E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Raveena is mourning the loss of her Grandmama as well as dealing with the fact that the entire arts program at her school has been cut due to budget issues. This affects Mrs. Yoon, the music teacher, whose husband runs Yoon’s Antiques, a store Raveena and her mother frequent. While at the store, Raveena picks up an old pink, corded phone, and finds that after delivering a bit of a shock to her and her friends, allows them to speak to the dead. The first person who contacts them is Mateo’s grandmother, a feisty spirit on roller skates. After this, the group, which includes Aiko, Lillian, and Blair, seeks advice from Paola’s Predictions and finds that they are mediums. They get customers, like Wisteria, Dahlia, and Iris Jones, who are also mediums but can’t contact their own loved ones, and who want the Spirit Service to contact “our boy” who passed… who turns out to be a Labrador retriever. As the Hollow’s Day Festival quickly approaches, the girls work to solve a community mystery involving Raveena’s Grandmama and the town, which was founded in 1925 near Toronto by immigrants from New Orleans who had mystical powers. When the school principal and many of the teachers are possessed, can the Spirit Service save the day?
This reminded me a little of Meriano’s Love. Sugar. Magic. series, the Mowery’s Twintuition, or other books where tweens have more realistic magical powers that can save the day. Missing the grandmother echoes the sentiments in Grant’s 2023 A Green Velvet Secret.