DECEPTION

When 17-year-old Emma drops her antiques-dealer parents at San Francisco’s airport for a business trip, she’s set for three weeks of rebellion. However, her freedom is cut short when her parents vanish and the authorities are tipped off that she’s home alone. Seemingly randomly, her older brother’s preppy, hot college friend, Bennett, rescues Emma by bringing her back to his eerie New England hometown, where she’ll live with his family and attend an exclusive private school. As Emma settles into her new home, which doubles as a museum, violent imagery from her childhood creeps into her consciousness, but fortunately a cast of friendly spirits appear to help her navigate what she learns is her role as a powerful ghostkeeper. Balancing this text’s heavy supernatural vibe and sometimes gruesome details are elements of modern teenage life, including Emma’s crush on Bennett and conventional high-school friendship dramas, making this first installment in the Haunting Emma series light fun with a mildly chilling edge and sense of mystery. (Fiction. YA)