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Ghosts in the Mirror
Sixteen-year-old Jeremy Riggs has lived his life in and out of the hospital. While the doctors are clueless as to why he lapses into comas, he is well aware of his unique ability to merge with a wandering spirit. With his own soul too weak to sustain life, it's the only thing keeping him alive.
Waking up from a coma a year after being found at the county dump—next to the remains of the last spirit to inhabit him—Jeremy finds the newest spirit is nothing like the previous ones. It's bent on revenge and has the will to take control over his body. With the police lining him up as a murder suspect and an ancient evil pursuing him, Jeremy must help the ghost hitching a ride in his body find eternal rest without seeing his own soul snuffed out.
Waking up from a coma a year after being found at the county dump—next to the remains of the last spirit to inhabit him—Jeremy finds the newest spirit is nothing like the previous ones. It's bent on revenge and has the will to take control over his body. With the police lining him up as a murder suspect and an ancient evil pursuing him, Jeremy must help the ghost hitching a ride in his body find eternal rest without seeing his own soul snuffed out.
213 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 20, 2013
14 people want to read
About the author
Joyce Mangola
1 book2 followersJoyce Mangola has been writing for most of her life, spinning outlandish tales since she was twelve. She is a multi-published author over several genres and Joyce is her pen name for the young adult side. Writing will always be the one dream she pursued relentlessly until she succeeded with her first short story publication. She hasn’t looked back since. Besides bringing to life the different characters in her head, she enjoys drawing and playing the flute. Though a Pittsburgh native, she calls Carlisle, Pennsylvania her home for over twenty years now and has no plans of moving—unless it’s back to Pittsburgh, of course. She’s a proud mother of two sister rescue cats, Brine and Ariel, and Bailey the wonder kitten. She encourages anyone who has the heart to adopt a furry companion. Give them love and receive it back tenfold.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 6, 2014
What do you see when you look in the mirror? Jeremy Riggs, aka the coma kid, sees spirits. Jeremy becomes the vehicle for these spirits as they try to reach the other side. This tale will keep you rooted in place as Jeremy attempts to help his latest spirit, Beverly, solve a horrific murder. Jeremy finds himself in loads of trouble with this, but it also helps him find out who his true friends really are.
I really enjoyed this book, it was a 'perfect' weekend read!
I really enjoyed this book, it was a 'perfect' weekend read!
January 31, 2014
Seeing as how I had a baby and two releases in the last four months, is it any wonder I haven't had time to read?!?
So, finally having a moment's silence I wanted something easy. Light.
YA, I thought. They're rarely intense enough to keep me up late into the night.
Ghosts in the Mirror has been on my TBR pile since its June release - LOVE the purdy - so I pulled it up on my kindle.
Well.
Paranormal at its finest, folks. While it started out a smidge slow and I was confused for perhaps the first two pages or so, let me tell you ... this puppy picked up and creeped me the H E double hockey stock right out.
The MC, Jeremy, is a host for spirits waiting to cross over to 'the other side'. While he desires to help put them to rest, thus releasing himself from their hold, they take a tole on his young body.
Just cocky enough to be true to the YA genre, Ms. Mangola doesn't disappoint. The kid spews more than a breastfed infant. I know, I know. Gross. BUT the rasons for those purges?
Brilliant.
This debut novel is fresh in a genre clogged by paranormal yawn-ness IMO. It's all been done already from what I've read, but Ghosts? Never read another story like it.
Definitely worth the read! I'm looking forward to what else Joyce Mangola cooks up!
So, finally having a moment's silence I wanted something easy. Light.
YA, I thought. They're rarely intense enough to keep me up late into the night.
Ghosts in the Mirror has been on my TBR pile since its June release - LOVE the purdy - so I pulled it up on my kindle.
Well.
Paranormal at its finest, folks. While it started out a smidge slow and I was confused for perhaps the first two pages or so, let me tell you ... this puppy picked up and creeped me the H E double hockey stock right out.
The MC, Jeremy, is a host for spirits waiting to cross over to 'the other side'. While he desires to help put them to rest, thus releasing himself from their hold, they take a tole on his young body.
Just cocky enough to be true to the YA genre, Ms. Mangola doesn't disappoint. The kid spews more than a breastfed infant. I know, I know. Gross. BUT the rasons for those purges?
Brilliant.
This debut novel is fresh in a genre clogged by paranormal yawn-ness IMO. It's all been done already from what I've read, but Ghosts? Never read another story like it.
Definitely worth the read! I'm looking forward to what else Joyce Mangola cooks up!
May 26, 2018
I have always been a fan of ghost stories - even as a kid I watched Ghostbusters on a loop every weekend, picked out the "spookiest" Nancy Drew books or whatever else I could get my hands on and grew to become full-on obsessed with Ghost Whisperer. There was something fascinating to me about the endless possibilities in exploring "life" after death. I kind of out grew this ghost-story phase though. This year, however, I have slowly been trying to get back into the genre. When I picked up Ghosts in the Mirror I was sure that this would be the one to rekindle my love. Ghosts that need to possess people to get their stories out? Hell yeah! Boys that collapse into comas until their bodies are supported by these ghostly presences? Double hell yeah! The idea alone was what sold me.
Unfortunately I found that the idea was very poorly fleshed out. It didn't really make a lot of sense. There seemed to be a lot of background information missing. We are assumed to know about Jeremy's past conditions - but we don't since they transpired before this book takes place. Is this a sequel to something I don't know about?
The mystery was also disappointing. I didn't understand half of it. Why did Jeremy go to those old houses? Who was Melissa really? What was up with the detective man? Did that freak-fan man have anything to do with well, anything in the end? What was that Strigoi thing? What were the symbols about? What was up with the kidnapping? Did he ever figure out what that was? What, what, what...? I really had little idea what was happening.
The characters didn't make up the slack. Jeremy was rather funny but I found him a tad irritating and little too immature for my liking. I also just simply couldn't understand his actions. It makes it hard to like a character if you don't know what they are doing! What I did love about him was his resilience and the way he approached his "illness". The other characters needed more development because, despite their importance to the plot, they always remained as the "background characters" and we barely got to know them.
While I did love the premise of this, I was way too confused to be able to appreciate its genius. The execution was really lacking. I believe that with a bit more polishing this could be better and, for a debut, it was a good effort. I am sure that with time and practise Joyce Mangola will steadily improve so I will keep an eye out for more of her work.
Note:a copy was provided courtesy of Joyce Mangola and Giselle of Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given or taken during this process.
Unfortunately I found that the idea was very poorly fleshed out. It didn't really make a lot of sense. There seemed to be a lot of background information missing. We are assumed to know about Jeremy's past conditions - but we don't since they transpired before this book takes place. Is this a sequel to something I don't know about?
The mystery was also disappointing. I didn't understand half of it. Why did Jeremy go to those old houses? Who was Melissa really? What was up with the detective man? Did that freak-fan man have anything to do with well, anything in the end? What was that Strigoi thing? What were the symbols about? What was up with the kidnapping? Did he ever figure out what that was? What, what, what...? I really had little idea what was happening.
The characters didn't make up the slack. Jeremy was rather funny but I found him a tad irritating and little too immature for my liking. I also just simply couldn't understand his actions. It makes it hard to like a character if you don't know what they are doing! What I did love about him was his resilience and the way he approached his "illness". The other characters needed more development because, despite their importance to the plot, they always remained as the "background characters" and we barely got to know them.
While I did love the premise of this, I was way too confused to be able to appreciate its genius. The execution was really lacking. I believe that with a bit more polishing this could be better and, for a debut, it was a good effort. I am sure that with time and practise Joyce Mangola will steadily improve so I will keep an eye out for more of her work.
Note:a copy was provided courtesy of Joyce Mangola and Giselle of Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given or taken during this process.
December 18, 2014
Ghosts in the Mirror pretty much lands on my list of most unique ghost (okay, related to ghosts) reads of all time.
The particular uniqueness of the story? The main character, Jeremy, goes into a coma every time a ghost possesses him due to unfinished business. The only way to "see" the ghost is to use a mirror. To see how a ghost feels depends on the color of Jeremy's vomit. I know, it's really gross, but it's pretty cool.
Except... Jeremy keeps going in and out of sleep. Interesting? Um... no. Not after awhile. Apparently when you're asleep way too much, you don't really accomplish much. Add that to Jeremy as a character, and how this ghost possession thingamajig works. The ghost possession is all very confusing – I don't get this "spirit hand" or "phantom hand." Does Jeremy have a third hand? Is it still his right hand but the ghost possessing him can only "access" his right hand and that's why he calls it a phantom/spirit hand? Is it basically as though he and the ghost are like one spirit? I have some ideas on what it may all mean, but I'm not 100% sure. It all feels very much as though Mangola knows what she's talking about and explains it as much as she can, but has a bit of a hard time getting her point across and clarifying how it all works.
Jeremy as a character. He has quite a few moments in the book where I'm wondering if he's 6 years old or 16 years old. I don't really mind it as much since when you're in a coma a lot and suddenly realize you're growing up, you're going to want to retain your kid years as much as possible before having to officially grow up. And time goes by really fast – OMG, I'm almost 17. NOOO.
But he eats soooooo much junk food – candy and lollipops and donuts, oh my! – I pretty much started wondering what would get to him first: the Strigoi, or a heart attack? If it were the latter, I would have been extremely furious because then I would assume the book's point is to tell us not to eat so much junk food or we would all get a heart attack one day (or we'll be in a Wall-E world). I do hate one too many sugar, thank you very much (moi can't handle too much vanilla frosting).
Which pretty much makes me bring up a point about him getting car sick so easily. Cannoli and Lattes? They have dairy products. Cannoli have cream and cheese, lattes have cream – it's the perfect one way trip to Vomit Wonderland (at least one of the ways). Getting a car ride after eating what looks like a gallon of milk and dairy products? Of course the guy's going to throw up all over the place. And if anyone's going to make a point about Jeremy's condition in defense, I get car sick just as easily and I'm technically normal.
Of course, after Jeremy's millions of trips to Vomit Wonderland throughout the book, I'm pretty grossed out. The book doesn't sound as cool as it did in the beginning, but I believe Mangola has not just the bones of a really good book, but the tissues. Or muscles. *sigh* I may have prolonged my trip to the Medical world, but I probably won't get the anatomy of myself – or anyone really – right anytime soon. Certainly no future doctors are going to be impressed by my pitiful attempts.
----------------------
Review copy provided by the author for review
original review posted at Bookwyrming Thoughts
The particular uniqueness of the story? The main character, Jeremy, goes into a coma every time a ghost possesses him due to unfinished business. The only way to "see" the ghost is to use a mirror. To see how a ghost feels depends on the color of Jeremy's vomit. I know, it's really gross, but it's pretty cool.
Except... Jeremy keeps going in and out of sleep. Interesting? Um... no. Not after awhile. Apparently when you're asleep way too much, you don't really accomplish much. Add that to Jeremy as a character, and how this ghost possession thingamajig works. The ghost possession is all very confusing – I don't get this "spirit hand" or "phantom hand." Does Jeremy have a third hand? Is it still his right hand but the ghost possessing him can only "access" his right hand and that's why he calls it a phantom/spirit hand? Is it basically as though he and the ghost are like one spirit? I have some ideas on what it may all mean, but I'm not 100% sure. It all feels very much as though Mangola knows what she's talking about and explains it as much as she can, but has a bit of a hard time getting her point across and clarifying how it all works.
Jeremy as a character. He has quite a few moments in the book where I'm wondering if he's 6 years old or 16 years old. I don't really mind it as much since when you're in a coma a lot and suddenly realize you're growing up, you're going to want to retain your kid years as much as possible before having to officially grow up. And time goes by really fast – OMG, I'm almost 17. NOOO.
But he eats soooooo much junk food – candy and lollipops and donuts, oh my! – I pretty much started wondering what would get to him first: the Strigoi, or a heart attack? If it were the latter, I would have been extremely furious because then I would assume the book's point is to tell us not to eat so much junk food or we would all get a heart attack one day (or we'll be in a Wall-E world). I do hate one too many sugar, thank you very much (moi can't handle too much vanilla frosting).
Which pretty much makes me bring up a point about him getting car sick so easily. Cannoli and Lattes? They have dairy products. Cannoli have cream and cheese, lattes have cream – it's the perfect one way trip to Vomit Wonderland (at least one of the ways). Getting a car ride after eating what looks like a gallon of milk and dairy products? Of course the guy's going to throw up all over the place. And if anyone's going to make a point about Jeremy's condition in defense, I get car sick just as easily and I'm technically normal.
Of course, after Jeremy's millions of trips to Vomit Wonderland throughout the book, I'm pretty grossed out. The book doesn't sound as cool as it did in the beginning, but I believe Mangola has not just the bones of a really good book, but the tissues. Or muscles. *sigh* I may have prolonged my trip to the Medical world, but I probably won't get the anatomy of myself – or anyone really – right anytime soon. Certainly no future doctors are going to be impressed by my pitiful attempts.
----------------------
Review copy provided by the author for review
original review posted at Bookwyrming Thoughts
August 28, 2014
Jeremy Riggs is a vehicle for spirits. When we meet him, he has awoken from a year-long coma, the most recent in a life full of comas. With an uncooperative ghost hitching a ride in his body, he needs to figure out how to help the newest hitchhiker soul rest.
Ghosts in the Mirror is a unique paranormal tale.
Though it was confusing at times and the pace wasn’t as steady as I would like, I truly like the edgy paranormal feel of it.
My biggest pet peeve was the typos and grammatical errors. For example, seeing “your” instead of “you’re” drives me absolutely bonkers, and these errors distracted from the story.
Still, if you enjoy a paranormal tale, I would recommend this story.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This review originally posted to Twisted Book Junkie.
Ghosts in the Mirror is a unique paranormal tale.
Though it was confusing at times and the pace wasn’t as steady as I would like, I truly like the edgy paranormal feel of it.
My biggest pet peeve was the typos and grammatical errors. For example, seeing “your” instead of “you’re” drives me absolutely bonkers, and these errors distracted from the story.
Still, if you enjoy a paranormal tale, I would recommend this story.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This review originally posted to Twisted Book Junkie.
July 28, 2014
Review to come
June 20, 2014
Review soon!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews