The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong (Darkest Powers #1)

Chloe Saunders had a perfectly ordinary life, living in Buffalo and attending an artsy high school, with her father mostly absent on business - her mother died when she was little - all Chloe wanted was to, one day, fulfill her dreams of making the type of movies she loves.

But everything changes one random day when she starts seeing people who aren't there -later figuring out they are ghosts - and gets shipped off to Lyle House, a group home for 'troubled' teenagers.

At first, Lyle House seems okay enough, there is one resident diva called Victoria, but the other two girls there -Liz and Rae - seem nice enough. The other residents rounding the group are Simon and Derek, foster siblings who keep themselves to themselves for the most part.

However, things aren't what they seem at Lyle Hose, not by far. Something is, in fact, very wrong, which Chloe begins to suspect after Liz is mysteriously 'transferred' to another hospital.

I tried very hard not to spoil too much of the book, but I can say it's quite good. At first I wasn't sure I was going to like it, in fact at the beginning I thought the story was dragging a little, but when it picked up I was enthralled reading page after page. I'm not a huge fan of paranormal books, but this one really caught my fancy, and I LOVE the fact that it talks about a wide variety of Supernatural beings - necromancers, werewolves, half demons, sorcerers and witches - rather than focusing on just one group, which I found rather refreshing.

I really liked the setting and the pace toward the end of the book, and I can't wait to read The Awakening.

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