***
When I was in middle school, we had to read a lot of books. While I loved
to read, I didn't always want to go with the choices the teachers thrust down
our throat. Still, if it wasn't for this painful part of English class, I
wouldn't have been introduced to my favorite young adult book- The Pigman.
What I liked about it was the grittiness of the characters. They didn't live perfect lives by any means and got into things they would eventually regret. So when I decided Ghosts in the Mirror really fit the 13+ crowd, I had to change up a few things about it. Like take out a lot of 'boring' adult conversation. I cut out quite a bit of the original slightly over 50k novel. In the end, I like the final product. Jeremy, for me, is an endearing character. Having a unique son (and being a bit of an 'oddball' myself) helped me created Jeremy into who he is--A person comfortable in his skin, even if he has to share it with is latest ghostly passenger.
Blurb:
Sixteen-year-old Jeremy Riggs has lived his life in and out of the hospital. While the doctors are clueless as to why he lapses into comas, he is well aware of his unique ability to merge with a wandering spirit. With his own soul too weak to sustain life, it's the only thing keeping him alive.
Waking up from a coma a year after being found at the county dump—next to the remains of the last spirit to inhabit him—Jeremy finds the newest spirit is nothing like the previous ones. It's bent on revenge and has the will to take control over his body. With the police lining him up as a murder suspect and an ancient evil pursuing him, Jeremy must help the ghost hitching a ride in his body find eternal rest without seeing his own soul snuffed out.
And how about an excerpt too:
To Jeremy's elation, a couple days later, he sat in a wheel chair ready for his trip home. He steeled himself for the media frenzy waiting outside the entrance of the hospital. With his grandmother behind him, he'd find the courage not to ask for a jet pack to plow through it. Since the first coma, he'd become somewhat of a local human interest story. As he grew, and his talents of being a renowned artist blossomed, the media loved to pry into his life even more.
Attention of any kind never sat well with him. It reminded him how much of a freak he was.
He always wished some colossal discovery of a Tyrannasaurusmegacreepyalodon would be unearthed from the Susquehanna River so that the local news media would have something more exciting to cover than "The Coma Kid's Release From Captivity."
Yes, the newspapers even came up with the clever name moniker as well.
He blew out a big breath, spying the masses just outside the main doors. He saw the blonde with the caked on makeup adjusting her skirt suit, and the man brushing off the remains of the cat hair from his Men's Warehouse two-for-one special. Jeremy remembered him from the last time. His breath smelled like he had the same diet as his cats.
Some of them he didn't recognize at all, but they formed up, giving him a glimpse of the car waiting to whisk him home. As soon as he passed the automatic door, the wide corridor to freedom would close as they swarmed in. They never impeded him from reaching the car, but being rude and trying to bowl past them all wouldn't happen either. His grandmother rubbed his shoulders to give him courage.
"Can't I pretend I'm sleeping this time, Meema?" He whined.
"They'll just come to the house for the interview, Jeremy." She kissed the top of his head.
"I know." He shivered. His condition made him a celebrity in the area, and it came with the territory.
As the microphone convention converged, millions of ideas rolled through his head of what to tell them. One, in particular, stayed at the forefront.
Hello, and welcome to the freak show! Dr. Frankenstein and his assistant, Igor, have taken tissue samples to clone me so that they can build a bigger facility for their human lab rat experiments! They promise truckloads of instant potatoes and hamster wheels for exercise in their concrete laboratory! Free admission to the first fifty people! Ghosts get a free ride in my body! Special edition ectoplasmic vomit bags for everyone to enjoy!
Purchase Links:
· Amazon
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