Anyway, I guess she decided to expand her fan base, and what we got out of that was Intertwined. Most of the downfalls of this book have to do with the fact that it's a Popular Young Adult book. Basically the fact that it's Young Adult restricts the difficulty of the reading level. Showalter's writing always flows well and the dialogue, though sometimes a little too rapid-fire witty to be completely beleivable, is nice to read. That being said, Showalter has never been a writer I would describe as intellectual--she's a romance novel writer, she's not exactly a writing pioneer. I personally don't really fault her for that, considering that reading what she writes is enjoyable. Just keep in mind that if you're looking for Literature this isn't the place you'll find it.
As for the story, this is definitely something I haven't seen too often, especially in Young Adult fiction. The main character, Aden Stone, is inhabited (possessed, haunted, whatever you want to call it) by three ghosts--and this isn't exactly Casper-the-friendly-ghost we're talking about. These ghosts make his life harder not only because of their constant chatter in is head, but also because of the magical powers they had in their previous lives that they've now transferred to him. It's a lot harder to make friends in high school when you're talking to voices no one else can hear and waking the dead any time you walk by a graveyard. This story is refreshing because even though the framework of the story is familiar, the problems Aden faces aren't the same hackneyed fantasy issues you find all the time in Young Adult fiction. But, again, it's still Young Adult, so you'll still run into some cliches common for the genre. Aden deals with problems at home, problems at school, and problems with girls--things you really can't avoid at the age of sixteen I guess.
So seems pretty straightforward, right? Writing: average. Story: above average. So where are those mixed feelings I was talking about earlier? My conflict when reviewing this book lies mainly in Showalter's decision to add other fantasy creatures. I liked reading about Aden's affliction. You don't often come across ghost driven plots in fantasy fiction. You don't usually even see many zombies. Vampires and werewolves, especially more recently, are the dominant force--they're just easier to romanticize and they're so well known that a writer doesn't usually have to set up their own fantasy rule system, which can be time consuming when you build it from scratch. Vampires and Werewolves are the easy way out. So to me it felt like Showalter didn't stick to her guns. Instead of following through with the ghost issues and strengthening that part of the plot enough to stand up on it's own, she ends up throwing vampires, werewolves, and witches into the plot. Presumably she did this to spice it up, but I personally found the addition a bland.
So, I definitely want to read the following books in the series to see where it goes, but I don't think this is a series I'd read over and over for the rest of my life. I think I'll eventually box this book. But, because of Showalter's stockpile brownie points with me from her romance novels, because I enjoy her writing style, and because the storyline is, for the most part, something pretty new, for now it has a place on my shelf.
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