Deception by Lee Nichols

Deception by Lee Nichols
Released: June 8th, 2008
Published by: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Series: Haunting Emma, Book One
Page Amount: 310 pages, US Paperback
Buy It: Borders | Barnes and Noble | Amazon

"When Emma Vaile's parents leave on mysterious business trip, it gives her the perfect excuse to be a rebellious teen. Throw some parties, get a tattoo (or maybe just a piercing), and enjoy the first few weeks of her junior year. Then her best friend stops talking to her, the cops crash her party, and Emma finds herself in the hands of a new guardian—her college-age "knight in J.Crew armor," Bennett Stern—and on a plane to his museum-like mansion in New England.

After enrolling at Thatcher Academy, Emma settles in by making friends with the popular legacy crowd. But she can't shake the strange visions that are haunting her. She has memories of Thatcher she can't explain, as if she's returning home to a place she's never been. Emma doesn't trust anyone anymore—except maybe Bennett. But he's about to reveal a ghostly secret to Emma. One that will explain the visions . . . and make Emma fear for her life."
Information from GoodReads.com

Quick Overview: With a fast-paced plot, lovable characters, great writing and mystery with every page turn you cannot help but to devour Deception word for word.

I'm not going to lie, I wasn't too excited about picking this book up. I figured it would be an okay read, one that dragged mostly and had a few funny lines before tying up its mediocre story with an expected ending. Boy, was I wrong.

Deception pulled me in from its first pages with a character that could easily be related to (if you're a girl who has ever even walked into a high school). Even with the first line mystery is just shoved into this novel. And it isn't mystery that you can tell is being shoved at you like Christmas sweaters. It is a nicely neatly packed kind of mystery that just fits so well into the story that you don't notice it until you put the book down to take a sip of your red-eye chai and it hits you all at once. It also isn't a mystery that leaves you pondering and questioning until the last book and then leaves you with some stupid explanation.

It's been quite some time since I read a romance that actually made me feel something myself. But Nichols has this romance thing down. People hate on love triangles all day long, but we all know that we love nothing more. When you're a girl and you're putting yourself into a book, you love two absolutely perfect men (one is usually right for you and the other is usually oh, so wrong) being in your life and driving you crazy.

There isn't much to say about the plot of this book, except that I loved the pace it moved at. There wasn't so much going on that it was unrealistic, but there was enough that I was always enjoying reading and I never got bored. And the end, THE END! Usually, the ending of books bug me. Because the pretty little ribbon just doesn't fit with the book. But Nichols keeps you guessing until literally the last line. But enough is also answered and resolved to barely keep you sane until March 2011 when Betrayal is released.

Parental Suggestion: This book is great for anyone twelve and over. There isn't much, if any, inappropriate language or behavior. There is however some danger and pain, so I don't recommend it for anyone younger then twelve.

First Line: "Six weeks ago, my parents disappeared."
-Page One

Plot: 19/20
Characters: 19/20
Creativity: 18/20
Writing: 18/20
Cover: 7/10
Ending: 9/10
=90/100=A, {}