A review by b00kw0rms0fthew0rldunite
The Spirit of Vanderlaan by Susan Harris Howell

adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I had the delight of reading my first Susan H Howell book and it was really intriguing. It didn’t really follow the rule of a deep novel with more descriptive scenes and mood setting sentences, but it was more effective in a way as it was more focused on dialogue and conversations with a healthy dose of psychology as well. I definitely learn’t a lot more that interested me that my Introduction to Psychology many moons ago. I really liked the characters and the way they were intimately themselves in all scenarios. My favourite of course being Levi. Loving the humour and banter that he and Samantha had. The paranormal stuff came in towards the middle and end and it got really good at those stages. The ending was definitely something I didn’t see coming from reading the first few chapters either. A great introduction to Samantha Hayes and of course, Susan H Howell. 4.5*