THE JUMBEE

Esti Legard is an aspiring actress. She and her mother are still mourning the death of her world-renowned thespian father when they move to the island of Cariba so that Esti can attend a theater school. Working hard to improve her skills and hone her craft, she isn’t prepared for Alan, the mysterious voice that starts to coach and direct her. The voice may be a presence that the islanders call the “jumbee”—a spirit both dark and controlling. But Esti can’t turn her back on her shadowy new coach, even as she starts to fall for an old friend, Rafe. Torn between her attraction to these two compelling but very different men, her emotions resemble the winds that are building into a hurricane around the island, threatening to tear everyone apart. Drawing on both Shakespeare (the students are rehearsing Romeo and Juliet) and Leroux, this florid Phantom of the Opera story goes down easy and is perhaps a good way to introduce younger readers to themes from the classics. (Fiction. 12 & up)