Review: Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

Shattered Souls 
by Mary Lindsey

Release Date: December 8, 2011
Publisher: Philomel/Penguin
Pages: 336
Genre: YA Paranormal/Ghosts
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
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A thrilling debut story of death, love, destiny and danger 
Lenzi hears voices and has visions - gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can't help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense. Then Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, who reveals that she's a reincarnated Speaker - someone who can talk to and help lost souls - and that he has been her Protector for centuries.
Now Lenzi must choose between her life with Zak and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. But time is running out: a malevolent spirit is out to destroy Lenzi, and he will kill her if she doesn't make a decision soon.

First off the cover of this book is so gorgeous! It was one of my top 10 covers of 2011. Now I've been having trouble on how to rate and review this book. There were a lot of things I both liked and disliked. I really liked the storyline. I've read quite a few ghosts books but this one had such a different concept and rules for the ghost world. Lenzi is a Speaker. She has been reincarnated over and over for several lifetimes, (I forget exactly how many) performing her job as a Speaker. But she is supposed to begin to remember her last lives around the time when she turns seventeen. Her soul begins to call for her Protector. Alden hears her soul calling and goes to find her and is shocked that she doesn't remember him. They have been paired up for generations. Lenzi used to be named Rose, and has always been named Rose until this life. They don't know why she doesn't remember her past lives.

Lenzi can speak to the ghosts and share her body with their soul. It gets kind of weird here but the ghost can enter her body and use her to complete unresolved tasks. For example, a little girl uses her body to draw a picture for her mom. There are evil ghosts, called Malevolents, that try to steal her body and push her soul out. Her Protector, Alden, must split his soul and then his soul must enter her body to push the ghost soul out. It's uber creepy. Alden's body just hangs out lifeless while his souls travels around inside Lenzi. It takes Lenzi a long time to be okay with this job. Normally she would remember how to perform her job but since she can't remember her past lives, Alden has to teach her all over again. She pushes herself into getting used to it because otherwise the Council, the people in charge of Speakers and Protectors will not continue to reincarnate them. They have a points system and everything. They have to keep up with their jobs and earn a certain amount of points.

That is where the book got kind of weird for me. I didn't like this whole points thing. I didn't really like the characters. Alden serves Lenzi so he always said their relationship was up to her. If she wanted to be just business partners then he would but if she wanted to get married then he would marry her. He just kept saying it was up to her which made it weird and not romantic at all. Alden had always been in love with her I guess but would never say it because Lenzi had always said she wanted to keep it business only. Also when Lenzi was scared it would give Alden pleasure?! lol Because otherwise the Protectors desire to protect would be too great and they would never let their Speakers do their job. It was so weird because she would be scared and Alden would have to close his eyes and breathe hard. lmao Then there was Zak, Lenzi's boyfriend. I felt bad for him. He was flawed but Lenzi just kept dragging their relationship out. She wanted Zak but then the next time she was with Alden she wanted Alden, but then when she saw Zak she would want him again. Can't really blame Zak for going a little psycho about that. There is a crazy Malevolent after Lenzi and she must learn her job again in time to keep his soul from stealing her body. While I wasn't completely happy with the characters I did find the story intriguing. I read it all in one night so I guess I'll give it 4 stars.   

 "Flattery is nothing but attention without intention."

 ". . . I love the school uniform. You have great legs."
"Shut up!" I gasped. "I thought you were an old man!"
"Old soul. Young man. Big difference. . . "

 "Maybe you should mind your own business."
"You are my business. My job. You are what I do."
I whipped around to face him. "Well if I'm your job, your fired. You creep me out."

 "There's hope until the last second."

Rating: 4/5 Stars!

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