The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

Chloe is a normal spoiled but neglected rich girl until she suddenly starts seeing ghosts and gets herself shipped off to a home for troubled teens. Chloe slowly comes to realize her condition is not medical, but that she really can see ghosts and soon realizes that there's something strange about the other teens at the group home as well. Meeting the handsome Simon and his hostile brother Derek, she starts uncovering secrets about Lyle House that have terrifying implications about her and her powers and those of her friends. Suddenly escape seems to be the only option.

Genre: supernatural

Rating: 4.5/5

I've speculated with my best friend about how when a person is presented with two options for a love interest, it is always possible to tell who is going to be chosen in the end. I still hold that in the male love interest department, whoever the author describes fully and emotionally first and who ever has a decent story line is the ONE. Based on that assumption, I'm proud to say I haven't been wrong yet. This leads me to saying that I've never honestly liked a love triangle mainly because I've ALWAYS seen the deck stacked in the favor of one of the men.

I bring this up because there are two boys presented for Chloe to like. One is handsome, nice and the boy Chloe likes. The other is hostile, terrible looking, and initially starts out fighting with Chloe. My money is already on her ending up with the second boy. Simon is a passive, one dimensional character. Derek has already shown himself to be complicated, smart, and very aggressive. He's going to win in the end. My money is already down on that.

The book itself is well written supernatural fiction. Of course there are witches and werewolves and the traditional supernatural beings, but Armstrong tries to take a fresh spin on them. There's an overwhelming sense of urgency as the teenagers are always in peril whether they know it or not. Chloe can be sort of dense seeming sometimes, but she's a believable character. May the thing that stands out is that the kids seem to be in a no win situation. They are so out numbered and out maneuvered, their situation is desperate. And Chloe's powers are terrifying. She can literally raise people from the dead and it's not something fun to watch.