Shadow Girl

September 1, 2017

Gr 8 Up-Recent high school graduate Mei has accepted a job as an academic tutor to the youngest child of a finance mogul. When she reaches the island where the Morison family summer home is located, Mei is stunned at the lifestyle differences between her own family and that of her new charge. The teen tries to focus on her obligations, but as she spends more time with the Morisons, she finds herself devoting less energy to lesson plans, struggling to navigate the overindulgence and complicated web of friction in the home instead. And as Mei is increasingly pulled into the Morison family drama, strange things start to occur in the house. Mei isn't superstitious, but she can't shake her growing unease. Although presented as a ghost story, the first two-thirds of the book focus more on Mei's struggle to find and assert herself amid the strained Morison family dynamics as well as in her own complicated relationships rather than the supernatural. Mei feels an intense pressure to be accommodating with everyone in her life; if she is unable to meet these expectations she feels both shame and guilt. When the soft noises and shadows in her bedroom on the island eventually do twist into something more sinister, it's more foretelling than frightening. Some strong language is included. VERDICT An interesting story line will hold readers until the end, but a poor choice for fans of the paranormal. An additional purchase for large collections.-Maggie Mason Smith, Clemson University, SC

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2017
When an 18-year-old girl lands a high-paying summer job as academic tutor for the well-behaved Ella Morison, she can't believe her luck. But all is not quite as it seems.Liu's nameless first-person protagonist is grateful for the opportunity--staying with the wealthy, white Morison family in a perfect house on Arrow Island, she's hours away from her anxious mother, her delinquent brother, and the specter of the father who abandoned them. Quickly, though, she encounters mysteries that her roving mind cannot easily resolve. Why is she drawn to Henry, Ella's "more than a little irritating" older brother? How can she reach an apparently, inexplicably distracted Ella? And what darkness lurks in the shadows of the home, waking her and Ella at night and threatening the whole family? This isn't a new story, echoing other outsiders-serving-the-rich lore from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (1847) to Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus' The Nanny Diaries (2003). Liu's welcome update of a Chinese-American heroine is offset by the awkward inclusion of italicized Mandarin directly followed by translation. Still, the intrigues are compelling, and Liu's descriptions of both the protagonist's life of striving and her brush with privilege ring fresh and true.A breezy thriller with brief forays into matters of race, class, and the paranormal. (Suspense. 12-18)

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 16, 2017
The industrious heroine of Liu’s second novel (called Mei in the book’s jacket copy, but unnamed in the story itself) spends her summers working as an academic tutor—anything to help the family make ends meet after her father disappeared. When the wealthy Morison family invites her to tutor their daughter on Arrow Island for the summer, the money is too good pass up, even though her Chinese mother wants her to stay at home. But after the recent high school graduate arrives, everything about the Morisons and their house is strange: eight-year-old tutee Ella seems to be hiding something, older brother Henry acts awkward and stilted, the Morison parents are in marital distress, and Ella claims that a ghost haunts the house. Despite the haunted house hook and the atmospheric island setting, Liu’s story is slow to gain momentum, which again slackens during an interlude in which the girl returns to her home in the city. The addition of a romance between Liu’s heroine and Henry further clutters this novel of a family forced to face its demons. Ages 13–up. Agent: Sarah Burnes, Gernert Company.

September 15, 2017
Grades 9-12 In Liu's sophomore novel, following The Memory Key (2015), a second-generation Chinese American girl named Mei moves to a secluded island mansion for the summer as an academic tutor, only to discover there's something not quite right below the surface. Mei is worried for her mother, ever since her father walked out and her brother was arrested for gang-related offences, but the chance to make so much money is hard to pass up. When Ella, her student, begins to talk about a ghost visiting her at night, Mei finds herself questioning her situation. Though the family is fairly stereotypicalthe rich and ethically questionable husband, the gold-digger wife, and the perpetually grumpy grandfatherMei's relationships with Ella and her brother, Henry, bring the story to life. Liu's inclusion of racially diverse characters and a focus on racial tensions give the narrative added depth. This eerie tale of troubled friendships, family drama, and personal transformation evokes the sinister atmosphere of a ghost story, alongside a complex journey of self-exploration and discovery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)