ARC Review--Remembrance by Meg Cabot

In REMEMBRANCE, the seventh installment of the Mediator series, all Susannah Simon wants is to make a good impression at her first job since graduating from college (and becoming engaged to Dr. Jesse de Silva).

But when she stumbles across an ancient murder, old ghosts—and ex-boyfriends—aren’t all that come back to haunt her.

REMEMBRANCE will be the first ever adult installment of the Mediator, published by William Morrow, the adult division of HarperCollins, the company that brought you the YA books in the series. 

I received this eARC from the publisher, via Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

My most anticipated read of 2016 was Meg Cabot’s Remembrance, because you guys, this book is from the Mediator series!! This was one of my first paranormal YA series I read in a time where there was NO paranormal YA! It was dark times, but luckily I was able to stumble upon a few books here and there, and this series was one of them! And oh, how I ate it up! It totally threw me through a loop when Haunted came out and not only had the covers changed and we went to hardcover vs paperback, but Meg started writing under Meg Cabot for them when she initially wrote them as Jenny Carroll! I was new to basically all publishing things back then, because when I saw Haunted…a tale of the mediator…I thought, “oh that reminds me of Jenny Carroll’s Mediator series!” and then sure enough as I read that description I knew right away that it was the same series!

So long story, short, I’ve been a long time fan of this series. When Meg announced in 2014 that she was writing this book, I was over the freaking moon! And then when Edelweiss approved my request, I was sooo excited! I dove into it as soon as I could and pretty much lost myself into Suze’s world once again!

I didn’t really have time for a series re-read, but in a way, it wasn’t necessary. I remembered enough of the major details, and that’s really all that’s needed. Because this is the first ADULT installment in the Mediator series! While the series was initially YA, this is NOT A YA book! Susanna is grown up now, as it was six years ago when she graduated high school, so she’s 24 or 25 ish. Not sure if it’s ever said, but you basically can do the math! In a way, this book reminded me of my love of watching the Veronica Mars movie. A series I once so loved and then returning back again, nearly 10 years later as well! I think the last book published in 2006 or so, so yes, it was just that magical, just like Veronica Mars’ movie was! This is definitely a read that all Mediator fans MUST read! But I will say, new fans can read this one, just be aware you’ll be majorly spoiled for events of the earlier YA series.

Now onto the actual review, since I spent three long paragraphs gushing over my complete love and adoration for this book and series! Susannah and Jesse have been pretty happy these past years. Though, Susannah is getting a little tired of waiting for the big day. There were stipulations Jesse made before they could get married, and you know, finally have sex. But Susannah has a lot more to deal with then just the relationship woes. Her first problem is that a certain someone comes crashing back into her life to make it a living hell once again. Yes, Paul Slater is back.

Paul has become your basic new millionaire playboy and his heart or some other body part is still set on having Susannah all to himself. He has bought her old family home and tells her of a curse, a darkness that is likely inside of Jesse, her once ghost boyfriend turned human and alive again. A darkness that will take hold of him if the place he died is destroyed. And since he died in Susannah’s old family home, destroying it would put a major cramp in their relationship. Paul requires Susannah to go on a date with him and give him one more chance. Completely ignoring that she is engaged to Jesse. Paul certainly hadn’t changed much since high school!

Susannah’s other problem involves a teenage girl at her old school, where she currently interns un-paid, who happens to have a ghost hanging around her. And naturally, her old mediator skills are being put to use yet again.

In a lot of ways, this book pretty much like reads its YA predecessors. There’s danger, yet Susannah doesn’t seem to care. She keeps certain secrets from Jesse. There’s a good ol’ mystery to solve and a ghost to help.

I did a lot of gushing over this book! We get to see a lot of the characters again, and I was all for that! Even that little twit, Kelly is back in the picture! Seriously, it was like the Veronica Mars movie all over again! Just that absolute love to see all your old friends and enemies again! It was totally gush worthy! I totally see and understand all the long time VM fans’ excitement for the movie, as I was a late to the game kind of girl for that series. But the Mediator series was one I adored from the getgo. I thought book 6 was a fine and awesome ending, but yet, when Meg said she might and then actually writing a book 7 I was over the freaking moon, as I said! It was just awesome!

Susannah still has her same snark, which I loved! In a lot of ways, she is kind of like Veronica Mars, except she sees ghosts amid looking for the bad guys who usually did harm or wrong to the ghosts. And then Jesse is usually there to help her out of course! And let’s just say there’s definitely a good reason why this is an ADULT book! Susannah is very grownup, in her own way, and there’s definitely mature situations, though we have seen that in some YA books these days, but never so much from this original YA series. Plus the case she ends up working is kind of dark, thus another reason to make this an ADULT (ish) read.

But again, I was in high school when I started reading the “adult” books, so I’m not saying this is like Fifty Shades of Grey but any means. Just be aware that there is a bit more romantic element to it, plus a disturbing (ish) twist to the case Susannah works.

I had not one complaint about this book. None whatsoever! It was positively perfect for me. But as I said, I am a long time fan of the Mediator series, so returning to this world was a delight for me! It was nice seeing all the characters again and having some of that same feeling to the series from when Suze was a teenager. It’s definitely a read for all fans of Meg Cabot’s Mediator series! It’s positively to die for! LOL!

Overall Rating 5/5 stars

Remembrance releases February 2, 2016