Review: Remembrance by Meg Cabot

Remembrance (The Mediator, Book #7)
by Meg Cabot
Release Date: February 2nd 2016
2016 William Morrow
ARC Edition; 400 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-06-237902-3
ASIN: B00XHRR3EE
Genre: Fiction / Paranormal
Source: Review copy from TLC Book Tours

4 / 5 Stars

Summary
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.

My Thoughts
Remembrance is the first adult version of the Mediator series and I was thrilled to discover that Suze and Jesse's story would be continuing; it was one of those series I thought about over the years and often wondered what it would be like for these two when they are adults.  

As adults, our mediators are now dealing with post-graduate work (Jesse is a medical resident and Suze is completing her post-secondary studies to become a counselor). They are also dealing with the usual complications that arise as adults: work, loans, money, wedding issues.  And to top it all off, Suze gets attacked by a child ghost during a routine guidance session.  Since the mediator stuff was something I really enjoyed in the original series, I was glad to know that a lot of the book would have Suze facing off against vengeful little spirits, although the result wasn't quite what I expected.  It was refreshing, and familiar, to know that Suze hadn't changed a whole lot when dealing with the spirits / ghosts; she was her usual brash and feisty self I remembered from the original series.  I would have been extremely disappointed otherwise.  

It was definitely nice to revisit characters and to see what they were all doing as adults, although I could have done without Paul Slater.  He was still as despicable as ever, but I did have to laugh over some of his antics as a grown up, albeit a much more powerful one now that he has all that money and sway in town.  I liked seeing what Suze's brothers were up to and was a bit disappointed that they didn't have more of a role to play in this one; they are much more interesting as grown-ups and I would love to learn more about them.  The author did hint a bit about their abilities so it would be interesting to see exactly what they could do, especially working together with Suze and Jesse.  And while I love Jesse, and always will, he was a bit annoying at times in this one.  While I get that he had been dead for over a century and a half, his over-protectiveness got cloying and I could have done with a bit less macho behaviour.  Other than that, he was perfect, the same sweet, kind, and considerate person, and the scene with Paul Slater (sorry, spoiler) was great.  

I thought the plot was interesting, but it was one of the weaker points in the this novel.  While I truly enjoyed Becca's plight and the situation with the little ghost, Lucia, I did think the novel was more about Jesse and Suze's relationship issues, and lack of sex, at least on Suze's part, than about the ghost issues.  And while that was fine, it did have a tendency to drag on a bit and I just wanted to get on with the story and find out what was going on with our friendly / unfriendly little ghost.  While I also understood the author's 'need' perhaps to find closure with Paul, I did find the whole situation, the dinner and 'dessert', to be a bit over the top. Really? I'm sure there could have been another way to solve the problem with Suze's house rather than introducing the whole blackmailing plot point.  While it may not bother other people, it didn't set well with me.  

Verdict
Remembrance is a good addition to the Mediator series; it was great to see all of my favourite characters return as adults and to learn about them as adults.  That being said, while I would definitely recommend the earlier novels to my thirteen-year-old daughter, I would not recommend this one to her due to the many, many sexual innuendos that are in here; this is about a grown up Suze and her wants and needs as a woman who is definitely not a teenager anymore.   I enjoyed this book quite a bit and am quite glad that Ms. Cabot is continuing the series as it was one of my favourites (I can't believe it's been almost sixteen years since I've read the first one.)  There is so much potential with these characters, and so many interesting things going on, that I truly hope the author will continue Suze and Jesse's story.