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Review: Angelina’s Secret by Lisa Rogers

Posted by Giselle • 22 Comments

Angelina’s Secret
Lisa Rogers
Release date: February 1st, 2012
by Spencer Hill Press

As a child, Angelina spent years in counseling learning that Josie, her imaginary friend, wasn’t real, but it turns out her childhood friend wasn’t imaginary after all.

Now Angelina has to accept she’s either (A) crazy or (B) able to see ghosts. Wanting to believe in her sanity, she chooses (B) and welcomes Josie back into her life. But even Josie can’t help her deal with Shelly, the spirit of a confused teenager, and things go very, very wrong.

When Angelina finds herself in a psychiatric hospital, she faces a choice: she can spend the rest of her life pretending to be someone she isn’t, or she can embrace who she is and take a chance that she may never get to go home.

*A copy was provided by Spencer Hill Press for review purposes*

Angelina’s Secret is not so secret: she can see ghosts, which puts her in a mental health facility. It’s an original plot for this type of story. Angelina is faced with the challenge of having to convince her incredibly skeptic mother that she can, in fact, see ghosts – or can she? One of these ghosts is even her mom’s best friend who died in high school. As you guess, this does not bode well with her mother.

For a ghost book, it’s not creepy at all. The plot is very mild and light-hearted. Angelina is trying to accept who she is when it seems like the whole world is against her. She’s an interesting character; understanding and mature, easy to like, but her reactions seem a bit exaggerated at times. Like you’d see on a bad TV movie. This was the same for the ghosts. Having been dead for a while, they try to talk in modern slang but always end up saying it wrong. It comes off as very cheesy. I still enjoyed the personalities of these ghosts however. They’re a fun bunch that bring life to the otherwise dreary tone of the story. This is also true for the supporting characters that come into Angelina’s life throughout the book. As for her mother, the pure skeptic- is she ever irritating. She doesn’t even try to listen to what her daughter has to say. As soon as Angelina starts talking about her ability, her mother completely shuts down and insists they leave. I understand it’s easier, even expected, to think your daughter is simply schizophrenic, but she could have been a bit more supportive regardless.

With a psychological twist, Angelina’s Secret is a unique sort of paranormal story. We get a more realistic feel of what it would be like to admit you’re seeing ghosts. In the same thought, it’s even a mystery to us until the very end if these ghost are actually real, or if this is all in her head. It’s a charming little story that fits neatly in its 186 pages, which -surprisingly- doesn’t feel too short.