Review Detail

Lisa Schroeder's I Heart You, You Haunt Me has many appealing aspects--the romance, the great cover, the supernatural, the easy writing style--that I can confidently say it is a book that will convert reluctant readers.

At fifteen, Ava's boyfriend Jackson has died and she feels responsible for his death. Mourning in her home, she begins to feel cold air and see flashes of Jackson in the mirror. Finally, Ava feels alive again and delights in spending time alone and dreaming of her love. Everyone else is concerned about her and tries to get her to see that maybe her self-imposed isolation is no life at all.

While this could be the perfect book for some of my students, I didn't adore it completely. I found it highly readable (and read it in about an hour) and will enjoy recommending it, but it doesn't stand up to the best novels in verse that I have explored lately. The sticky part for me was the unhealthy feeling of Ava and Jackson's relationship. The only was he can express displeasure is by trashing her room and slamming doors, usually to make her feel guilty for leaving the house. It felt emotionally abusive and wasn't addressed as much as I would have liked. I also wanted more character development; as I closed the novel, I felt like I really didn't know any of them.

Despite these complaints, I enjoyed I Heart You, You Haunt Me, and am glad that I ordered all of Lisa Schroeder's other novels in verse from my library.