Rebel Spirits

What’s It About?

This is a modern day/civil war, mystery/romance/supernatural novel about a girl who has to solve the murder of a civil war ghost but falls in love with him. On top of this, there is something weird going on at the bed and breakfast that the main character’s parents bought. It is an extremely odd combination of genres and the plot seems very convoluted, but it makes a lot of sense as it plays out in the story.

The main character, Lori Chase, moved from a big city to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This town was, if you remember from American History class, the location of a major battle in the Civil War. This means that the town is obsessed with both the battle and ghosts. Ghosts, in this book, are souls who have unfinished business and come back around the anniversary of their death to resolve whatever they need to. The first ghost that she actually meets is Nathaniel Pierce, a civil war ghost who was murdered after being injured in battle. As she is uncovering clues about how he died, she ends up falling in love with him, but also developing feelings for the real life, flesh-and-blood boy who helps out at the bed and breakfast. In the end, she solves Nathaniel’s murder (SPOILER ALERT: his best friend accidentally shot him), and he fades into the beyond. Of course, before he leaves, he asks her to date Evan (her other love interest) so that they can both be happy and she won’t miss him as much.

Why Do I Like It?

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why I enjoy this book. I am not really into romance, which is one of the main aspects of the book. I know the way that their ghosts worked was very interesting to me, so that kind of cancels out the romance. Nathaniel can only come back around the days of the battle of Gettysburg because that was when he died. The closer it gets to the day that he died, the more he can become corporeal and interact with the world. The author does a really good job with doing “flashbacks” because they aren’t really flashbacks. They are stories within a story. But the way that they are written is so lifelike and makes you feel like you are there, witnessing it. The writing in the entire book, actually, is really good. The story can be cheesy at times, but it is made up for. There are some moments that are incredibly tense, some that are funny, some that were so sweet that they made me cry the first few times I read it.

There is no movie or television adaptations or sequels as far as I know. This is one of the only books that stuck with me from childhood that is a stand alone book. I got it from a book sale when I was that awkward age where you are a little too old for all of the fun books so all that you are left with is some vaguely named “horror” or romance books. This book was the only one that looked even remotely interesting to me. And, as it turned out, it was very interesting. Either that or I was just starved for new books.