Deception (Haunting Emma Series #1)

by Lee Nichols

Overview

When Emma Vaile's parents go missing while away on a mysterious business trip, she's left all alone in her creepy old house. But her brother's very cute best friend, Bennett Stern-Emma's knight in J. Crew armor-arrives unexpectedly to whisk her away to New England. There, Emma settles into his family's museum-like mansion and enrolls at an old-fashioned private school. She quickly finds friends in the popular legacy crowd at Thatcher and spends her free time crushing on Bennett. But the eerie visions she's been hiding from everyone have gotten worse. Emma has memories of Thatcher that she can't explain-it's as if she's returning home to a place she's never been. Finally, Emma confides in Bennett and learns she is a ghostkeeper, a person who can communicate with ghosts. Bennett brought Emma to Thatcher to protect her, but now he needs her help tracking an other-worldly murderer.

A rich New England setting filled with mystery, tradition, and prep-school intrigue make Deception the perfect choice for fans of series like Kate Brian's Private, as well as all those paranormal fans. The shocking ending will leave readers desperate for book two.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781599905624
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	06/01/2010
Series:	Haunting Emma , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	415 KB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Lee Nichols was raised in Santa Barbara, California-the setting of her adult novels Tales of a Drama Queen, Hand-Me-Down and True Lies of a Drama Queen. She attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she studied history and psychology. She now lives in Maine and is married to novelist Joel N. Ross. Deception is her first novel for young adults.

www.leenicholsbooks.com
Lee Nichols is the author of the first two Haunting Emma novels, Deception and Betrayal, as well as five books for adults. She lives in Maine, USA, and is married to novelist Joel N. Ross.

Editorial Reviews

In adult author Nichols's (Tales of a Drama Queen) first book for teenagers, which launches the Haunting Emma series, 17-year-old Emma's parents leave on a trip and weeks pass without a word of their whereabouts. Social workers are about to intervene when Bennett, a handsome friend of Emma's older brother, whisks her away to live at his family's sprawling, gothic, and haunted museum in Massachusetts. There, Emma enters the upscale Thatcher Academy, where she makes new friends and frets about the mysterious visions--including ghosts-- that plague her. Soon Bennett reveals Emma's true nature: she is a "ghostkeeper" and the descendant of one of the earliest and most powerful ghostkeepers. As Emma struggles to navigate the requirements that come with her new identity, Nichols populates her life with the requisite competing love interests. While Nichols's take on the girl-who-sees-ghosts story will satisfy fans of the genre, the characters and plot feel familiar, though Emma has a sense of humor that, if on the silly side, balances the book's sinister moments with snark. Undemanding paranormal fun. Ages 14-up. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 8 Up—With her antiquities-dealer parents supposedly away on vacation, big brother Max somewhere abroad, and former best friend ignoring her, Emma Vaile, 17, is alone in San Francisco. Expecting freedom, she finds loneliness and trouble instead. Being abandoned and ratted out to Child Protective Services are bad enough, but there's also the return of disturbing visions she hasn't had for a decade. Then Max's ex-friend and Emma's long-standing crush, Bennett Stern, appears with guardianship papers. Taking Emma to his family's Massachusetts mansion/museum, he enrolls her in Thatcher Academy, where she experiences acute déjà vu. Concerned for her sanity, Emma eventually admits that she sees ghosts. Aloof Bennett reveals that they both have the ability to communicate with them. Someone or something is murdering ghostkeepers and leaving behind a symbol: the design on Emma's mother's unique pendant. The whereabouts of Emma's family, whether Emma and Bennett will (should) be together, and whether he can be trusted are questions to be answered. In this first book in a series, Nichols has left threads untied for future installments. Occasionally, the dialogue is trite and the action cartoonish, but the ghostkeeper premise, lingering mystery, and Emma/Bennett relationship compel the curious to return. Magical ancestors and passed-down powers aside, the novel is not of the caliber of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's emotionally investing Beautiful Creatures (Little, Brown, 2009), but it will appeal to teens craving a quick read.—Danielle Serra, Cliffside Park Public Library, NJ

School Library Journal

When 17-year-old Emma drops her antiques-dealer parents at San Francisco's airport for a business trip, she's set for three weeks of rebellion. However, her freedom is cut short when her parents vanish and the authorities are tipped off that she's home alone. Seemingly randomly, her older brother's preppy, hot college friend, Bennett, rescues Emma by bringing her back to his eerie New England hometown, where she'll live with his family and attend an exclusive private school. As Emma settles into her new home, which doubles as a museum, violent imagery from her childhood creeps into her consciousness, but fortunately a cast of friendly spirits appear to help her navigate what she learns is her role as a powerful ghostkeeper. Balancing this text's heavy supernatural vibe and sometimes gruesome details are elements of modern teenage life, including Emma's crush on Bennett and conventional high-school friendship dramas, making this first installment in the Haunting Emma series light fun with a mildly chilling edge and sense of mystery. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews