Miranda Barnes didn't expect life to magically return to normal after a hurricane destroyed her hometown in Florida and forced her and her mother to move to St. Yvette, Louisiana. And life definitely did not return to normal.
Ever since her first night in St. Yvette, Miranda has been hearing screams in the middle of the night. Her mother dismisses them as nightmares, but the screams are too vivid to be dreams. Too real. She hears other things. Voices, begging for help. She smells things others can't. She has visions of spirits.
To make matters worse, at school, she is thrust into a group history project with five other students she doesn't really know. There's Roo, a girl who likes cigarettes and the color black; Parker, who is the quarterback and likes beer; Gage, who is shy and the guy who all the girls think is cute; Ashley, a beautiful cheerleader, and also both Parker's girlfriend and Roo's stepsister; and Etienne, Gage's cousin, a tall boy who is working a job repairing appliances.
Their project is to investigate the past of their hometown.
One afternoon after school, Miranda and her new "friends" are at the Falls, an old cemetery for Union soldiers who died during the Civil War. Suddenly, an old man crashes through the brush, babbling like an insane person.
It's Miranda's grandfather.
Miranda is shocked. For some reason, her mother has never permitted her to meet her grandfather. But now, here he is. Her grandfather rambles on about some entity that has haunted him, until Etienne steps forward. "It's okay, Jonas. You know me." Etienne and Miranda's grandfather, Jonas, have known each other for a long time, it turns out. Long enough so that Jonas has trusted him enough to tell Etienne his deepest, darkest secret: Jonas can communicate with the dead, a trait he has passed on to Miranda.
It is this ability, this power, that is causing Miranda to hear those screams and those voices. And one of these spirits, a Confederate soldier named Nathan, has been following Miranda around St. Yvette, asking her for help. He wants her to give a message to his love, to fulfill a promise he made long ago.
Spirit Walk is a two book set; both Walk of the Spirits and Shadow Mirror in one. Spirit Walk is a tale of love lost, love found, and... well, other stuff about love. It also tells a tale of tragedy. I swear, I almost cried while reading this book. The book has some mature themes, so I would recommend this for readers 12+, because this book does mention sex at least once, and no parent wants their 9-year-old running up asking "What's sex?"
Overall, an awesome book, in my opinion.
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