Seventeen-year-old Emma grapples with her family's unexplained disappearance and with her subsequent move from California to Massachusetts. She becomes embroiled in a supernatural murder mystery, as well as becoming the unlikely date of her new prep school's football hero. Despite some huge plot holes and labored writing, readers will find themselves drawn into this ghost story, the first in a projected series. Copyright 2010 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.

Gr 8 Up-With her antiquities-dealer parents supposedly away on vacation, big brother Max somewhere abroad, and former best friend ignoring her, Emma Vaile, 17, is alone in San Francisco. Expecting freedom, she finds loneliness and trouble instead. Being abandoned and ratted out to Child Protective Services are bad enough, but there's also the return of disturbing visions she hasn't had for a decade. Then Max's ex-friend and Emma's long-standing crush, Bennett Stern, appears with guardianship papers. Taking Emma to his family's Massachusetts mansion/museum, he enrolls her in Thatcher Academy, where she experiences acute deja vu. Concerned for her sanity, Emma eventually admits that she sees ghosts. Aloof Bennett reveals that they both have the ability to communicate with them. Someone or something is murdering ghostkeepers and leaving behind a symbol: the design on Emma's mother's unique pendant. The whereabouts of Emma's family, whether Emma and Bennett will (should) be together, and whether he can be trusted are questions to be answered. In this first book in a series, Nichols has left threads untied for future installments. Occasionally, the dialogue is trite and the action cartoonish, but the ghostkeeper premise, lingering mystery, and Emma/Bennett relationship compel the curious to return. Magical ancestors and passed-down powers aside, the novel is not of the caliber of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's emotionally investing Beautiful Creatures (Little, Brown, 2009), but it will appeal to teens craving a quick read.-Danielle Serra, Cliffside Park Public Library, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Seventeen-year-old Emma has never really felt a part of her family. Then her parents leave her alone in their San Francisco antique store/home while they go on vacation. They don't come back, and Emma can't reach her brother, Max. Max's friend Bennett appears, claiming to be her guardian, and whisks Emma to Boston, where he enrolls her in school and slowly reveals that she's a ghostkeeper, someone who can see and call forth ghosts. So that's why Emma's been seeing all those weird people in period costumes! After a strong start, this fantasy drags until the revelation of Emma's powers. Then it's full speed ahead as an evil force gathers strength and leads Emma's friend into the dangers of the ghostly world. Romance is one of the main reasons readers will keep turning the pages; the end contains a shocker that will leave them anxious for the next book in the Haunting Emma series.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist

In adult author Nichols's (Tales of a Drama Queen) first book for teenagers, which launches the Haunting Emma series, 17-year-old Emma's parents leave on a trip and weeks pass without a word of their whereabouts. Social workers are about to intervene when Bennett, a handsome friend of Emma's older brother, whisks her away to live at his family's sprawling, gothic, and haunted museum in Massachusetts. There, Emma enters the upscale Thatcher Academy, where she makes new friends and frets about the mysterious visions-including ghosts- that plague her. Soon Bennett reveals Emma's true nature: she is a "ghostkeeper" and the descendant of one of the earliest and most powerful ghostkeepers. As Emma struggles to navigate the requirements that come with her new identity, Nichols populates her life with the requisite competing love interests. While Nichols's take on the girl-who-sees-ghosts story will satisfy fans of the genre, the characters and plot feel familiar, though Emma has a sense of humor that, if on the silly side, balances the book's sinister moments with snark. Undemanding paranormal fun. Ages 14-up. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

When 17-year-old Emma drops her antiques-dealer parents at San Francisco's airport for a business trip, she's set for three weeks of rebellion. However, her freedom is cut short when her parents vanish and the authorities are tipped off that she's home alone. Seemingly randomly, her older brother's preppy, hot college friend, Bennett, rescues Emma by bringing her back to his eerie New England hometown, where she'll live with his family and attend an exclusive private school. As Emma settles into her new home, which doubles as a museum, violent imagery from her childhood creeps into her consciousness, but fortunately a cast of friendly spirits appear to help her navigate what she learns is her role as a powerful ghostkeeper. Balancing this text's heavy supernatural vibe and sometimes gruesome details are elements of modern teenage life, including Emma's crush on Bennett and conventional high-school friendship dramas, making this first installment in the Haunting Emma series light fun with a mildly chilling edge and sense of mystery. (Fiction. YA)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.