Spirits of the Season is book four in the Saranormal series. Sara Collins, a 7th grader who can see, hear, and talk to ghosts, moved into a haunted house during that summer. She lives with her widowed father, Mike, and their landlady, Lady Azura. Their landlady has a psychic shop on the first floor (ground floor if you're British). Sara and her dad live on second and third floors. Lady Azura is quite old and her powers are fading. She can still summon spirits, but can't see or hear them. Still, she's able to advise Sara about dealing with her powers.

As with book one, Ghost Town, this book begins with a prologue set just after the last Christmas was over. The prologue gives us insight into Mike, who dearly loved his wife Natalie. Natalie died not long after Sara was born and his daughter looks just like her mother. Just looking at Sara makes the pain of losing Natalie raw again. Mike gets around to reading a letter from Lady Azura, the letter that eventually led him to move. It's a very interesting letter. What a shame that Mike made the not-uncommon error of considering a prophecy a curse. I rather wish he hadn't made Lady Azura promise to keep a secret.

This book takes place during December. This is California born and reared Sara's first Christmas in Stellamar, New Jersey, a small town on the Atlantic coast. She's made friends at Stellamar Middle School and even has a best friend for the first time in her life in her neighbor Lily Randazzo. There's also a very cute classmate named Jayden Mendes. Sara likes him and he likes Sara.

Sara is with Lily, who is Christmas shopping at Lily's Aunt Dolores' store, the Salty Crab. Lily has a LOT of relatives. She's claiming there will be a cozy Christmas Eve dinner for 60 at her house. (Luckily, the Randazzos also live in a big Victorian house.) Sara's making her gifts. Lily wants to know if Sara is making anything for Janelle Martino, the co-worker her dad is dating. Sara isn't jealous. Her objection to Ms. Martino is that she's the mother of Dina Martino, an 8th grader who hates Sara. Why? Dina and Sara both ran for Harvest Queen in book two, Haunted Memories, and Sara won. Sara was fine with Dina and her older sister, Chloe, ignoring her when both families went out to dinner together last weekend. Here we learn that Dina trips Miranda Rich in the dance class they and Lily attend.

Our main ghost this book is a one-armed World War II-era soldier. So far Sara has dealt with two ghosts who needed her help, one who tells her bad jokes, one who was hostile to her, and one that was quite mischievous. Which category will this ghost fall into? As Lady Azura explains to Sara, ghosts are checking up on loved ones during the twelve days of Christmas. That's why Sara is seeing more of them than she usually does.

The soldier unwittingly manages to give mean girl Dina Martino blackmail material against Sara. What'll happen if Sara can't do what Dina wants?

NOTES:

Chapter 1:

a. Sara never gave her paternal Aunt Charlotte, the organic vegan, a Christmas gift?

b. Do enjoy Lily reporting what her cousins Dawn Marie and Jessie say about boys and gifts. If her cousin Tori is always buying gifts for boys, perhaps she can advise Sara about what to give Jayden.

Chapter 2:

a. Lady Azura started helping Sara deal with her powers in book three, Mischief Night, but it was a bit before Halloween.

b. This time Lady Azura's advice involves Glinda the Good Witch (from the 1939 'Wizard of Oz' movie, not the book).

c. Lady Azura's late husband was an ornithology professor named Richard. Their daughter, Diana, is also dead.

Chapter 3: Mike has a co-worker named Ben Lewis, who is getting married in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania..

Chapter 4:

a. Sara became staff photographer for their school web newspaper, the "Stellamar Wire,' in book three.

b. Their school crossing guard is an old man named Mr. Rathgeb.

c. Jayden's family is returning to Atlanta, Georgia for Christmas.

Chapter 5: This book's crystal/semi-precious gem gift from Lady Azura to Sara is an opal.

Chapter 6:

a. Sara is at the mall with Janelle, Chloe, and Dina Martino as a favor to her father.

b. Sara meets a ghost who has found a way to continue giving his wife his usual Christmas gift.

Chapter 7: Sara has a vision.

Chapter 8: Lady Azura's first and true love was a handsome young man named Franklin who died before their wedding.

Chapter 9: Sara and Jayden were in the photo booth on the boardwalk in chapter one of book three.

Chapter 11:

a. Sara also has an Uncle Dexter (Mike's brother? Charlotte's husband?) and her dad's dad, Gramp Steve.

b. Sara has another vision.

Chapter 12:

a. Lady Azura is a fan of singer/actor Frank Sinatra. (If you see an old cartoon with some skinny cartoon animal or bird singing while female animals or birds cry out 'Frankie!' and faint, that's Frank Sinatra the cartoon is spoofing. An example on YouTube is 'Rhapsody in Pew'. Another one is 'Swooning the Swooners'.)

b. Lady Azura has a lot of bird Christmas ornaments because of Richard. She also has a Christkindl ornament Franklin sent her from Germany.

Chapter 14:

a. Janelle isn't a widow. She recently divorced Dina and Chloe's father.

b. Lily's mom, Beth Randazzo, is the granddaughter of Lady Azura's best friend, Lilian.

c. Natalie, Sara's mother, grew up in Neptune Beach, about 25 miles from Stellamar.

d. Lady Azura's mother could see ghosts, too.

Some secrets are revealed in this book. (It's about time!) Sara and Dina have to put up with each other, but Dina has a plan. Jayden and Sara have a couple of scenes together. I really liked the special Christmas present Sara gets at the end. ( )

Sara is happy in her new home in Stellamar, NJ. She has friends and a maybe boyfriend. She is happy that her father has found a girlfriend even though said girlfriend is the mother of the resident mean girl at school. And she has found kinship with Lady Azure, the landlord who is a psychic and knows Sara's secret. Sara can see and talk to ghosts. As Christmas approaches, Sara learns that there is a window of time when the spirits of those who have moved on can come back to visit their loved ones. Will Sara get a ghostly visit from the mother she never knew?

I love Sara and her friends. I love the funky seashore town she lives in. And I really love ghost stories and these are very good. There is the beginning of a sweet romance. These are great for tweens. ( )