Deception by Lee Nichols

Deception by Lee Nichols

Haunting Emma #1

Release: September 5, 2011 (UK)

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Source: Publisher

Rating: 5 out of 5

Amazon US | Amazon UK

When Emma Vaile’s parents go missing while away on a mysterious business trip, she’s left all alone in her creepy old house. But her brother’s very cute best friend, Bennett Stern—Emma’s knight in J. Crew armor—arrives unexpectedly to whisk her away to New England. There, Emma settles into his family’s museum-like mansion and enrolls at an old-fashioned private school. She quickly finds friends in the popular legacy crowd at Thatcher and spends her free time crushing on Bennett.

But the eerie visions she’s been hiding from everyone have gotten worse. Emma has memories of Thatcher that she can’t explain—it’s as if she’s returning home to a place she’s never been. Finally, Emma confides in Bennett and learns she is a ghostkeeper, a person who can communicate with ghosts. Bennett brought Emma to Thatcher to protect her, but now he needs her help tracking an other-worldly murderer. - Goodreads Page

Having not heard much about this book before I read it, I didn't understand what all the sudden fuss was about. Another book about ghosts? Okay then. Cool. Like I said, that was before I read Deception.

Deception is told in first person, from Emma's point of view. All of a sudden, Emma's parents disappear and Emma has to go and live with the mysteriously sexy Bennett in an old museum. She also has to start a new private school, very different to her previous public one. Through various events, Emma finds out that she can see ghosts. Not just see them, mind you, she can also communicate with them and control them, and do a couple of other cool things too. 

Lee Nichols has established such an awesome take on ghosts, I was thoroughly enjoying reading all of the new 'lore' surrounding them, as well as Emma's family and friends. I've not seen such an interesting spin since I read Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready, which also features ghosts. However, Nichols' version of ghosts seemed to impress me more, although I'm unsure why. I think it's the relationship that Emma had with them.

The whole novel was amazing, and it kept me guessing all the way through. I honestly had no idea what to think of some events! But it was (mostly) all revealed in the end. Speaking of the end, the ending was amazing! Action packed, with some very emotional situations thrown in there. 

Like others I have spoken to, I wasn't to keen on Emma to begin with. She seemed very oblivious to what was going on around her. I didn't dislike her by any means, I just thought she was rather plain. But a third of the way through the novel, I started to love her. Her personality starts to shine, and I loved reading about her friendship with new people she met at her private school - Harry especially! - and her relationship with Bennett. I love Bennett. And Harry! 

I also loved Coby, he's a sweetheart, but I wish we had seen more character development from him. I'm sure we'll see some more of him in the next book, though, and I hope to see him dealing with... things. 

Like I said, I love Bennett! He's extremely mysterious, and I can't wait to find out more about him. Especially after what happened at the end of this book! 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't recommend it enough. It's a fantastic read, and it even had me laughing out loud at 6am in the morning - not an easy task, I must say!