her time trying to get ghosts into the afterlife. Most of her ghosts aren’t very nice and she has to help resolve their unfinished business with the living – think ‘Ghost Whisperer’ style. None of her family – apart from her father, who died when she was six and occasionally pops in on her as a ghost – or friends know about her abilities.
- Suze moves from New York to Carmel, California. her mother has remarried to Andy Ackerman and she now has three new stepbrothers – Jake (Sleepy), Brad (Dopey) and David (Doc).
- She discovers a handsome but ancient ghost sitting on her windowsill when she moves into her new room. His name is Jesse de Silva. She tells him to go away and haunt another house, he refuses.
- At Suze’s first day at school – Junipero Serra Mission Academy – she is faced with the angry ghost of Heather Chambers, the student whose place she took at school. She committed suicide after her boyfriend, Bryce Martinson, broke up with her.
- Suze meets Father Dominic, the school principal, who reveals that he is also a mediator. He is upset that Suze’s approach to dispelling ghosts tends to be violent and/or physical. He insists that she learns to be friendlier to ghosts and try talking to them more. Suze disagrees and says she’s been doing it long enough, she knows what works.
- When Heather’s old friend, namely Bryce, begin befriending Suze, Heather become enrage – claiming Suze is trying to take over her life. Heather tries to kill Bryce at school.
- Suze sneaks out that night and attempts to placate Heather, telling her she has to move on etc. Heather thinks Suze tells her she get her old life back. When Suze tries, again, to explain that no, that is not the case, Heather become super duper angry. Heather tries to use her ghostly powers to kill Suze. Jesse comes to the rescue however.
- The next day Father Dom in disappointed in Suze’s attempt with Heather, and angry over the damage their fifth caused to the school grounds.
- A couple of days later, Heather tries to kill Bryce again. This time she nearly succeeds but Father Dom manages to stop her. Both of the men get injured in the fight.
- Suze returns to school that evening – ignoring Jesse’s warnings that Heather was unstable – to try and perform a voodoo exorcism and return Heather to the afterlife. As Heather is being exorcized, she causes a gust of wind to collapse the school breezeway on Suze – who is knocked unconscious. Sleep and Doc save her.
how did it end?
The next day, Suze learns she has been nominated vice-president of her the sophomore class, replacing Heather. Father Dom is happy that Heather is in a better place but stills voices disapproval at Suze’s way. Bryce is transferred to another school for his own safety. Doc helps Suze to research Jesse’s past in her free time. They realise he died 150 years ago under mysterious circumstances on his way to marry his cousin, Maria. Suze talks to Jesse about parameters concerning his presence in her room, and harbours feelings for him.
anything else
Mediator = some that can see and talk to ghosts
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