After reading "Phantom Touch", one of the best YA books - heck, one of the best books, period - that I'd ever read, I wanted to move right on to "Phantom Traces." How could I not?
There are many different kinds of YA heroines. Sure, we all love the badass heroines who know martial arts or who are masters of various exotic weapons who can take on a room full of baddies and end up with nothing but a chipped fingernail. But I tend to gravitate more toward the type of heroine that finds herself overwhelmed, overmatched, and in way over her head, and still finds a way to get the job done.
In this regard, I love me some Bridget Young.
Mere weeks after saving her bestie from a series killer and bidding her beloved sister's ghost adieu for the final time, Bridget must spring into action when two teens mysteriously disappear. Unfortunately for them, they haven't been gone long enough to be declared "missing", and despite the numerous warnings by her otherworldly gang of people-finders, the police won't take action. What's a girl to do?
Well, venture into the deep, dark, freezing-cold woods, a pray she can find them before they, and she, end up dying of exposure or killed by a bear, to say nothing of her mother should she find out she left the house without permission.
I love Jessica Hawke's razor-sharp self-deprecating wit that she infuses her writing, and most especially Bridget, with. Granted, this story didn't have me on the edge of my seat QUITE as much as Phantom Touch did, but it was still incredibly enjoyable. Bridget is relatable in that typical awkward, angsty teenage girl way that we all know, and you can't help but love her spunk and her courage.
Two for two, Ms. Hawke. Very well done.