I’ll Be Waiting for You

Gr 8 Up–While smart, pulled-together Imogen may seem like Natalie’s opposite, the two bond over their shared love of horror movies, spending their summers together at the famously haunted Harlow Hotel in Estes Park, CO. Natalie knows Imogen is destined for Ivy League schools and changing the world, while her biggest ambition is to hunt pretend ghosts on the friends’ favorite TV show, Ghost Chasers. But when Imogen dies suddenly on their last night together in Estes Park, Natalie’s world falls apart. A year later, Natalie feels like she’s ready to return to the Harlow Hotel to film her senior project, an audition for Ghost Chasers: Teen Investigators, but when she arrives at the hotel, she sees signs of Imogen everywhere. Is her best friend trying to reach her from beyond the grave? Natalie’s skepticism wars with her grief, a battle that’s complicated by the fact that the snarky new kid at school, Leander Hall, is also doing his senior project on the Harlow Hotel, and Natalie might be developing feelings for him. Turk blends supernatural elements with a sweet, gentle romance and a moving exploration of grief in this story that’s also infused with hope. Natalie is witty and skeptical about the supernatural, but her grief at losing her best friend is palpable on every page as she learns to truly make peace with the loss and open up to all the possibility in the world and in herself. Supernatural touches are light and believable, especially as they’re seen as part of the grieving process. Natalie is biracial (Japanese and white); Imogen and Leander are assumed white.