I, in the Shadows by Tori Bovalino (January 13th)
Maybe this is possession; maybe this is truly what it is to be haunted.
Thereās a ghost hanging out in Drew Larpinās new room. Heās a fellow Pine Hollow high schooler named Liam, and technically, itās his old room. Now heās stuck haunting itāunsure of how he died or why he hasnāt moved on to the afterlife. Drew knows she has to help him. . . . She has to figure out how to resolve Liamās earthly regrets. Otherwise, heāll degradeājust like any ghost who hangs around the living for too longāuntil all thatās left is a hungry, mindless husk of who he used to be.
So, Drew interviews Liam about his life, getting the rundown on her new classmates in the process. She slowly falls into Liamās old group of friends, experiencing their grief with the painful knowledge that Liam is watching it all play out from right beside her. Things get more complicated when Drew realizes she and Liam share a hopeless attraction to valedictorian-to-be, walking sunshine Hannah Sullivan. Liam was Hannahās best friend in life, and at first, he doesnāt seem to mind being Drewās wingman in death. But his unrequited feelings boil under the surface. The spectral energy cast off by his emotions is so powerful that it catches the attention of something truly sinister.
Itās lurking in the woods, watching Liam, attracted by the intensity of his grief and frustration. Whatever this āWatcherā has in store for him, itās a fate far worse than death. Drew is determined to save him from it. But with Hannah slowly catching on that Liam might not be totally gone, the tangled mess of everyoneās emotions only draws the Watcher closer. It becomes a race against the clock to help Liam come to terms with his own deathāeven if it means shattering the fragile, painful normalcy his loved ones have built in his absence.
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The world is about to end. Again.