Touch-Michelle Sagara

Touch Michelle Sagara Daw, Jan 7 2014, $17.99 ISBN: 9780756408008 Teenager Emma knows heartbreak as her beloved boyfriend Nathan died one month after they first got together. Three months have passed since his demise, but for Emma that seems like eternity as besides missing him, she has learned she is a necromancer who sees and communicates with the dead; for instance her late dad lecturing her over the importance of high school. At Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Emma visits Nathan’s grave, just like his mom always does, but unlike his mother they talk and touch. Emma learns from two friends, necromantic-hunters Eric and Chase, that the Queen of the Dead prevents souls from leaving this plane. Her heart conflicts over alienating the powerful Queen by helping Nathan depart and keeping him with her. The second Queen of the Dead teen fantasy (see Silence) is an exciting tale as the heroine must choose between a Hobson’s Choice of the ghostly status quo and her love moving on. Newcomers would better understand the protagonist by reading Silence first as Emma has come a long way in a seemingly short time from her reluctant early days as a necromancer and the importance of her ability to make friendships with anyone even those needing to kill her. Harriet Klausner