Me on Shattered Souls

Title: Shattered Souls
Author: Mary Lindsey
Release Date: December 13, 2011
Publisher: Philomel (Penguin imprint)

Lenzi hears voices, has visions of gravestones and floods. Her boyfriend Zak can't help. Everything's getting louder. Then Alden shows up and tells her she's a reincarnated Speaker, someone who helps lost souls move on. And he's also been her Protector for centuries. Now she has to choose between feeling crazy and life with Zak, and a possible reason why with Alden. But time is running out with a malevolent spirit out to destroy Lenzi.

Shattered Souls was soft and mysterious, past lives and memories mixed with a complicated love triangle. Torn between two guys while torn between two lives. I'm not sure about thrilling, but definitely intriguing.

The voices Lenzi hears makes her think she's just like her dad, destined to be schizophrenic and no longer in control, afraid of being labelled as crazy and unstable, afraid of killing herself because the voices wouldn't stop. But then comes a strange boy with grey eyes and an outrageous story about Speakers and Protectors and the dead that can't move on until past wrongs have been righted. Honestly, who would believe him, considering what just happened with her dad? She's very anti-ghosts, very anti-accepting of what Alden's proposing, but then she caves and becomes pro-Alden while still being anti-ghosts. I felt she was afraid a little longer than she needed to be before she accepted her new job and her place in the world.

A love triangle, yes, but I have my reservations. In the beginning, yes, she wanted them both, wanted the familiarity of Zak but the connection with Alden. But then it was mostly about one of them and the other was ignored and left to his own issues (almost until he's needed again for a plot point).

I feel torn. I enjoyed this book, it was interesting, it was different. For some reason it felt a little slow and I'm not sure why, like it took a more easy-going path through the first half until the evil appeared. This book reminded me of Angelfire but without the action and the demon fighting, and like The Eternal Ones with ghosts.

In the end, it was a good book. Fans of romance mixed with ghosts and reincarnation will enjoy this book, readers looking for more of a slow, soft ride with twists that feel more gentle than they are. No total 180 degree turns, but twists and suspense all the same.

(I received an advance copy to review from Penguin Canada.)