Ghost Huntress: The Awakening by Marley Gibson

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

The first in a trilogy. Get out your tape recorders, crystals, and extra batteries-- you're about to go where our world meets the spirit world.

Psychic Kids, Paranormal State, Haunting Evidence--these and countless other television shows are making believers out of millions of people: Ghosts exist, and they're living right beside us. For centuries, individuals have been trying to prove the existence of ghosts. But without hard evidence, it's been difficult to make the case. But now as science and technology have progressed, ghost hunters have been able to use scientific means, along with more traditional psychic tools, to make their case. Photographs, video recordings, and sound recordings are all producing some amazing results. In this new series, Ghost Huntress, meet Kendall Moorehead, a seemingly typical teen. When her family moves from Chicago to the small historical town of Radisson, Georgia, her psychic abilities awaken. She's hearing, feeling, and seeing things that seem unbelievable at first, but with the help of the town psychic, Kendall is able to come to terms with her newly emerging gift. So, together with her new BFF, Celia, Kendall forms a ghost hunting team. They've got all the latest technology. They've got Kendall for their psychic. Now they're going to clean up Radisson of its less savory spirits. The story is fiction. The science is real. Welcome to a new reality.

Review:

The Ghost Huntress series has been on my TBR list for quite a while now, and recently I had the chance to read the first one and let me tell you it certainly was a likable and fun paranormal read!

The Awakening opens up just as Kendall has moved to Radisson, a tiny city so small from her past one she doesn’t know how she'll survive for the next two years. Add in the fact that strange things keep happening to her in her ghostly big home, she's ready to run back home to Chicago, though soon enough she meets Celia and quickly forms a friendship with her, and when she tells Celia of her ghostly encounters, the girls quickly form a ghost huntress group with the aid of queen bee Taylor and emo rebel Becca. But as they are to find out ghost hunting will be the least of their problems as the story goes on and more is reveled.

I will admit that it took a while for me to warm up to Kendall, though once I did I found her to a fun and relatable protagonist. It was interesting to see her come to terms with paranormal 'awakening' because as anyone who enjoys reading paranormal books knows, it's always fun to see exactly what talents the character has. I also liked reading about her ghost huntress group with Celia, the brain of the operation, Taylor, the queen bee photographer, and Becca, the emo poser with a great ear. All of them had unique talents that made them indispensable to the group, so it was fun to see them work together to solve the case. Also, I adored Kendall's romantic interest.

The premise of this was kick-butt and the execution was even better, though I do admit I had a hard time getting into the story in the beginning, but once I was, I was hooked! One of my favorite aspects of the plot was seeing how much detail Marley put in to the ghost hunting part because it never failed to make me intertwined in the book and dying to be part of my own ghost hunting group. I mean, how cool would that be?

Marley's writing was decent, though I personally think it needed some work, but I'm sure as the series continues all the kinks will be worked out.

In all, Ghost Huntress: The Awakening was a fabulous start to a series I just know I'll love as I read the sequels!

Grade: C+

Ghost Huntress: The Awakening is now out!

Source: Library