Remembrance (Mediator #7)
By: Meg Cabot
Published year: 2016
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Pages: 388
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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Fifteen years after the release of the first Mediator novel, #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot returns with a deliciously sexy new entry to a fan-favorite series. Suze Simon—all grown up and engaged to her once-ghostly soulmate—faces a vengeful spirit and an old enemy bent on ending Suze's wedded bliss before it begins.
You can take the boy out of the darkness.
But you can’t take the darkness out of the boy.
All Susannah Simon wants is to make a good impression at her first job since graduating from college (and since becoming engaged to Dr. Jesse de Silva).
But when she’s hired as a guidance counselor at her alma mater, she stumbles across a decade-old murder, and soon ancient history isn’t all that’s coming back to haunt her. Old ghosts as well as new ones are coming out of the woodwork, some to test her, some to vex her, and it isn’t only because she’s a mediator, gifted with second sight.
From a sophomore haunted by the murderous specter of a child, to ghosts of a very different kind—including Paul Slater, Suze’s ex, who shows up to make a bargain Suze is certain must have come from the Devil himself—Suze isn’t sure she’ll make it through the semester, let alone to her wedding night.
Suze is used to striking first and asking questions later. But what happens when ghosts from her past—including one she found nearly impossible to resist—strike first?
What happens when old ghosts come back to haunt you?
If you’re a mediator, you might have to kick a little ass.
First Impressions
YAAAAAAY! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!!! Those were my actual thoughts when I heard this book was coming out. The first book from the Mediator series came out in the early 2000s and I think I read all 6 of them in 2005, shortly after the 6th one came out. I loved these books so much and I have re-read them multiple times and loved them every other re-read. I was so excited to hear that I was going to get to revisit these characters that I loved again.
What I thought
This book was really enjoyable and I’m so glad that it came out. There was definitely a bit of fan service, but overall it stayed true to form.
Remembrance picks up 6 years after Suze graduated from high school. She and Jesse are engaged and she is currently working at her old high school, Junipero Serra as an unpaid intern. At the beginning of the story, Paul reaches out to Suze to let her know that he has purchased the home she lived in during high school and plans to demolish it. He also informs her that doing so could release a curse which would release a demon inside of Jesse. The only way that Paul will not demolish Suze’s home and Jesse’s murder ground is if Suze will give herself to Paul.
I had some issues with this book, and I think I’ll start with those, because I truly loved a lot of this book. It’s a little hard to review this book because I think I had very high expectations for it since I love the series so much. I think that Cabot did a great job bringing the characters back without feeling fake or like she didn’t want to write the story. Her love for the characters is as obvious in this book as it is in everything that she’s written.
My first issue was the Paul storyline. The biggest issue that I had is that apparently he and Suze have no communicated in the 6 years since graduation, and now all of a sudden he’s contacting her and declaring his love for her and trying to win her back. I found this to be a little unbelievable that he would go so many years without reaching out to her and now that Jesse has proposed he has come out of the woodwork. I get that they needed a conflict, and I didn’t have many issues with the conflict itself, but the setup seemed a little flimsy
The one issue I did have with the conflict was how quickly Suze believed Paul and the curse and lost faith in Jesse. She didn’t even do any research before she went crazy. I would’ve preferred it if after Paul told her about the curse, she has responded with an “oh yea, sure” attitude until she did her own research, after which she would them become freaked out.
The final issue that I had was with some of the repetition. I felt like there were a few phrases that were said a little too often for my taste, one of which was how much Suze swore and how much everyone disliked it. There was a constant commentary about “Suze! Watch your language!” when it probably wasn’t that bad. It was also a bit excessive and I felt like if people were telling me as much as they were telling her I would’ve flipped out. The other line that irritated me was “you can take the boy out of the darkness but you can’t take the darkness out of the boy.” I think two or three times I would’ve been ok with it, but it was a bit more constant than that.
I think I was a little harsh on this book just because I love the other ones so much and had high expectations for this one. I did love it and I loved reading about these characters again. I didn’t think it was as solid as the first 6, and I don’t think it was necessary to the series. I think it is a fun extra, but you could easily read the first 6 and not read this one. I do hope that this book set up for some spin offs. The characters and the relationships are just as wonderful and developed as all of Cabot’s writing. I’m still crushing hard on Jesse, feeling inspired by Suze, wishing Father Dominic was my grandfather, and hating Paul. It was so much fun to read and I’m glad that Cabot took a chance and added this installment to the series.