A Certain Slant of Light (Light, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Oct 29, 2016 Marla rated it liked it

Shelves: romance, series, with-reservations, challenged, young-adult, mystery, audiobook, paranormal, ghosts, religion

3.5 stars. Different story about ghosts who find a way to be together and fall in love. 4 stars for premise, but only 3 stars for character of characters.

Likes:
* Different spin on ghosts and hauntings
* Ghosts who haunt people vs ghosts who haunt a location
(view spoiler) 3.5 stars. Different story about ghosts who find a way to be together and fall in love. 4 stars for premise, but only 3 stars for character of characters.

Likes:
* Different spin on ghosts and hauntings
* Ghosts who haunt people vs ghosts who haunt a location
(view spoiler)

Dislikes:
* Helen is twenty something and she acts and thinks like an immature teenager!
* Helen is so self-centered
* Empty bodies, soulless?
* So much bad behavior goes unpunished in this book
(view spoiler)

With-reservations:
violence, drug abuse, rape, religious zealots, infidelity, sexual situations, hypocrisy ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 13, 2009 Samantha rated it liked it

Shelves: 2009

Helen is dead and has been for such a long time that she is used to being the only one of her kind. Then one day she is shocked when someone sees her. The tale that unfolds is one of confrontation with the past and acceptance.

This had such a strong start for me, with very visceral descriptions I felt very empathetic toward Helen and then later for James as well as Mitch and Billy.
There were certain topics, namely religion, that I was very interested to see how the author handled.

Toward the mid Helen is dead and has been for such a long time that she is used to being the only one of her kind. Then one day she is shocked when someone sees her. The tale that unfolds is one of confrontation with the past and acceptance.

This had such a strong start for me, with very visceral descriptions I felt very empathetic toward Helen and then later for James as well as Mitch and Billy.
There were certain topics, namely religion, that I was very interested to see how the author handled.

Toward the middle, my feelings slowly begin to change. The "good/perfect" religious family had a dark secret and the outwardly "bad/disfunctional" family held tragedy, but real love. I've heard this story before and it didn't really ring true this time, but a tad clichéd.
Then there were parts that seemed a bit preachy, like:
"Once boys and girls were sent from the room whenever adult subjects were to be touched upon. Now they saw murders and rapes every night on television. Perhaps this was why...Jenny's bathroom had to be stocked with little blue pills for anxiety, little yellow pills for stress, and little white pills for sleep."

However I did want to keep reading. I wanted to find out about James' and Helen's past; what their crimes or horrible decisions were that sent them to this unresolved place on earth. I really liked the ending, even if things fit a little too perfectly I was happy for all of the characters involved. There were more important issues that I felt Whitcomb could have tackled without taking away from the central story of Helen and James.

Overall I would recommend this book, but with the caveat that probably it's not for everyone.

Favorite Quote:
"I don't know much at all about anything," said James. "But I know we should be together, you and I. That's all I can be sure of."
Together, he'd said. I wanted to know exactly what he'd meant.
"How could we not?" he asked, sitting on a rumpled brown blanket on his bed. "It's as if we were the only two of a species or the only two people on earth who spoke the same language. How could we not be with each other?" ...more

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Sep 14, 2010 Angi rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this book. It was different than I had expected. I thought perhaps it would be mostly a ghost story, but it was mostly a love story with a ghostly edge to it. It was a quick read that had me interested from start to finish.

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Jul 18, 2010 PJ rated it really liked it

Shelves: pass-me-a-tissue, 2012-books-i-ve-read, ya-paranormal

This book left me guessing. It was very different from other YA classified novels I've read--a bit unsettling like a Stephen King story. I agree with other reviewers that this book defies categorization. It has elements of paranormal, teen romance, horror, and adult fiction. The writing is lush and meant to be savored. I could see how this could be become a series, but I was satisfied with the ending as is. ...more

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Aug 27, 2009 Jennifer rated it really liked it

A very interesting ghost story.....really unlike anything I have ever read. The pace of the story became too fast towards the end, like the author just wanted to wrap it up. But I enjoyed reading from the point of view of the "spirit" and it made me interested to read anything else Laura Whitcomb writes. ...more

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Mar 04, 2009 Lisarenee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult

This was a very good book. It's about love story about two ghosts who take over the bodies of two teenagers and fall in love. If you liked twilight you'll probably like this one too. ...more

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