The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
Series: Darkest Powers Trilogy #1
Publisher: Sphere
Publication Date: July 1st 2008
Source: Library

All Chloe Saunders wants is a life like any normal teenager - the chance to get through school, make friends, and maybe meet a boy. But when she starts seeing ghosts, she knows that life will never be normal again.

Soon ghosts are everywhere, demanding her attention. When Chloe finally breaks down, she's admitted to a group home for disturbed kids. At first Lyle House seems okay, but as she gets to know the other patients - charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek; obnoxious Tori; and Rae, who has a 'thing' for fire - Chloe begins to realise that something strange and sinister binds them all together, and it isn't your usual 'problem kid' behaviour.

And they're about to discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home, either . . .

I'd heard a lot of great things about it and I was excited to read it. I'm pleased to say that it was a fantastic fantasy novel. There were different kinds on supernatural creatures in this and it was really exciting learning about them.

Chloe is just a normal girl. She goes to school, hangs out with her friends, talks about boys, and then she starts seeing ghosts. At first, Chloe ignores it thinking she's imaging it but after what happened at school she realises what she was seeing. Chloe's father and aunt send her to Lyle House which is a house for disturbed kids. Chloe meets Simon, Derek, Tori, Liz and Rae at Lyle House and starts to wonder if there's something else going on with the house.

Chloe was a fantastic main character. At first I though she was slightly naive for believing the crap that the psychiatrists at Lyle House were feeding her but she eventually becomes suspicious and realises that there's something going on. She was strong, intuitive and pretty funny. 

Simon and Derek were very interesting. They're adoptive brother who are stuck in Lyle House because their father can't be found. Simon is very friendly and talkative whereas Derek comes across as moody and antisocial. I enjoyed discovering more about these boys, especially Derek who I wasn't too fond of at the start but by the end I really liked him.

Rae was an interesting character. She just seemed like a normal girl, but she had a thing for fire. I'm really looking forward to reading The Awakening and finding out more about her because there's definitely something going on there.

I'm not too sure if there's anything going on with Tori. She just seems to be there because of her mum, but there might be something going on with her that we haven't discovered yet. And I'm also desperate to find out about Liz and what happened to her!

The whole storyline revolved around these kids in Lyle House. But Lyle House turned out to be more than it looked. There was a mystery surrounding it and Chloe was researching into it's past. Chloe uncovers something horrible in the basement of the house which leads her to start thinking that there's more going on in Lyle House than it seems.

And this was just clarified by the ending. The last part of the book was jam-packed full of action. I was gripping the book and reading it as fast as I could because I was so desperate to find out what was going to happen to these kids. It was gripping and thrilling and I just couldn't put it down.
The ending was a massive cliffhanger and I'm desperate to get my hands on the last two books in the trilogy to find out what's going to happen next!

Overall, this was a fantastic book that was packed full of action and mystery that left me on the edge of my seat and wanting more. I definitely recommend it if you haven't read it yet.