In the class of the high school English teacher she has been haunting, Helen feels them: for the first time in 130 years, human eyes are looking at her. They belong to a boy, a boy who has not seemed remarkable until now. And Helen--terrified, but intrigued--is drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely couple with their first challenge. But as the lovers struggle to find a way to be together, they begin to discover the secrets of their former lives and of the young people they come to possess.
I reviewed A Certain Slant of Light, a touching YA romance, some time ago. But I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and thought it couldn't hurt to talk about this one again. I warmed up to this one because, even though it's a YA paranormal romance, it has a more adult feel to it. It has less to do with wish fulfillment and more to do with real love - in that it is experienced by two adults for who this love means their existence, and for who I believed could not truly live without it.
That said, I wasn't wholly satisfied with the relationship of Helen and her romantic interest, James. There were some pacing problems that, though they didn't tarnish the authenticity of their romance, left me a little underwhelmed.
For the most part, however, I believe more forgiving readers will really enjoy A Certain Slant of Light. As I said, it's a very touching read and beautifully written. I found Helen’s fears and her resignation to her long, lonely fate, complex and moving. There are moments when she is thankful just for the silent companionship of her hosts, and others where she hungers for more than an endless life of haunting. Her relationships with her previous hosts, her devotion and affection for them, were some of the most sincerely rendered portions of A Certain Slant of Light. It was here that I found Helen, and her hosts, most captivating. But when her story transitioned more into the ground of her host body's life and once her physical relationship with James began, I found my interests waning.
I appreciate how they felt about one another, I do, but I wasn't as entranced by their relationship once they interacted with one another in a physical environment. The second half of their romance lacked the pacing and heart of the first, and my reading experience suffered because of it. After that, I was far more interested in the other details of Whitcomb’s novel – Jenny, Billy, Jenny’s family, etc. But, overall, Helen and James worked for me. I felt their relationship became a bit too hasty and in need of substance, but there was still something tender about their needs and wants in each other. Even when I wasn't really invested in their relationship, I still believed in it.
While it ended up falling a little flat for me (with some redemption in the end), I do believe that most readers will be engaged by Helen, James and their mutual need to find somebody in a great, big, empty world.
- Bitterblue
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