| $@%&! level: Medium-Low “Bedroom” level: Medium-Low (It's more a build-up of sexual tension, and a good deal of kissing) Violence level: Medium (Does violence by or against ghosts count?) Back Cover: “When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, she doesn't realize that paranormal forces are responsible—not until mysterious identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into her room and destroy a deadly spirit sent to kill her. Kennedy learns that her mother's death was no accident, and now she has to take her place in the Legion of the Black Dove—a secret society of ghost hunters formed to protect the world from a vengeful demon. A society whose five members were all murdered on the same night, leaving the Legion in the hands of the next generation: a misfit group with unique skills. As the new members race to find the only weapon capable of destroying the demon, they use their individual talents to battle paranormal entities and earn their rightful place in the Legion—except for Kennedy. If she is truly the missing piece of the puzzle, can she stay alive long enough to find out—without losing her heart in the process?” |
In terms of narrative, it reads as an average quest story. The Legion sets out to collect all the necessary bits of a weapon, with a different ghostly encounter for each bit. Kind of like a video game, really. There's lots of action and adventure, danger and general creepiness around every turn. That being the case, I've got to admit that Kennedy's almost constant worrying about which of the Lockhart twins she likes the best, and whether she fits in with the Legion or not, and whether she's even a useful member or not—well, it's sort of intrusive. Not to mention that every single one of them is a short few weeks into grieving, so you'd think concerns about teenage romance would be put on the back burner for a while.
It's pretty good teenage romance, though, as teenage romances go. Just the right amount of angst, emotional confusion, and (to be frank) sexual tension. Lots of kissing. I guess it must the the extreme situation they find themselves in that causes the very swift and deep devotion that grows between them. Or it could always be the old fantasy staple of love at first sight. Or possibly it was just meant to be, which is to say that the author really wanted it to be. Either way, given the cliffhanger ending and the interesting characters, I'm looking forward to the second installment.